ADHD/504 -- College Recommendations

Parents Forum
1

Interested in hearing about colleges/universities that might be a good fit or my son.
He is currently a junior, has a 504 mostly for written expression and is in collaborative classes for English and History, current GPA is 3.01, scored a 32 on the ACT with an 11 in the writing session.

I feel that he needs to be at a smaller school with smaller classes. Most likely will have a 504 in college. Accounting and/or supply chain management are of interest to him but a that could change by the time.

Suggestions for schools? We are in the tri-state area and have toured Marist. Good chance we live this area not long after our boys graduate from hs so I’m interested in hearing about schools.

Any information about experiences your child had dealing with ADHD and 504 plan would be greatly appreciated.

2

Look at the schools disability services and what they are offering. Do they have an ADA trained person which is required by the federal government for any school which receives federal funds such as fed loans or work study? Do they offer tutoring? Is the tutoring done in groups or individual? Do they offer to find a tutor for any class that they don’t regularly offer tutoring in? If you don’t find your answers on their website, contact their disability services and ask. State schools are limited as to what they offer and tutoring can be group tutoring.

My daughter had a 504 for vision and physical disability. She needed minimal accommodations. When housing gave us a hassle, the head of disability services took over and told housing that what they were offering for the next year wouldn’t work and she was placed back in the disabilities dorm. I did find out that they didn’t have a trained ADA person. The head of disabilities services made sure she got trained that same semester in order to meet federal law. A small school can be more willing to work with you and the student to prove what is needed. Has his high school offered or given you a transition program? If not, try requesting one. This would be helpful to both you and the school so that you can pick which school can meet his requirements.

3

I suggest this resource: – K&W Guide – https://www.amazon.com/Programs-Disabilities-Attention-Hyperactivity-Admissions/dp/0307945073

4

There are no 504 plans in college and the standard for accommodations is lower at that level too. The accommodations cannot pose an undue administrative or financial burden and cannot substantially change the program. Some disabilities offices serve as a filter in some ways. Once a kid registers with proper documentation, the disabilities office will give the student a letter for each professor. The letter may or may not state any actual accommodations and may or may not mention the disabilities involved (but they are generally accessible in a file in the office). The student must then talk to the professor and negotiate, basically. There is still some discretion for some things on the part of the professor (for absences, for instance)

In our experience, often there are other people on campus who are very helpful. Deans who communicate with professors, medical folks, advisors, tutors. For that reason, it can be hard to tell how good a fit a school might be before actually attending, and certainly hard before admission. It is true that smaller schools can offer more personalized attention to these matters, and they be wonderful even if too small to have an official disabilities office.

I personally feel that young people with disabilities should choose a school for the same reasons anyone else does: size, location, academics, “vibe.” The law is the law and they should have rights to accommodations based on documentation, anywhere. Some schools have more complicated systems that take awhile to learn, but overall, the ideal if for a kid to be able to choose a school for other reasons :slight_smile:

That said, there are schools with reputations for being good learning disabilities, if that is relevant. Of course Landmark (and they have a summer college prep course too), and I have heard Curry and New England College are good. Maybe Lesley.

I think that people who can afford it sometimes hire a coach, who can work by phone or online as well as in person, depending. That is expensive of course, and we could never afford it, but it can make a huge difference.

So you might have to lower your expectations of what a college can provide, and also think about whether you want to make the disabilities office quality a criterion for where to apply- especially when you really cannot tell how things are going to go beforehand, that easily.

5

DD here- I’ve been on both sides of this, as a student and coach. I’ve worked wearing a lot of hats for a state school college student with special needs.
504s are just as valid as IEPs, the only difference is that you will not be re-issued a 504 and there are no more annual reviews of eligibility for either. The procedures for accommodations are not universal. My university worked like the above poster’s description, but the school my client attended is completely different. There they issued special IDs to students requiring accommodations and each student’s approved accommodations were on file under that ID. Other than special circumstances, whatever the approved accommodations were was binding for every prof. The student could decide whether or not to utilize approved accommodations.

Here’s why it’s important to have a transition plan done up: accommodations in the plan may or may not be available at each school. The state school I coordinated with, for example, only offered extra time, scratch paper for exams, group tutoring, a note taker, a reader, and isolated testing space. If you needed anything else, you were on your own to secure that. Technically you could apply for other reasonable accommodations, but by the time everything got filed and you argued with the school, you’d already be in trouble academically from doing without what you needed. That’s why my client’s parents hired me in the first place. Hopefully a school would be honest about what in the plan they can and can’t provide. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transitionguide.html

6

I had the same question so I asked the college counselor at S’s school. She had lists of good schools that were known as being LD friendly. Marist is one of the better ones so you’re in luck. You may also want to look at Landmark in VT as well. There were others such as Mitchell, Miseracordia, McDaniels, and Curry. I can’t remember the others off the top of my head. I was given several different lists, created by different sources, and it’s been really helpful.

7

Thank you.

8

Read Colleges that Change Lives- several of those (Juniata and Emory and Henry come to mind) do a good job supporting students with learning differences.

9

My institution works like @GloriaVaughn 's client’s. The ID does not identify the disability. It lists accommodations that must be provided, and there is no need for the student ever to have to negotiate with the professor.

But, as @compmom also told you, the level of service is not the same in as in secondary, especially wrt things like curriculum modifications, Sometimes the student’s preferred accommodation isn’t granted if another is available. I’m thinking of a specific instance where a student wanted a professional scribe for all tests but the institution provided Dragon and, of course, extended time, private space for testing, etc. instead

10

I have heard good things about RIT in terms of disability supports. Also, my oldest has ADHD and finds having breaks from classes where he is doing Co-ops is very helpful. He attends another school with co-ops built into the schedule. He returns to school “refreshed” for academics and has found the working world is a better fit then the academic one.