<human>: Condense the text into a few key points

Hoping somebody could give me an insight here.  My ex-wife and I were foster parents, and a little boy was placed with us when he was 11 months old.  We then adopted him when he was five, he's seven now.  I'd like to save for college for him, but I'm not positive that he'll go.  His biological mom was mildly retarded, and a crack addict.  I obviously hope that that won't have an impact on his future, but I hate to have plans founded only on hope.  At this point (second grade), he's performing on the low end of satisfactory in school.  He hates reading, but I can't be sure whether that's because he's a seven year old boy, or if there's something deeper.  He is definitely a bit behind our other children (one just graduated college, one is a freshman in college this year, and one is in seventh grade).

It's my understanding that a 529 or an ESA have the feature that they can be transferred to another immediate family member...however, he's the youngest, so we wouldn't be able to transfer to another sibling.  

So,
<bot>: I want to save in a tax-deferred investment for my child to go to college, but I want to have an option so that I can use that money for something else if he doesn't go.  Thoughts?