College accommodations for slow processing?

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
1

DD will be attending a small, liberal arts college as a STEM major. She has slow processing and weak working memory (especially relative to comprehension and fluid reasoning; considered on the spectrum for ADHD by her doctor), executive function and fine motor challenges and is very sensitive. This has resulted in some significant academic and personal strengths but also some hindrances like anxiety, perfectionism, procrastination, and needing to spend a lot of time to get her work done (especially written work).

The high school she was in did not give her any accommodations beyond extended time which she worked around through extremely hard work.

Given her profile, are there any college-level accommodations that you have found helpful and that I should request?

Thank you for any advice (btdt or otherwise) you can share.

2

Well, are you still there? Accommodations are provided on the ACT and SAT or by campus disability services
offices on the basis of documentation guidelines that are available from the websites of testing agencies, campuses (disability service page_ and organizations such as AHEAD.org. For your student to receive accommodations at college, s/he must submit current documentation of disability. However, disability isn’t the core reason why accommodations are provided.

The main criteria for providing accommodations are the functional limitations related to the specific disability. So, having the doctor say that your daughter has difficulties on the spectrum is insufficient to trigger accommodations. She must demonstrate by description of personal impact and hard data that substantiate she has slow processing speed, poor working memory, and difficulties with executive functioning.

Therefore, there is no such thing as accommodations for slow processing speed because it manifests differently among people with this difficulty and accommodations are tied specifically to an individual’s manifestation (functional limitation). Your daughter, after she is approved for registration with the disability office, will meet with a disability services provider to discuss and decide what accommodations are appropriate to compensate for her functional limits.

Many colleges and universities offer learning centers, labs for writing or English, and other forms of services available to all students and are not so specific to one or more functional limitations. Further, her advisor can assist her with balancing her course load, deciding specific times of day that best suit your daughter. For example, is she a morning person, an afternoon person, or someone who prefers a three-hour long class in one evening. On a persona/picky, picky, picky level, I sorted through textbooks looking for a clean (without colorful underlings, writing in the margins, exclamation points,doodles, etc.) that I could personalize for my own use and study. If I couldn’t find a clean used text, I sprung for the new book (but very often had good success getting a nice used book). I found a companion textbook at the college library to match my reading.

Your daughter will take her learning strategies and preferences to college with her and should use them. Colleges admit students with disabilities who can meet academic standards with or without accommodations. Now, obviously, colleges accommodate some students in some areas but the services are far less comprehensive than those of high school. Consequently, DD must and will find her own road to academic success. I was gracious, but perplexed when parents said their student could not have graduated without me. Nonsense!! Their child was a full-fledged graduate of the institution.

Best of luck–which you make for yourself and not some random goody.

3

@EdamomE We are 3 for 3 in our house with profiles identical to your daughters (my oldest does not have the procrastination but everything else is the same). I would advise your daughter to take her IEP and testing and sit down with the proper counselor at her college and see what they suggest. It is true that by now your daughter has already learned some strategies that are working for her, and I don’t think she will require any additional extra help in college once she adjusts to the changes. FWIW my daughter went to a private school in 10th grade that had LAC like classes - discussion based, small class size, and although she struggled a bit with the pace of the conversations in class at first, once she adjusted, the format was actually very good for her slow processing speed as she had time to gather her own thoughts before raising her hand, and because topics were discussed in more depth with more repetition of concepts than when a teacher lectures at a board, she was not struggling to follow along either.

Having written notes available ( a teacher may be able to provide this) and audio versions of lectures if they exist might also help. Your daughter will also likely be able to access student tutors for many courses for extra help as needed. Sadly there is no fix for having to put in the extra hours required, but it sounds like your daughter already realizes and accepts this. There are also numerous “tricks” your daughter can try on her own to see if they help - there is a pen that will record lectures, for example, that some kids find helpful. Google accommodations for ADD inattentive or slow processing and you may see some more helpful advice.

4

I’m still here!

Thank you so much for your responses and advice. In many ways, I do think college will be easier to manage since DD will have fewer classes and they and the schedule will be of her choosing. And @chemmchimney my dd will be at a small LAC so I agree that the small class size will be to her benefit. My only concern is that the small class size will allow for more essay-based assessments but this is all to be seen! In many ways, the fresh start itself will be a boost – I feel that schools and teachers sometimes form hard and fast impressions of a student that don’t budge.

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Do you have colleges that you recommend for students like this? Maybe we should start a thread . . . .

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I have the same issue. I planned on going to a smaller school with smaller classes sizes. There are some methods you can do to cushion the transition as much as possible. For example, you can buy a take recorder and ask professor if it was alright to record and do an audio tape of the lectures. You can also request a note taker and have them sit and class and write down the important notes down. Sometimes it’s easier for me to pay attention to the teacher talking and then reviewing notes instead of taking notes while the teacher is instructing. In some cases I was told you can also request a note set from a professor that highlights the main points. It is very important you get a strong relationship with the disability support services and student advising so they can assist you on arranging your accommodations.

7

The classes and schedules aren’t totally of their choosing… there are Gen Ed and major requirements, and most people struggle with a few things along the way. Freshman often get class times they don’t like, and sometimes have to take classes that weren’t their first choice.

8

remember, you will need to have a diagnosed disability. Processing speed and executive function issues are often symptoms of other diagnoses thought the ICD 10 does now have a “frontal lobe and executive dysfunction” diagnosis.

9

There are phone apps as well as the special pens that can record audio/class lectures (the pen links the lecture to your own notes too). There are some tools like this that are very helpful but do not always require a formal accommodation (because you are not asking for different assignments or homework, getting the professors permission to record class etc. may not be a problem. )