Need Extra Help? Just Ask
Students with learning disabilities expect a place in college. Schools will go out of their way to support them
As a high school freshman in Harker Heights, Texas, Lindsey Disher found herself struggling to read the scientific terminology in her biology textbook, regardless of the hours she put in. Around the same time, her English teacher noticed her written work was filled with reversed and inverted letters. "Have you ever been tested for a learning disability?" she asked.
The tests that followed showed Disher suffered from dyslexia—one of a variety of learning disorders that affect how the brain processes information. "But just because you have a learning disability doesn't mean you are not as smart or you can't excel or do what you want to in your education. It just means you learn differently," she says. Disher should know: She completed high school in just three years and, at age 19, has completed two years at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, her grades a mix of A's and B's. Learning to be more self-confident, she says, "has allowed me to study better for tests, not to be nervous to speak out in class, and to genuinely know that I can go as far in the academic setting as those around me."
As Disher's experience shows, a learning disability need not prove a barrier to college. The proportion of students with learning disabilities entering four-year colleges rose from 0.5 percent in 1983 to 2.8 percent in 2004, according to UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute (the next survey will be conducted later this year). That increase sounds dramatic—but it's consistent with the number of students with learning disabilities attending elementary and secondary schools. It reflects what Victor Saenz, who is associated with both HERI and the University of Texas-Austin, describes as "an evolution of understanding" about the subject that is reflected in greater awareness, earlier interventions, a decreased sense of stigma, and a legal requirement that students with learning disabilities be accommodated. That can mean extra time for taking tests, access to books and lectures on tape, and additional classes or tutoring.
Getting AHEAD. Carol Funckes, associate director of disability resources at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says that approximately 1,600 of the university's 36,000 students identify themselves as disabled. About 1,100 of those have learning disabilities, a 100-fold increase from the 11 students who received help for learning disabilities in 1980. "The increase isn't a reflection of more students who have LD but more who have been diagnosed and are willing to come forward and ask for help," says Funckes, who is also president of the Association on Higher Education and Disability, or AHEAD. "There are an increasing number of people who are ready for college because the high schools are recognizing and preparing the students rather than just assuming they're not smart enough."
These students are no different from other high school seniors searching for a college with the right fit. But for them, the right fit means a school that, in addition to all the other qualities they're looking for, provides the services they need.
Elizabeth Breininger, 22, a 2008 University of Arizona graduate, had "excellent" grades throughout high school, she says, but scored significantly lower in math than English on her SAT and ACT tests as a result of her math learning disability. She visited and applied to colleges "with very well- structured programs for students with learning disabilities" and ultimately decided on Arizona. "Coming from a small town in Pennsylvania, I wanted to go to a big college with high-level athletic programs, lots of activities, and lots of people," she says. Equally important was the level of support offered at the university. In addition to being eligible for accommodations provided by the office of disabilities, LD students may apply for more assistance from the university's Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques Center. For an additional fee (from $950 to $2,200 per semester), each student in the SALT program has access to tutoring as well as computer, math, and writing labs and is assigned a learning specialist with whom he or she meets weekly to evaluate how the semester is progressing and whether any further help is needed.
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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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