<p>I am looking for input </p>
<p>my child is a sophmore - she has not taken a language in high school due to learning issues
she does have a waiver</p>
<p>how will this effect college applications
should she take a language - which one?</p>
<p>My son could have had a waiver. He decided to give Spanish a try. It was hard work. He used accommodations plus a private tutor and we were extremely happy for him to just pass.
Many LD kids I know take American Sign Language at the Community College.</p>
<p>My son is classified with a processing learning disability. He struggled with Spanish 1 in middle school, had a teacher who would not work with his disability and, to make a long story short, he failed the class. His Guidance Counselor in HS advised us to get a language waiver. I decided to contact a few college admission offices to see if they recognize the waiver. They all told me they didn't and he would have to take a language in college. He decided to take Spanish 1 over again. He is now is Spanish 3, received a B in spanish 1, a C in spanish 2 and is doing well in Spanish 3. If I were you, I would do some research to see if the schools your child can get into would accept the waiver before going any further.</p>
<p>Before you subject your child to foreign language instruction, make very certain that the classroom teacher is skilled in teaching the language through the use of "communicative methodologies". There are still a whole bunch out there who follow methodologies based on the memorization of vocabulary lists and grammar forms - which are fairly easy to assign as homework and to assess with written tests on paper, but also absolutely contrary to the way human brains acquire, process, and use real language.</p>
<p>You can start by asking the teacher the following question:</p>
<p>"My friend the ESL teacher is madly in love with TPR and the Berlitz method. How do these work exactly, and do you find them useful in your classroom?"</p>
<p>If the teachers know their stuff, they will definitely have an opinion about these two methods. You will learn a lot about their classroom approach from their answers.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>D1 has a language waiver and it didn't affect college admissions at all (she is a soph at a top 20 LAC). But beware, foreign language proficiency may be required as part of a college/uni's graduation reqs, distribution reqs or geneds. D solved (or sidesteped) the problem by applying to only schools offering an open curriculum (no geneds or distirb reqs).</p>
<p>OP-
Thanks for posting this. I have a D in middle school with identified reading and processing weaknesses and am concerned about foreign language at the HS level.</p>
<p>For those of you with waivers--was it difficult to obtain the wavers? My state requires 2 years for the "better" diploma, and I have not had success determining if they even offer waivers. Our school offers Spanish only, so sign language is not available as a choice.</p>
<p>A relative has a daughter that had a language waiver in high school. It didn't hold up in college. She's taking sign language in college in order to fulfill the college's language requirement.</p>
<p>If the schools won't accept the HS level language waiver, you should investigate just what the options are for meeting the language requirement. Must the student pass a course, or can they demonstrate proficiency by other means. And, just exactly what level of proficiency is required by the college/university.</p>
<p>My son did not take a foreign language because he is quite dyslexic. He took one semester of Spanish in a private middle school (he was pretty bad) and 3 semesters of Latin, the latter two were a disaster because of the teacher who claimed he worked well with kids with LDs, but really just thought my son wasn't trying. Ah well. </p>
<p>My son's neuropsychologist strongly suggested not taking a language in HS but my son wanted to (didn't want to seem weird), but I went to the head of foreign language department and asked him what we suggested. After we discussed my son's Latin fiasco, I asked him about the Novice Spanish track. He said that given my son's drive, he would probably a) work very hard; b) get good grades; and c) know no Spanish at the end of three years. Just what he needed: hard work that he would find physically painful and from which he'd learn nothing. Good enough for me to have him not take a language. So, he's going to do a month of Spanish immersion in Mexico this spring as part of his gap year. Live with a family and focus just on conversation. </p>
<p>Incidentally, at the time we decided against his taking a language, I spoke to people in the admissions offices at Princeton, Yale, and Brown and asked how they would handle a tremendously bright and tremendously dyslexic kid who hadn't taken HS Spanish but only immersion Spanish because the head of the foreign languages department and the neuropsych both advised against taking a language in a traditional read/write course. At Princeton and Yale, the admissions officer both said that language was a recommendation and not a requirement and they wouldn't count it against the kid if he did something else intellectually rigorous instead. At Brown, it is a requirement but the admissions officer thought that an explanation, with the plan to do immersion Spanish, might actually be a positive because a) it shows he was taking control of his own education; and b) speaks to overcoming adversity (a theme for Brown at the time, at least). Because my son was partially home-schooled, I explained why he didn't take a traditional language course at the HS and why he was taking the immersion one instead. He's now got his college apps in. We'll see. Some may reject him because of that. Who knows? </p>
<p>I think some state schools will not be able to look past the requirement, and if those are a possibility/likely option, you really need to investigate.</p>
