We were thrilled to welcome Colin Brady, Director of Student Success at Mitchell College, back to the Akeela community. Colin was the presenter in Beyond Akeela’s most recent webinar: “Evaluating College Options for Neurodiverse Teens.” A full recording of the webinar can be found above.
In this webinar, Colin discussed with families how he breaks down the many different college programs available to students with learning disabilities. With such an overwhelming number of programs and various types of support for social and academic success, Colin’s presentation provided great tips for identifying key characteristics in programs to look for and consider. Below are a few highlights from Colin’s presentation:
Presentation Highlights
- Tiers of Support: There are so many schools and programs that offer support to neurodiverse students, but the level of support varies drastically. Colin breaks down types of schools into three tiers, based on the student population size and how ingrained the learning support program is into the culture of the school. One is not necessarily better than the others!
- Measured Progress: An important thing to consider when selecting a program is how the program measures and tracks the success of students. It varies widely across the landscape of programs, each with its own philosophy and progress reporting procedures. It’s important to consider a teen’s goals for college and how that matches with the philosophy and measurable outcomes promoted by a learning support program.
- Summer Programs: College is a big step for everyone, especially when it’s far away from home or someone’s first time away from home. Gaining some experience living away from home and experiencing college life through a summer program before going off to college can lead to better outcomes for success in college.
We hope you enjoy the presentation! Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you have!
