How to deal with son not knowing what to do at college?

[OriginalM]

Son has autism and was always academic until 2 years ago.
Now just doesn't seem to bother. He does the bare minimum to scrape by with a pass but he could do so much better.
He is due to go in year 11 and we have been looking round at colleges but he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't like school anymore and has no favourite subjects.
He seems to not care about his future at all.
He is very fit and active and does like PE but when looking at A Level PE it always seem to suggest coaching as part of PE A-Level and usually football whereas his strengths are more gymnastics, parkour etc.
He doesn't like football and doesn't want to coach so I'm not sure he'd enjoy PE A level as always seems to be geared towards football/team games and coaching.
How can I motivate him to make more of a effort at school and take a interest in his future?

Is the thought of his future overwhelming him perhaps? I have an 11yo with autism and she can panic when faced with choices. If that's the case then I would stress to him that whatever path he chooses now he doesn't have to do forever, he can change careers in the future and that's really normal nowadays. He just needs to pick a path to start off on for the time being.

Does he like science? Could sports science/ physiotherapy be something to consider?

How about looking at vocational courses or (if he's over 16) apprenticeships?

Maybe he needs a break from the academic style of learning.

You say he was previously doing very well academically, did the sudden drop of motivation perhaps coincide with the onset of Covid restrictions?

He could just feel burnt out. And I wouldn’t blame him for not being able to pick a career path at age 15/16, I certainly wasn’t able to at that age(!)
I personally wouldn’t be too worried about finding a spark of passion at this point. I’d just focus on making sure he gets the GCSE grades he needs to study the A levels that open the most doors further down the line (eg maths).
That way if he ever does get his motivation back he’ll have minimal repercussions for spending a few years drifting.

Could he look into apprenticeships instead of college? Further education isn’t for everyone, he could do better in a working environment instead.

Would a BTEC suit him better?

Maybe if he isn't in the headspace right now, then you need to explore the options and make sure a variety of applications are made, to enable a later decision?

The problem is he is not creative or good at making things so anything like plumbing, car repair etc is out.
He has thought about doing public services which is a course to gain skills in order to go in the police force, army or navy etc.

I think it was a mixture of covid and finding new friends who he now wants to hang out with all the time. He has never had friends before.

he is not creative or good at making things so anything like plumbing, car repair etc is out

There's more to vocational courses or apprenticeships than the traditional trades. Have a proper look at the college's website for starters.

Have a think about his interests (like being active) and what he's good at.

A couple of websites:
www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprentices
nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/
wearencs.com/what-is-ncs

My autistic ds had no clue but knew he didn't want to do a levels.
We got the local college brochure got him to cross off all the courses he definitely didn't want to do, then the ones that he was unsure of. This left a handful of subject areas, I then asked school to discuss with him. Narrowed it down to a few areas. Then when the college had their open evening looked at each area and then got a feel for things and one stood out for him. It was a vocational course which unfortunately due to covid became desk based. However he got through the course, he had the option to go to university but he's decided that its not for now and has got a job (on £19000 a year) in the area he's trained in.
It was definitely a worrying time for him both in y11 and towards the end of y13. The anxiety of change, having to make decisions for himself that would shape his future was stressful for all. It's worked out OK and I think for ds getting a job is the right thing to do now but he knows he's got the option of looking at further education in the future.
I think definitely take dc to open days, encourage talking to careers services and teachers, look at the online questionnaires see what jobs are suitable and research different courses and what the opportunities following the courses are. But also talk about other things, distract at times because the more it becomes a big issue the harder to make decisions because they become paralised by the enormity of it all.

My autistic DH is doing a 'skills for work' course in the autumn. They also run 'skills for learning' courses for DCs who may be able to move into further education.

Academically it won't stretch him, he did quite well at school (Covid in the critical years actually helped because he learned better at home) but he doesn't have one clue what he wants to do. So hopefully this will expose him to lots of different things and in a year's time we'll be able to support him to make a more definite decision.

There are loads of college courses.
Outdoor pursuits
Applied science
Computer science
Business
Have a good look, you might be surprised.