ASD and university accommodations

[MazzaMaisie]

Hello, autistic daughter recently started university and struggling with attendance for one module (the other 2 she is coping with). She has struggled a lot with anxiety and missed a lot of high school but in college sge got support and managed 5 days a week and was very happy. She finds the environment very overwhelming and the teaching style of the lecturer quite abrasive (this is a general sentiment). She’s been told she can leave the 3 hour session for breaks but is too anxious to. As it’s an afternoon lecture after 3 hours in the morning for a different module her ability to cope is already reduced. She watched all the missed lectures online and completes all the work for this module. She’s going to speak to course leader about this (she’s had COVID in the mix, she should have asked for help sooner…). Anyway I’m thinking they will ask her to leave as her attendance for this module is poor, but in all honesty not sure what they will say and I’m trying to prepare her. Anyone been in this position? AnY advice?

I work with a final year university student who has asc and her university have been very supportive of her doing a couple of her modules remotely when needed. As long as she watched the lectures and completed the work it wasn’t an issue.
She had support accessing the disabilities team at the university and explaining what support & accommodations were needed, and they helped to ensure everything was in place.

Thanks for that reply. My daughter’s SSP states she could struggle with attendance when starting course. She fell out of education in year 7, late diagnosis of ASD after 2 CAMHS rejections. It was only when she dropped to 42kg and had a mental health breakdown due to stress of not being able to attend school (high achiever) it finally triggered a CAMHS emergency appointment. Only then could she access some degree of complimentary education. She got 1-1 support at college and was able to attend 5 days a week and got 4 A levels. She really flourished. She told student support she was struggling with attendance but the department apparantly had 50 percent attendance last year - the worst at the university - and is really strict about it all. Student support pretty much said attendance is non negotiable. I had thought they’d be more supportive as long as she was doing the work and she is - 5 years of having to teach herself GCSEs she got 9s across the board even doing her sciences a year early. She’s motivated but does struggle with the change and being in such massive cohorts, the noise etc. I know it’s been 7 weeks but it takes her time. I’m hoping the course leader will be understanding. I am going to go with her to the meeting as she won’t go on her own. Thank you so much for your reply as it gives me hope they might not ask her to leave the course.

Is DD receiving support from DSA?

Is DD managing with the workload/assessments other than the physical attendance at this one lecture?

If DD is struggling with full-time, she/you could ask about stretching her degree rather than leaving.

Is rhe 3hrs in the morning a lecture or something like a seminar that runs in more than one group a week? If the latter, moving seminar etc. groups could work.

Yes she gets DSA. She’s coping with the workload, it’s this one module she finds the learning environment stressful. Thanks for your input

If DD is otherwise coping and managing work/deadlines etc. and it is just the one lecture, the University would need to be careful asking DD to leave. It smacks of discrimination if DD is unable to physically attend because of her disability but is able to watch the recorded version and manage the workload that way.

If they had 50% attendance last year then they might want to look at why that was, I'm pretty sure though it's not due to disability. Low attendance last year is not your dd's fault or problem, she's autistic. She's entitled to reasonable adjustments and stopping her because a completely different year group had low attendance last year doesn't sound like a good reason to not allow her the adjustment she needs.

If she will allow it and you have her permission to speak on her behalf to uni then I would be speaking to them yourself. Students can be an easy walk over, especially ones with ASD who aren't always great at advocating for themselves. I would speak to Student support and insist that this is a reasonable adjustment due to ASD and that other years attendance is not relevant to her or her disability.

Yes, I have permission to speak on her behalf. I will be going in with her to speak to the course leader and advocate as best as I can for her so I will see what transpires.

If she is watching the recorded lecture and handing in the work, it would be discrimination to ask your dd to leave! Watching recorded lectures is a reasonable adjustment. Maybe focus more on things like how many people are in the hall/noise levels/length etc rather than on the character/behaviour of the lecturer, as that might come across as personal and hard to prove and might not fit the criteria for reasonable adjustments as neatly. Not all universities make attendance at lectures compulsory, so there is no external audit, I don't believe that, because otherwise Cambridge and Oxford would be closed by now, as most students graduate without having attended a single lecture.

I'm a lecturer. If your daughter is handing in work and it's at a passing grade, I very much doubt she will be asked to leave. This would be the case if she were not disabled and had no excuse for missing them - very few universities will terminate a student for attendance alone, especially if it's only one course. If it's a lecture only course, or she's attending other parts, watching the recorded lecture is a reasonable adjustment. Indeed, if she's getting "attendance warning" letters or emails, she should contact the disability office.

When speaking to the course leader, I would stress the teaching/social load in one day, rather than the lecturer's style. He may be abrasive - doesn't surprise me - but he's allowed to be (short of being shaming and cruel).

I would also see if there's anyone in the university counselling service who can work with her on having the confidence to take breaks. It's really not a big thing - my students are adults and they can eg go to the toilet mid seminar!

Thanks for all your messages, they have been very helpful to help me structure what we need to say. It’s just me supporting her as I have family or friends nearby to speak about these things and it’s hard for people to understand how isolating and stressful it is constantly supporting an anxious asd young person. So sincerely, thank you,