TPP 370: Dr. Eric Endlich on Gap Years Experiences for Neurodivergent Young Adults
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
41 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 14 hours ago
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the difference between being college‑capable and college‑ready for neurodivergent students?
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If your child is in high school and they're taking challenging courses and doing well, by challenging courses I mean honors, AP, IB, dual enrollment, and they're getting good grades, there's every chance that they are college capable, that they'll be able to handle the academics in college. And sometimes when kids get accepted to a college, they or their parents think, Well, the college wouldn't have accepted me if they didn't think I was ready. But being college capable and college ready is not the same thing. Being college capable means you can handle the academics. Being college ready means you're ready for the independence of living away at college.
I'm Debbie Rever, and welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. As many listeners know, Asher is doing a gap year this year, having graduated from high school last summer. And so I've been pretty immersed in the world of gap years, but I've been getting so many questions from families who want to know more about navigating this. And in fact, I've been hearing more and more about the Benefits of gap years for all students, not just neurodivergent kids, especially since the pandemic. So I decided to devote an episode to it. The questions I get the most are what exactly is a gap year?
How is a parent to know if their child would benefit from taking a gap year? How should a student be spending their time between high school and college? If indeed that is the next step for them, and where should I start when it comes to finding and vetting the best programs and possibilities for a child taking this year off? To explore this topic, I invited Dr. Eric Enlick, a clinical psychologist. Founder of Top College Consultants, an expert who guides students with learning differences and mental health challenges through the college application process. I asked Eric how we can determine as parents whether our kid is ready for college or not, what type of gap year experiences for neurodivergent students even exist, and how universities perceive a student taking a gap year when considering their application.
We also talked about how to find the right program for your student and how to do some vetting to make sure it's the right fit. So before we move on to the conversation, here's a little bit more about my guest. Dr. Eric Enlik has served on the Learning Differences, Neurodiversity, and DEI committees of the Independent Educational Consultants Association and was honored by IECA with the Making a Difference Award for contributions such as a database. of Neurodiversity Friendly Colleges. He co-teaches a course called Working with Students with Learning Differences and co-manages a 16,000-member Facebook group for parents of college-bound neurodivergent students. I am in that group and it is a great resource.
As you'll hear from this episode, Eric has a wealth of knowledge about ways to navigate the sometimes lengthy and often unique runway for neurodivergent students. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. Hey Eric, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks, Debbie. It's great to be here.
I'm looking forward to talking about this phase of life with our young adults. I've done a couple episodes on the transition to college. We've done some conversations about navigating that and how to best present yourself to colleges. And we've talked about alternative paths, but we haven't really talked about gap years, gap programs. So I'm really excited to share this also personally. This is what I've spent the past year and a half of my life focusing on. But before we get into that, I know you do a lot of work in the space of supporting the transition to college and helping students.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the difference between being college‑capable and college‑ready for neurodivergent students?
0:00–5:15
2
How can parents determine if their child is ready for a gap year before college?
5:15–10:35
3
What exactly is a gap year and why has it become more popular since the pandemic?
10:35–15:38
4
What types of gap‑year experiences are available for neurodivergent students (DIY, formal programs, adventure, therapeutic)?
15:38–21:29
5
How do universities view applicants who take a gap year, and should they apply before or after the year?
21:29–26:59
6
What criteria should families use to research and vet neurodiversity‑friendly gap‑year programs?
26:59–32:12
7
Which specific gap‑year programs are recommended for students with ADHD, autism, or learning differences?
32:12–37:17
8
What final advice does Dr. Eric Endlich give parents about planning a successful gap year?
37:17–41:36
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids