any help

[glasko]

my son is 18, has autism pdd/nos since age 3, starting with speech, hearing delays, then to behavior issues, now to a full grown adult with little to no help from our community.  He graduated from high school with a regular diploma and has started fall semester at a community college because we as parents did not feel he was ready to be away from home on a college campus with no help.  The college has been very slow to respond to our request for assistance and my son is now on the struggling list in a computer intro to Java class.  We can not help him in this course as parents, and the school has no tutor available and the teacher is way over his head and does not understand my son, or autism at all.  I do not know where to turn.  I would think a community college receiving grant money from our state would be entitled to find someone who can guide him through this class,  but I am being told that this is not high school, and this is how college works.  Any help on where to go from here.  I am sure we have more challenges ahead as he enters the college/work force.  I need someone who will help a autistic adult.  Any ideas.  We live in a small NH town.

[Sally44]

After the planning meeting were the strategies and supports put into writing?
If not ask for it in writing from the principal and also send a letter stating that your son is not receiving notes of the lectures and is not having one to one time with a teaching aide as previously agreed and that you want confirmation by return letter that these supports will be put into place by a specified date.
I don't know anything about USA Educational Law.  Maybe you could send a private message to someone like MJthewriterdad.
You need to find an advocate and the Autistic Society of America maybe able to point you in the right direction.  

[glasko]

He has been set up with most of the things you described above, except what he really needs is a tutor.  Someone who can show him how it is done, once it is shown to him he will understand it and be able to repeat it.  We had a planning meeting at about 2 weeks into school.  However the teachers are not following the plan.  What recourse do we have to make them follow it.  I hate to have him drop the class, as it is part of his major, and the 2 test he has taken he has gotten good grades on 86, 92.  It is the homework that he cant seem to do.  He has a tape recorder, and powerpoint slides from the lectures. yet no notes as we have asked for several times, and no tutor.  It is hard to help him like this at this level, when professors expect them to be indepentant when they just dont understand how this 18 year old child thinks and reacts in certain situations.  And I dont know the Law.

[Sally44]

Does your son have a diagnosis of autism/PDD NOS through your doctors?
I presume you are in the USA.
Did your son go through typical mainstream school, or did he attend a school for those on the autistic spectrum?
Have you tried contacting the Autistic Society of America and getting in touch with a local chapter.  You need to find an advocate that knows about educational law.  In the UK you would expect an adult to have assistance whilst at college with things like organising and planning his work.  If he found it hard to listen to lectures and write at the same time you could have a scribe to take notes for you or get permission from the tutor to record all the lectures.  You would expect to be allowed extra time during any exams.  If he has difficulty with writing you could expect to receive a laptop with a speech recognition programme so that he talks to the computer and it prints what he says.  You could expect help with planning and organising himself so that he knows what he is expected to do for projects and is kept on track so that he hands it in on time.  But basically you would expect them to sit down with the student and find out what their specific difficulties are and then find ways to support and address them.
There are some colleges that are specifically for those with these types of difficulties.  They sometimes take in boarders and they are taught how to be independent as life skills are just as important as the educational ones.
You could also phone your local State Educational Department and ask them about colleges that have experience of autism and aspergers or special educational needs.