While there are no IEPs per se, our son’s HS IEP was translated into some official accommodations by the disabilities services office at his college.
Yes, both 504 and IEP accommodations will be considered.
I also think that its important to note something that I think I learned on CC a year or two ago: that many, many students with documented disabilities and college accommodations will not use them initially. They want to fit in,to not be different, etc. And even with this knowledge, my D fit right into that category her first semester! (I believe that she has given the accommodations info to her professors this semester but I could be wrong.). One part of being seen as an adult at college (and FERPA?) is that students have to bring that info to their instructors themselves, which is rather ironic if they are dealing with attention and organizational issues. When my D was ready to accept her accommodations, she couldn’t find the Disability Services forms.
Also, at my current academic institution as well as at my D’s, one cannot just hand in a 504 or IEP for consideration for college accommodations. My D needed a totally new (well, summer before Senior year HS was okay) neuropsych eval. But we did not pay for it; our state’s OVR did. So investigate that possbiliity with your special ed. liason/caseworker during high school.
This is now 2 years old, but is a fabulous article from the Hechinger report on colleges addressing the needs of students with LD. I encourage you to read the whole article. Its excellent.
http://diverseeducation.com/article/60767/
To follow up on the IDEA vs ADA issue, IDEA addressed the right to an education. These included mandated special education services. In contrast, Section 504 of the Rehab act focus more in civil rights-- removing barriers, preventing discrimination and providing equal access to learning with accommodations or auxiliary aids and services. So, while yes, some accommodations provided in HS may be available in college, others will not. Its unlikley, unless provided by an outside agency like Dept of Rehab in your state, that a student will have a 1:1 aide, a person like a parapro, etc. While the student may be able to take a lighter load, but only in special circumstances might course or curriculum will be modified.
As for the working environment once a student leaves college- these are real concerns and issues to be faces by employees and employers. The ADA kicks in if the employee can first perform the essential functions of their job. And often smaller companies are exempt form having to make significant accommodations if it is seen as unduly burdensome. I think (this is from memory) smaller companies with less than 50 employees were exempt, or had some break from the requirement. . Again, this is from memory, so apologies if its not quite right.
Not true.
An IEP can contain accommodations as well. This is not unique to a 504 accommodation plan.
But colleges do not have to provide exactly the same accommodations for a college student. For example, one accommodation we use often is that a case manager will communicate accommodations to staff. This absolutely won’t happen in college…because there are no special education case managers. The student needs to access accommodations themselves.
@MomofM, our son had the same attitude as your daughter. Once he got to college, even though we set up the accommodations, he didn’t want to use them (and didn’t want to take his ADHD medication or use the organizational coach we had arranged). That first semester was a very bumpy ride, and he would have done much better in some of his required gen ed courses had he accepted some help, but I’m also proud of him for wanting to see whether he could cope on his own. He’s still an organizational mess, but seems to be staying afloat and is very happy. So we are just making sure help is available if he needs it, and letting him make his own choices about if and when to use it. Fingers crossed…
My son is also has slow processing. Most schools have 2 processes one for medical disabilities and the other for learning disabilities. For medical disabilities they will often accept a letter from a Dr. For learning disabilities they want a recent neuropsych. My son is used to advocating for himself so we are OK for that. He doesn’t usually have to use extended time for his tests because they have double periods here so the tests are rarely that long and they let him ask for extended time at any point. For college he has to decide before he even sees what the tests are like and he always wants to try without. He also has not needed note taking assistance because they usually have power points for notes that the teachers give him so he thinks he’s fine for taking notes even though it;s not a skill he has ever worked on and it touches on processing speed and auditory processing which is also an issue. He is planning to go to a school that tends to smaller classes and somewhat of a caring atmosphere so I think he’s going to be OK as he figures this all out for himself. I will help him get things set up but after that I don;t expect he’ll need my help. We have also talked extensively about needing to read course and professor reviews before registration and taking a good ratio of classes that have big reading loads because he can’t handle too many classes with a lot of reading at one time.
It is worth noting that the level of accommodation required by law in high school is higher than that available at the college level. The level is higher prior to college because that schooling is compulsory.
At the college level, an accommodation cannot pose undue administrative or financial burden on the school, and also cannot substantially change the academic program. There are gray areas and precedents are being slowly established in the courts when students/families take it that far.
@compmom:
[QUOTE}At the college level, an accommodation cannot pose undue administrative or financial burden on the school, and also cannot substantially change the academic program.
[/QUOTE]
This is very true. The students with accommodations at my university typically get extra time, use of calculator, a note-taker, if needed, and other , what I would call “general” accommodations. There is no in class support, like there is in high school. My DS reports that the kids in his high school science class with an IEP get a lot of in class support, with specific worksheets which elaborate on the material covered etc. I don’t think many colleges can provide this level of accommodation, especially for the upper level courses.
As I said in # 64, the rules for k-12 education are, under IDEA, a mandated right to an education. So, if these accommodations are documented as necessary for the child to have an adulation, they are put in place. In some cases, if a public school/school system cannot provide the necessary accommodations, the system pays for the child to be educated privately in a school that can provide this.
In contrast, at the college level, there is no mandated right to an education. They are now under section 504 of the Rehab act and ADA disability guidelines. This is to prevent discrimination and provide equal access, but there is no guaranteed right to an education at the college level.
just another experience that i can report. our kid was unable to get support of any kind from high school, despite documented medical condition PLUS processing speed at about the tenth percentile. they just would not budge, even when we hired an advocate. because kid was able to accommodate and actually pass the classes. failure (with an F) was required before they would activate a 504. yes, i know this is illegal, but the struggle became so damaging (snarky comments from principal to child, etc) we dropped it. fast forward to state flagship college. bad bad news at the start, won’t get into it, but a complete re set was required. the college was extremely helpful, put a nice plan in place, with a coach, no extra charge. Contrary to those who told us a 504 in college couldn’t happen unless you already had one in K-12…this university is really trying to help.
