Foreign Language: to waive or not to waive

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
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<p>Struggling with decision for daughter who enters high school next year. She does not have 504 but has processing issues and can get waived for language. I think this is the right path for her in many ways - she can focus on other academics and get better grades, better self-esteem. However, I would like to know how it will impact our college search. Are there enough schools out there that will take kids with no high school foreign language? She would not be looking at ivies or even selective schools.</p>

<p>What schools admit kids who have received waivers in language due to learning differences? There was one thread a couple of years ago that listed University of Rochester and University of the Pacific.</p>

2

<p>I would hope that colleges are doing more waivering, with the idea that a language-based learning disability makes taking a foreign language an unfair challenge. I suggest you have your daughter take American Sign Language (maybe appeal to your school to offer this as a choice for LD students) in HS. Some universities (i.e. NEU) offer that as an alternative to foreign language to meet the requirement in college. My son had to take one semester of ASL and one semester of Deaf Culture. Check with some colleges your daughter may be interested in, and find out if this is acceptable. I agree with your decision not to have her take a foreign language now - it will compromise her other classes and lower her GPA and self-esteem. It's good you are thinking early - you have 4 years to do your HW!</p>

3

<p>Another possibility: Latin</p>

<p>I don't know the specifics of your daughter's disability, but if the trouble is spoken language, this may be a solution (as is ASL).</p>

<p>Edit: And the added bonus of Latin is that it is relatively mainstream in high school curricula and would not raise any 'red flags' for the adcom. Everyone takes a different approach, but if your daughter were to waive language altogether, I suppose she would also disclose her LD within her college application. With Latin, this would not be necessary, as it seems perfectly standard.</p>

<p>If you're interested:<br>
<a href="http://www.camws.org/cpl/educators/LatinforLDbrochure.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.camws.org/cpl/educators/LatinforLDbrochure.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>Yes, I am looking into ASL classes in the area. She is taking Latin now in middle school, and that is a possibility too. Unfortunately, the Latin teacher at her school does not exactly fit the bill as an "ideal teacher for students with learning disabilities" as described in the brochure you attached.</p>

<p>At this point I am not nearly as concerned about fulfilling the language requirement once she gets into a school, as I want to know which schools she can still get into without foreign language on her transcript.</p>

<p>Having waived foreign language in high school, my niece just got accepted this month to: Hobart, Denison and University of Denver. I would love to hear where other kids who chose to waive language were accepted.</p>

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<p>My Aspie son took three years of French. The first year was in 8th grade with a teacher he really liked and he did fine. The second year he did fine on daily work and got a 57 on the semester exam and a 63 on the final. Sophomore year he was able to waive one final and he waived French.</p>

<p>Everytime I see a description of what GPA a given college requires to keep need based aid, it worries me, because if he has to take a foreign language in college, I can see his GPA really dipping.</p>

6

<p>Schools may admit students w/ lang waivers, but be careful b/c those same schools may require lang for graduation (strange but true). </p>

<p>Also, be aware that the assessment for accommodation (language waiver or course substitution) is made AFTER the student enroll. Wore still, in some cases the lang waiver or course substitution is offer only after the student has attmpted the lang cousres - - and failed.</p>

<p>There are, however, a number of schools that do nor require foreign lang study. Many of them are top LAC/uni in the N'east (URoch, Hamilton, Smith, etc.) that do not have any general ed requirements or distrib requirements. At other schools (Franklin Marshall, or example), students choose a math class or a lang class. This will work for some kids, but the two subjects for which most students seek exemption ar - - you guessed it, math and lang.</p>

<p>I found that southern and mid-western schools often had more reqs than colleges in the n'east. Also, more requirements among the large unis than small unis (like URoch) and LACs.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p>If you were able to list schools that you researched that did not require foreign language for entrance, I would so appreciate it. Even if they "recommend" the foreign language. </p>

<p>I just got the K&W book for kids with LD and I was so disappointed with it. No section about language at all. No rating system for how "LD Friendly" any of the schools they catalog are. Missing many of the schools in which I am interested. </p>

<p>I am really shocked at how hard it is to ferret out this kind of information.</p>

