NESCA is currently accepting Therapy and Executive Function Coaching clients from middle school-age through adulthood with Therapist/Executive Function Coach/Parent Coach Carly Loureiro, MSW, LCSW. Carly specializes in the ASD population and also sees individuals who are highly anxious, depressed, or suffer with low self-esteem. She also offers parent coaching and family sessions when needed. For more information or to schedule appointments, please complete our Intake Form.

Tag

college research

14

Planning and Preparing for College from Home during Covid-19

By | NESCA Notes 2020

By: Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS
Director of Transition Services; Transition Specialist

While college in the United States is looking quite different for student’s currently enrolled, many (but not all) high school juniors across the country participated in SAT testing yesterday morning in preparation for their college application process. For teenagers–who have natural difficulties thinking ahead and anticipating consequences–being stuck at home may feel particularly tedious and taxing.

Here are some suggestions for teens that may help to use the time productively and get ahead on next year’s college search and admissions process:

  1. Use this time to draft a college application resume that includes information about your co-curricular and extracurricular activities, employment and volunteer experiences, skills, achievements and awards, summer activities, and any hobbies or interests. Try to include all of the experiences you have had throughout the year (ask your parents if you cannot remember everything you have done). You may not end up providing this directly to a college, but it will be useful when you request recommendations, complete applications, and need to put together a resume for employment. Learn more about building a college application resume at The Balance Careers.
  2. Hop on some college search engines and go through a few search processes. Search engines can help you to think about what characteristics matter to you and which selection criteria are less important. If you happen to find a school that you want to research further, even better. Some of the search engines we like include: BigFuture, Cappex, and Collegedata. There are lots of popular engines and you should pick what works for you.
  3. Take virtual college campus tours to explore colleges of interest and to begin to familiarize yourself with college daily life and vocabulary. Look at admissions sites for tour information or join a site like YouVisit. Learn more about virtual tours in this US News Article: How to Make the Most of Virtual College Tours.
  4. Practice your interview skills! There are lots of great web sites with sample interview questions (e.g., ThoughtCo.com, BigFuture). Practice with a friend via video chat (e.g., Facetime, Google, Skype, Messenger) or record yourself.
  5. Write a practice or rough draft college essay. Common App Essay Prompts remain the same from one year to the next and has already announced that first-year essay prompts will remain the same for next application season. Check those out here: https://www.commonapp.org/apply/essay-prompts

If you are interested in working with a transition specialist at NESCA for consultation, coaching, planning or evaluation, please complete our online intake form: https://nesca-newton.com/intake-form/.

About the Author:

Kelley Challen, Ed.M., CAS, is NESCA’s Director of Transition Services, overseeing planning, consultation, evaluation, coaching, case management, training and program development services. She is also the Assistant Director of NESCA, working under Dr. Ann Helmus to support day-to-day operations of the practice. Ms. Challen began facilitating programs for children and adolescents with special needs in 2004. After receiving her Master’s Degree and Certificate of Advanced Study in Risk and Prevention Counseling from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ms. Challen spent several years at the MGH Aspire Program where she founded an array of social, life and career skill development programs for teens and young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome and related profiles. She additionally worked at the Northeast Arc as Program Director for the Spotlight Program, a drama-based social pragmatics program, serving youth with a wide range of diagnoses and collaborating with several school districts to design in-house social skills and transition programs. Ms. Challen is co-author of the chapter “Technologies to Support Interventions for Social- Emotional Intelligence, Self-Awareness, Personality Style, and Self-Regulation” for the book Technology Tools for Students with Autism. She is also a proud mother of two energetic boys, ages six and three. While Ms. Challen has special expertise in supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, she provides support to individuals with a wide range of developmental and learning abilities, including students with complex medical needs.

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.

6

Preparing for the College Visit – for Juniors and Their Parents

By | NESCA Notes 2018

 

 

By: Dina Karlon, M.A.
NESCA Transition Specialist

So often students feel pressure to come up with a plan of what they want to do with their lives; college is expensive and it’s a big decision. I will say to you that while it feels overwhelming, there are things you can do to limit the stress. During the winter holiday season, college is likely one of the last things you want to think about as a junior or parent of a high school junior. But now is a great time to plan your college campus visits!  

While knowing what you want to do (and study) is important, it is not necessary to know that before deciding on a college. If you know you are going to college, you need to make sure it’s a place you can see yourself living at. Therefore, the feeling you get when on a campus is very important. That’s why I am suggesting you spend some time on it.  

