Developing Independent Living Skills in College with Neurodiversity

Independent Living Skills in College – Cooking, Cleaning, Budgeting, Shopping, etc. For parents, sending your child off to college can make you feel a mixture of emotions. Feelings of fear mingled with excitement and apprehension are completely normal. However, if your child is on the neurodiversity spectrum, those emotions can skyrocket. We understand, and we’re here for you.

As a parent of a child with neurodiversity, advocating for your child is nothing new. Many of our parents have a long history of meeting with school administrators, teachers, counselors, therapists, and healthcare providers. Breaking through the public and private school bureaucracies and procedures to fight for their children’s educational rights is exhausting. Some parents choose homeschooling or a hybrid learning approach with a satellite campus for certain electives and classes.

Whatever your situation, you’ve seen it and been there with your child through it all. However, the thought of your young adult attending college and living independently can feel impossible. This is where we come in – to support individuals with neurodiversity to develop independent living skills in college.

We partner with students with neurodiversity to learn, grow, and enjoy the college experience. We break down our approach into four core areas:

Our Four-Core Approach in Action

To support our students in developing independent living skills in college, let’s focus on the first core area: Living.

Our Student Life team dedicates countless hours to supporting our students to learn independent living skills in college. Our integrated, high-quality residence hall is a place where students can learn how to cook, clean, budget, shop, schedule tasks, and make friends. We also have fun community activities that we plan with students for them to enjoy living in a college town.

All three of our “super” dorms are tailor-designed to focus on creating spaces for interaction, engagement, and enjoyment. In a recent video, our Chief Strategy Officer, Jake Weld, explains it best:

“All of that focus on executive functioning, independent living skills, and pro-social development is actually a physical part of the building,” said Jake Weld, our Chief Strategy Officer. “That’s why we’ve created spaces where these specific things happen, where our staff are engaged with students, and where the community really can help students learn and grow and become their best selves.”

Our team also includes a Life Skills Coach who works one-on-one with each student to develop these skills, encourage and motivate them, and track their progress. Our student-to-staff ratio is ideal to help students who struggle with executive functioning and time management skills. To learn more about how Mansfield Hall supports students to develop independent living skills in college, please visit here.

Interested in learning more about our program? We’d love to hear from you!