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Old 11 May 19, 05:22 PM  
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ansi41
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What to do after college

Hi there everyone, just a little question regarding DS.
He has aspergers and is currently in his first year at college studying a level 3 in Media (film and tv). He is 17 years old.
He is enjoying his course but not sure what to do when he finishes next year. At the time when he chose this course, we all agreed that for him to do a course that he would enjoy, would take the pressure off him as he has quite bad anxiety and then we would think about the future later on. DS cannot think ahead, but I am, as the time is soon coming round so now I am panicking and I will not have him lazing around at home doing nothing. I am not sure he will be able to do University type study, mainly because he does not have the skills required for that sort of study as he so unorganised, hates homework and independent studying in general and would require lots of support. He is quite bright but this is why he chose a less academic course as he prefers more hands on type stuff. I feel that to pay £7000 per year for a university qualification would be fine if he would get a decently paid job at the end of it but I am very aware that due to his difficulties, this may not be very likely. It sounds like I am putting him down but I think, as a family, we are very aware of his capabilities and where his strengths lie. He is doing ok on his course as he has such a good imagination and he's enjoying it but it doesn't involve much homework, revision, or studying as such.
His college recently had an open evening as they also run university courses but they did not really offer much advice on what his options are, other than university courses.
DS has said he is quite happy to stay on college and maybe just do another course, he likes script writing,so maybe english type course but how does that work? Is that possible? And if so, is there a cost involved?
I thought this thread was just going to be a quick question so sorry for waffling
Thanks for reading
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Old 13 May 19, 10:20 AM  
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landandword17
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I work in ‘media’. I’ve worked on sets, done scriptwriting and script reading and I work full time for a publisher. The one thing I will say is getting in the door and getting jobs (much of it is freelance) is 95% networking and forming relationships and 5% qualifications. To make a living in the business he would have to have great social skills and the ability to network and. A lot of self motivation and drive to keep on the hunt for opportunities , if he doesn’t making a good living at it will be almost impossible. Writing is such a solitary pursuit but to sell it requires pitching and meetings galore. I’m a bit of an introvert and it definitely wears me out so I can only imagine the challenge it would present to someone with Aspergers. Areas of the industry with less emphasis of social skills would be animation, editing, post production work but getting a foot in the door still requires a lot of selling yourself and networking.

Of course, most people with media or English degrees don’t work in the area and go on to work in completely unrelated fields as some companies will still take any type of degree.

I’m wondering if his college provides any type of work experience programmes or placements? That might help him at this stage more than diving into more course work. Is he interested in computers or tech at all? My husband has a degree in computer science and worked in tech for a few years. So many of the guys were on the spectrum is was almost the norm, would he be interested in a coding course?
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Old 13 May 19, 05:57 PM  
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ansi41
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Thank you for your reply, it's very helpful.
Yes anything that requires social skills is a major problem for him so I agree that he will really struggle getting in the door for a job.
He has now come home from college today saying that he wants to quit his course and do some sort of english writing course So I am currently trying to talk him out of quitting and just changing to something else after his 2 years are up. I see that the more qualifications he has, even if unrelated, will help him in the future so hopefully he will listen.
I thought he would have loved computing and coding and stuff like that, but he did computing lessons before GCSE and he said he hated it which surprised me.
I will show him your reply and have a discussion about it again.
Thank you so much, really appreciate your advice
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