8

<p>My mantra has been, "no short-cuts." </p>

<p>You will simply have to call each school and speak to an admissions office. Evey school in which D1 was intersted (mostly top schools) admitted some students w/o the recommended number of years of lang study or w/o and lang at all. A friend who home-schooled her boys was the first to alert me to this. </p>

<p>Again, admission is just the first step. You will still have to check the catalogues to see what, if any foreign lang distrib, gend ed or graduation requirements exist - - and then call the disability office to see whether the school routingely grants exemptions as an LD accommodation.</p>

<p>FYI - - there's not a whole lot of evid that LD students succeed w/ ASL as opposed to traditional foreign lang study. I was surprised to hear a numbe of LD specialists suggest Asian lang as an alternative for some LD kids (ADD kids, I believe).</p>

<p>D1 ended up applying ED, but the schools on her list (all of which courted her - - ok grades, great test scores, DivI caliber athete): Wesleyan, Smith, Hamilton, Kenyon, URoch, Oberlin, Trinity, Conn College, Wheaton, Case, Hobart/WmSmith (safety) and Wooster (safety). D2, a hs soph, is a student of more modest abilities, so I'm starting from scratch.</p>

<p>D1 attends LAC w/o a LD program. LACs are generally accommodating and the schs on D1's list are known to excell in that area - - and still, I have been surprised by the full array of services available through the disability office. To characterize her sch as "LD friendly" would be a gross understatement. I am hoping (and working towards) an equally good outcome for D2.</p>

9

<p>My son took no languages and had a waiver in HS. Not a great GPA, but terrific test scores, and he was admitted to all his safeties (Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan,and Earlham), as well as Conn College and Bates.</p>

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<p>My dh alerted me to an article online today about how dyslexics who are native English speakers and dyslexics who are native Chinese speakers have different things going on in their brains. Evidently the pictograms are processed in a different area of the brain than phonetic alphabets. Weirdly, we've done Chinese in our homeschool with our older children but I was afraid to even try it with our dyslexic son. Guess I'll have to give it a try :-)</p>

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<p>Here's the link to that article: Brains</a> of Dyslexics Differ in Chinese and English Readers | Science Blog</p>

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<p>This is an old thread but this issue is new to me, as of today. My D, who has visual processing issues but does not have dsylexia, may be given a language waiver. She’s stumbled through three years of Spanish and has just begun boarding as a sophomore. The learning specialist told me today that the waiver WILL keep her out of many “top” schools. My first thought was that if so, then it goes against the nondiscrimination laws. My second thought was, should we try Mandarin given that it does tap a different area of the brain. Lastly, does anyone now have additional experience with the effects of high school language waivers on college admissions.</p>

13

<p>How many years of language are these “top schools” looking for? I’m pretty sure you can count 8th and 9th grade, giving your D two years at this point. No one questioned my D’s transcript, but she didn’t apply to top 100 schools. She had no foreign language classes. I think you’ve got to contact a few schools your D might be interested in and find out what they want. Switching languages may not count for much.</p>

14

<p>My HS freshman is taking ASL. I went to back to school night and the teacher informed us that a state law was recently passed requiring colleges (I’m assuming public colleges) to accept ASL as a FL the same way it does any other language. This is a positive step for ASL.</p>

<p>I know my DS will do well in ASL because it’s all visual. He has reading comprehension problems, so trying to learn a FL like Spanish would be very difficult for him.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>

15

<p>We are dealing with this right now. D is a freshman, language LD, ADD. Spanish is the only FL offered at our school. She tried very hard this fall, but it was dismal. We have dropped Spanish. We are meeting Tuesday to discuss whether to try Latin or ASL. She very much wants FL, as 3 years (same language) is required for an Academic Honors Diploma in our state. I am not optimistic she will be able to master 3 years, or that we will be able to find a 3 year on line program. I think having to take it online will compound the problems.</p>

<p>I have directed contacted several colleges on her radar. Her current top choice (and where I think she will ultimately attend) will waive the entrance requirement and also let their students substitute culture classes for their gen ed requirement.</p>