Here are some tips for planning your winter and spring college visits: 

  1. School breaks are a perfect time to visit colleges. This is because colleges are in session when high schools have their breaks. You can always visit in the summer, but you will not get the same “feel” of how busy the campus is when the students are not there. 
  2. Register through the school website for the visit. Colleges do keep track of positive contacts from students (i.e., “points of contact”); it will demonstrate to the college that you are interested enough in the school to go and see it. If you just do a drive by or a self-directed visit, it doesn’t count with the college. You want them to know that you were on campus, so register!  
  3. What schools to look at? If you have narrowed your college list, you will know what schools to look at. If you have not, don’t worry. Just getting out there to see schools can help – you will be narrowing your search by visiting campuses as well. Remember, the feeling you get when you are on campus is just as important, probably more important, than anything else. If you are traveling out-of-state for the breaks, visit a college when you are out there. If you are staying home, do some local or in-state colleges – both 2- and/or 4-year schools.
  4. Remember when you go on a visit that they are trying to sell you the school. They should; that is their job! Your job is to be an educated consumer, so do your homework. Do a little bit of research before you go to the school. Treat it like a job interview – have a couple of questions that you want to ask. For example, ask: What kind of tutoring is there for students? Is it free? Who tutors? These are questions that may be of particular importance to you. One of my favorite questions is: How big is your commuter population? You may wonder, why is this important? Well, if it is a high number, that means that most people are not there during the weekend. If you are planning on being there on weekends, you don’t want to be alone. You want other students there. Schools that have a lot of people leave for the weekend are referred to as “suitcase colleges”. They are not as good for people who live on campus on weekends. 
  5. Go off the beaten path if you can. The student ambassadors giving the tour love the school and are likely being paid for the tour. They are often students with lengthy resumes about their involvement with the school (which is awesome but can feel intimidating). So if possible, talk with other students and ask them about their experience. 
  6. Eat in the cafeteria. You will likely be eating there for every meal (at least freshman year), so you want to know what that experience will be like. Are there a lot of options? Is it very busy? 
  7. Don’t schedule more than two visits in a day. Visiting schools can be exhausting and schools can all start to look alike after a while. Here is the itinerary: Visit one in the morning, eat lunch to debrief the first one (keep a notebook or digital notes/pictures), visit the second school in afternoon, and debrief that school during dinner or on the drive home. If you can do one a day, even better. But doing two in one day can be more time effective. Just don’t so more than two; you won’t remember them! 

So you went on a visit and you didn’t like the school. What a waste of time! You would never go there! Congratulations! You just started whittling your list and didn’t waste money going to a school that you wouldn’t be happy at. Also, you know more about what you do want to look for on your next college visit.  

On a personal note, I have two adult children of my own and have survived the college process. One of the college visits that stood out to me the most was one we attended on a cold, rainy, Friday afternoon. It was a college in a different state from where we live, so my daughter would be living there. Many people didn’t show up for the college visit (probably due to the timing and the weather). Because of that, we had our own tour guide. During the visit, the campus was very busy – students were walking around the campus on a late Friday rainy afternoon. It was clear that students were engaged and planning on being there for the weekend. My daughter ended up going there and enjoyed her college experience. There were obviously other factors that helped her with her choice, but that visit had a significant impact on her decision. 

 

 

About the Author:

Dina DiGregorio Karlon, M.A.  is a seasoned counselor specialized in transition issues. She has worked over 15 years as a school counselor in public high schools and has additional experience as a GED program coordinator, career center coordinator, and vocational assessment specialist. She has additionally worked for New Hampshire Vocational Rehabilitation as a rehabilitation counselor and also for the New Hampshire Department of Education.

At NESCA, Ms. Karlon offers coaching services as well as transition planning consultation to students, families, and fellow professionals in New Hampshire. In addition to her work at NESCA, Ms. Karlon is a Program Specialist for the New Hampshire Department of Education, specializing in the development of employability skills and job readiness skills for at-risk youth.  

When providing transition services, Ms. Karlon most enjoys the relationships that she is able to create with her clients and/or students and their families. She loves being part of helping them figure out their strengths and challenges and helping them realize their goals and dreams. Ms. Karlon knows that often the path after high school is not traveled from A to B, but rather it is A to E, to C, and then back to A. She works hard to help her clients view each setback as an opportunity for growth rather than a failure, to recognize their own strengths, and to overcome the barriers that may get in the way of setting goals, solving problems, and making progress. She brings extensive experience supporting clients with career and college planning and she is able to shift fluidly with clients along their paths in each of these domains. 

 

If you are interested in a consultation, pre-college coaching, or transition planning with Ms. Karlon, please complete NESCA’s intake form today and indicate interest in “Transition Consultation and Planning”

 

 

 

Neuropsychology & Education Services for Children & Adolescents (NESCA) is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Massachusetts, Plainville, Massachusetts, and Londonderry, New Hampshire, serving clients from preschool through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.