Need Extra Help? Just Ask
Students with learning disabilities expect a place in college. Schools will go out of their way to support them
No concessions. "It really was great when I realized that I could get all the services I need and not have to give up any of the other things I want to do," says Breininger. She majored in rehabilitation counseling and is entering grad school at Arizona to train for teaching the visually impaired. "If I had not used and embraced these options, I would not be nearly as successful," she says.
Blaine Todfield said Arizona's SALT program made a "huge" difference in her transition from high school to college. "Every week we would go over my grades and my work, and what I can do to improve," she says. "It really kept me on top of my work." When she decided after her sophomore year to transfer to a school that offered a major in public relations and was closer to her family on the East Coast, she made sure that all three schools to which she applied (Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Hofstra University on Long Island, and Fordham University in New York City) all had excellent disability programs.
For students looking for similar programs at colleges with a different size or location, there are many possibilities. Curry College in Milton, Mass., with only about 2,000 undergraduates, offers a well-established, comprehensive program for students with learning disabilities; about 25 percent of Curry students participate. Lisa Ijiri directed the school's Program for Advancement of Learning for 15 years; a fee-based program, it pairs each student with a professionally trained learning specialist. Through intensive mentoring, "students learn how they learn and how to continue to learn," says Ijiri, now Curry's interim associate dean of academic affairs. In addition, because the program has been in place since 1970, "we have thousands of successful alumni who can come back and talk about how they're managing LD in successful careers as lawyers or doctors or in management and business."
Among midsize schools, Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., with about 10,000 undergraduates, offers Higher Education for Learning Problems, or HELP. "We address reading skills, reading speed, comprehension, test-taking strategy, time management, and improvement of self-esteem," says Barbara Guyer, who founded HELP in 1981. She urges collegebound students with learning disabilities to evaluate what types of support they may need, then visit prospective colleges and take a good look at the services offered. "Find the program director, ask questions, and take notes or tape-record the answers," she says.
Finding—and using—those resources from freshman year on can make a big difference. Out of about 200 undergraduates who use HELP, about 50 made the dean's list this year, Guyer says. One recent graduate proudly told her: "Because all of my life I have had to work harder, my work ethic is exceptional, and that will give me a leg up in the workplace."
Funckes also suggests that students look at a college's educational philosophy: Is the school student-centered? Are faculty members sensitive to learning differences? Does the college foster interactions between students and teachers?
On a more mundane note, because colleges require different documents than do secondary schools to certify a learning disability, get a head start gathering all the paperwork. Once you've arrived on campus, speak up if you need additional help. Commitment, self-discipline, and self-advocacy are the key elements of success.
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Tax Dollars and Federal Laws Guarantee an Education for Disabled Students
It is true when a student with disabilities enter into an educational setting it can be difficult to receive the help they need. There are processes they must go through to receive the help. If a parent is unaware (as most are) of the opportunities for their child, then yes they will miss the boat. For anyone out their looking at this response, know that there are federal laws on the books that say students with disabilities have rights. First, it is the parents "right" to request help for their child (while in k-12th grade). If a parent waits for the schools to do it for them, then it usually will not happen. A parent must push to get everything possible for their child. The key is to begin when their child is young. If a child has a documented record of their disability before graduating from high school, then it will make it easier for the child to use their documentation to move further in their education. In secondary education, unless your child has a power of attorney, the child must handle all of their educational needs on their own. This causes a problem for the young person because not only do they have to handle the every day stresses of college, but they also have to handle all of the requirements of receiving financial aid, disability accommodations, and any other situation that may arise while in college. This sometimes is overwhelming for the regular college student, and definitely affects a student with disabilities. If a student has documented information, they can present the information to the college’s disabilities division and get their modifications (required by the federal gov't) in place. Of course, states have vocational rehabilitation services division that will also step in and help the student receive the services they may require. Whether it be financial or supportive services. The answer is, you must ask for it. A child will run across many teachers in colleges who will not provide the modifications/accommodations unless they are given a letter from the disabilities division of the college that explains exactly what the teacher needs to do for the student. Once this letter is documented and given to the teacher, then legally they are required by law to do exactly what is stated in the letter. At this point the disabled student is where they need to be. The student is now on an even playing field as the other students attending the school. How do I know these things? I know these things because I raised a son who had learning disabilities. He was able to graduate from high school (passing all work on his own). He then went to a technical college where he graduated with a 3.6GPA. It wasn't easy, and I had to battle teachers and the schools throughout his whole eduational experiences. The key was I had the federal law behind me, and I had a determination that my child deserved the best education my tax dollars could get for him, and the best education this country could provide him with.
Misleading title: It's not as easy as that
Perhaps for people with learning disability caught earlier in their life, it's that easy. But for many disabled students, the title of this article does not ring true.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine (with a 3.9 GPA through his Junior year of college) was starting to show the first signs of schizophrenia. After hospitalization, and now medicated, his return to classes was very difficult. In addition to the side-effects of the medication affecting his cognition, there were still some symptoms to deal with. One paper he turned in was rambling in nature, so poorly written that the professor accused him of cheating on prior papers, and gave him a choice between failing for the semester or taking a D on all of the prior papers...
A counselor from the local mental health agency recommended working through the school's disability services program to be able to take tests alone or have deadlines extended, and to simply have official certification of his condition to avoid situations such as the one mentioned above.
When he went to the Student Disability Services office, they turned him away with little emotion, saying he needed documentation to even get started with them. (I was with him, so it's not just his impression). When he brought the letter from his psychiatrist, they said they would "make a determination as to whether his condition met their criteria". Three weeks later (a long time during the end of a 15 week semester), he received a written letter in the mail stating that his condition did not meet their criteria for assistance. He got another letter from his doctor, and didn't get a decision before the end of the semester. By then it was too late, disheartened by the school's unwillingness to recognize his problem as "real", he did not return to school the next semester.
So perhaps the title of this article should have been, "Need help? Just prove it."
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