I’d appreciate some insight into this - DD is a sophomore in HS currently taking honors Spanish 3. She is partially deaf (wears a hearing aid) and even with her 504 accommodation she is really struggling with her class this year because of all of the audio based learning. She’s managing a B/B+ but it is taking a pretty big toll on her stress wise. We’ve also been told that Spanish 4 has an even bigger audio based component. She wants to major in STEM and is in all other honors classes and AP Computer Science. If her guidance counselor identifies the reason for her dropping foreign language after this year as because of her medical disability will colleges still hold it against her in their decision making process? Additionally, would colleges respect her 504 and let her waive out of a foreign language requirement that they may have (I know we’d have to have that conversation with the specific school, but asking anecdotally)
The answer to that question is entirely college-specific. So anecdotally, some will and some won’t.
There are relatively few colleges that request 4 years of a foreign language. Completing level 3, even as a soph, “counts” as 3 years. For those few colleges that request 4 years, they also evaluate holistically; it’s unlikely that not taking a 4th year is the reason she’s rejected, if that happens.
Agree completely w/ @skieurope, and will also add as a side note that ASL counts as a ‘foreign’ language (for both hearing and non-hearing students).
But pay attention to whether a college has a foreign language graduation requirement, and (if so) whether ASL or ancient languages where the focus is on reading rather than listening can count.
If she likes Spanish and wants to keep learning, I would think there would be a niche market for online classes that let her play back recordings as much as she feels she needs to.
Again, for the college language requirement, it depends upon the college. My own college just recently changed its policy, and is now allowing ASL to fulfill the FL requirement.
For now, can the school offer her an accommodation? Is she struggling with hearing what is being said or is she struggling with how she’s hearing it (ie. the hearing aid distorts the sound)?
Look at CWRU…no req. to take language in college…and requires a minimum of 2 years FL in HS.
Thanks everyone for your comments. There are a few things going on here one of which is that the teacher doesn’t understand that her limitations aren’t learning based but they’re actually disability based. We will be having a discussion of the department head and guidance in the next few weeks. The teacher has actually said to her “well a lot of kids have trouble with the listening portion”. It’s just really stressing her out to have to keep advocating for herself and she is getting really frustrated. The audio files get distorted by her hearing aid and she feels singled out when she has to remind her teacher about her accommodations (being able to replay or using closed captioning). I know a lot of learning a foreign language is conversational but if someone is hearing impaired it is normal to ask people you speak with to slow down or speak louder. Not sure how or why her teacher doesn’t get it. Plus with Spanish 4 being so listening intensive she’s not going to get as much it of it and will continue to be stressed out. Unfortunately, school doesn’t offer ASL.
That stinks that the teacher is not getting it :(.
Sorry to hear about the teacher’s lack of understanding. Hope you sort it out.
My D dropped Spanish 4 due to workload, and still got into a pretty competitive school with a stated preference for 4 years of language…and in a subject area that will require her to do a FL to fluency level in college. So in our experience, yes the rest of the application can make up for it, especially as your D is aiming at STEM.
Re college requirements - there are surely accommodations for language learning for hearing disabled people?
You don’t have to take the language at school - few schools offer ASL, but I know rather a lot of students who have done it at their local community college.
I am a big fan of kid building their self-advocacy muscles in secondary school- they will need them in college- but it sounds as if a clear intervention with the teacher at the next level may be in order. Suggest requesting a meeting with the GC + the teacher (the GC should be up on the accommodation policies & requirements).
For the teacher to 'get it’s you may want to suggest he wears earplugs and have a short discussion in English, then have an audio in Spanish for him to listen to. The sound distortion due to the earplugs should help him ‘get’ that it’s not a matter of meaning but a matter of sound waves and their physical processing.
To answer your question, no she won’t be docked for stopping at level 3 if her GC explains it. (Make sure the GC zkes a note of it in her file).