FYI, we used to be those “what about the real world?” type parents…super tough, super hands off, Darwinian really. But when your own child is suffering, somehow pride in their independence becomes a lot less important. Would the parent of a diabetic say “take responsibility for your own glucose” when they have the ability to monitor at a distance through a smart phone? would the parent of an injured athlete say “go ahead and limp, i don’t have room to drag a crutch around for you in my car”? Although I did not think this way about learning disabilities before (that we should help our kid in any way possible), I sure do now!!! I need that kid on the tax rolls paying for my social security. and I am hoping for some success that will bring them happiness.
That’s terrible about your HS, thingamajig. Some schools claim that if a student is able to perform on grade level, they don’t need/qualify for accommodations. Very frustrating. But yes, thankfully many (though not all) colleges are more flexible and open minded and again, because the criteria are different in HS/college , may be willing/able to provide support when it wasn’t in HS.
My daughter also has a slow processing speed and difficulty with math - this can indicate a non verbal learning disorder as well. OP may want to mention this possibility to the evaluator. Now that my daughter is in small discussion based classes, there is more class time for her to process and her processing speed has been a nonissue although extended time on SATs was helpful and she does have a tutor for math. She works slowly but doesn’t have any trouble with college level work because the class format works better for her than a typical high school class where a teacher lectures and covers a lot of material at a fast pace.
Thank you for starting this thread @sbjdolro. We had a very thorough report from a multi-day evaluation at CSULA (which is the Southern California Diagnostic Center), and we lived near you at the time (No. County Coastal). It was paid for by the school district. Since your DS2 has not yet matriculated, perhaps he is still under their purview, or under SD Regional Center, or Dep’t of Rehab?
My DC ABSOLUTELY refused any Disabilities services. Over time that has changed, and I have my fingers crossed that they will have a good outcome.
Your DS2 may want to look at having a note-taker. My DC has auditory processing speed issues and is on the ASD spectrum and so it is not the notes, but the emphases and nuances of the delivery that can be picked up by comparing their own notes to that of a note-taker. DC is almost 21, so I have less and less insight into their daily life.
Once a week meetings with a life-skills coach is very helpful to scaffold executive function issues.
Also, the peculiarities of the 2E my DC possesses seems to endear them to the academic advisor and his OSD point-person to the extent that they have become more proactive over time (we are in the 5th quarter, after 2 semesters at a community college) and will communicate with Profs. and accompany DC to Financial aid and other red-tape-cutting things. They are a real prize!
Also, I will say, especially an Ivy League school (but any school, really) will likely be very personable and try to retain him through graduation. Take heart in @Hanna’s story of being bumped out of Harvard and them working with her to get her graduated. Plus the example of your DS1 at MIT will help DS2 keep the goal in mind. Keep positive! I know I was at the end of my rope of despair several times over the past 4-5 years (for us it went back into HS).
In the work world, most small companies, as well as large companies, will work with quirks and mannerisms, as well as LD’s and medical conditions. I find people are compassionate in many settings.
My son has been formally assessed 3 times: at 8, 15 and 17. The first and the last were the most thorough.
Processing speed is an issue, but accommodations have been for the ADHD and Dyslexia diagnoses. He is allowed 50% more time on all internal and external assessments (exams) that are administered at the school, but not take home writing assessments. Dyslexia is the reason for this accommodation rather than the processing speed issue, but seems to address both none the less. It’s my personal opinion that the processing speed issue is closely related to the Dyslexia, but there may be other causes. He tests as gifted, but his reading comprehension scores were below average. When more time was allowed to process what he read, his scores increased dramatically to close to the gifted rage.
He discussed his learning issues and current accommodations in high school with admissions staff when interviewing and it didn’t seem to be a problem. They stated that those were common on campus. Other than 50% more time on tests, he also tests in a small group in a quiet room and can use a keyboard. That’s all.
It’s my impression that with a formal diagnosis and documentation that colleges will grant accommodations. But the student must remember to request them for every exam. There may be different procedures, but that is quite common based on my own research. So researching disability services for each college is necessary. And that s/he learn to advocate for themselves.
The first step of course is to find a good educational psychologist to conduct the assessments. I interviewed several before making a decision. Sometimes speaking to them twice. If they can’t understand your need to interview them, take them off the list. Make sure that they are doing the actual testing or that it’s someone in their office who has many years of experience, not a newbie. That they do the testing themselves is preferred. Ask around in your community about reputation. Also make sure they provided you with a detailed pre-assessment questionnaire(s), are clear about the learning and behavioral issues and ask which assessments they use. When you receive the report, don’t hesitate to question anything you don’t understand or if you think it’s incomplete. Changes can be made. This may sound a bit aggressive, but not all educational psychologists are created equal. Most are very good.
Regarding fees … almost $2k. I don’t know how you can improve on that. Like with most services, less $ spent = less service.
I hope this is helpful.
Thing about cost is-we just don’t have the money for private testing so I am going to hope that the local state univ. testing, if they have his previous testing and understand him (and they really were eager to see all previous testing), will do a good job of identifying any learning disabilities.
I’ll hope for the best.
@sbjdorlo
Good fortune to you. I hope everything works out for the best for your child.
Our medical insurance pays for half or more of our child’s comprehensive neuropsych eval.
Last I checked, ours didn’t pay for any of it. We got burned once in thinking it did. The doctor was covered by insurance, but the testing wasn’t. My mistake, I guess. I’ll check again for this year, though.
Thanks to all for sharing experiences, thoughts, and well wishes. I appreciate it very much!