<p>OP, consider having him do Concordia or something similar this summer. After that, have him take level I of the language. It may be easy for him. Also, TPR is very good for these kids-- but the teacher may be limited by curriculum if your son attends ps. If your son spends summers immersed in the language (like in Concordia), he may do ok.</p>
<p>"If the schools won't accept the HS level language waiver, you should investigate just what the options are for meeting the language requirement."</p>
<p>High school accommodations (504 plans, IEPs, etc.) are required by law - - not so for college. Colleges may "accept" a high school waiver to the extent of not requiring foreign language for ADMISSION, but the waiver is of no consequence in terms of satisfying a requirement that the student study a foreign language at the college level.</p>
<p>You should check a college's catalogue to see (1) whether foreign language proficiency is required for graduation (either as a distribution requirement or general ed requirement) and (2) precisely what level of instruction the individual college requires as evidence of "proficiency." Some schools have no language requirem, at others the language requirement can be satisfied by completing 1 year at the elem level, at other schools may require completing an intermed course or 2 semesters at the level established by the school's placement exam.</p>
<p>Also, check the school's disability site or call the disability office. Some colleges will permit exemption or course substitution, but again eligibility for accommodation will vary. Colorado College, for example, grants foreign lang exemption witha diagnosis of ADD. At other schools, a student may have to attempt a language with whatever support the college offers AND fail the course in order to be eligible for an exemption. Some schools will offer will offer ASL as an alternative to traditional foreign lang study, but that option may be limited to LD students enrolled in the school's extra-fee LD services program.</p>
<p>Sadly, most colleges will not make any determination regarding eligibility for accommodation until after the student has enrolled. When D1 (now a soph) was applying to college, we found only one uni which was willing to review D's psycho-social eval when she was admitted and make a pre-enrollment determination of her eligibility for accommodations.</p>
<hr>
<p>Srystress, NYS awards several different levels of diplomas (Regents dip, local dip, etc.). Students exempted from foreign lang study receive one of the "lesser" diplomas (local dip?), but I haven't observed any college-related adverse consequence associated with receipt of the lesser diploma - - at least no problem with pvt college, but it could be a problem at public unis (see shawbridge's post).</p>
<p>my d attends a private school. it was my understanding was that the language would not be an issue. i believe now that it is.</p>
<p>i have spoken to a couple of college admission counselors - i think she really needs to tackle the FL.</p>
<p>she will return to her local high school as a junior next year and will have to register with the freshmen. this will not be easy.</p>
<p>i am not even certain that 2 years at the beginning levels will be enough for college.</p>
<p>thanks for all the input</p>
<p>I hope my post didn't sound too frightening; I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>Isn't LD, but she's a very visual learner with a weakness in English grammar/writing to begin with. She spent four years in middle school and freshman Spanish classes (mandatory at both schools) and came out of them not able to manage even "My name is ..." These were TPRS-based classes, and just really stymied her. </p>
<p>But she's very interested in Japanese, so over the summer after freshman year, she took a class in that language at a community college, and really loved it. The writing and reading appeal much more to her visual side, and the methodology is more grammar based, which she really loves -- TPRS just never worked for her no matter how great it's supposed to be. We negotiated for her to substitute community college Japanese classes for Spanish, so now she uses that period during the school day to study her Japanese, and takes a night class once a week at the CC. </p>
<p>She still struggles, though, because it's a hard language, and she has to really work at it, but she's more motivated because she loves Japanese language and culture. She watches hours of subtitled anime a day, for educational purposes. :-) If she doesn't get a C in a class, she retakes it. At this rate, she will complete the two year program in 3 years, and get a language proficiency certificate, which will exempt her at most colleges. (Of course, she's an art student, and her top schools don't require a language.) </p>
<p>I guess the point of this is that I truly dispaired of her being able to do any sort of language work, but by finding something that made more sense to her, and working with the school, we've been able to fullfill their requirement. A number of LD kids in her school do alternate languages, too, particularly ASL, again at community college.</p>
<p>Hi --
If you'll go to the CC LD Board, you'll find a huge list of colleges that don't have a language requirement. One of the posters did extensive research and shared it.</p>
<p>What exactly is a language waiver? Is it a statement that goes along with the transcript? Does it say that the high school did not require the student to take a language class?
My D wanted to try a language, but was getting C's and D's her first semester, so at her IEP meeting, everyone around the table said, "We better let her drop at the end of the semester." Not another word was said about it. Was this a waiver?</p>
<p>As I understand it, an official language waiver should be written somewhere in the high school IEP report. A language waiver in high school does not mean that the student will be given the same accommodation at a college. If this is an issue for your child, you must do the research and find a college that does not require satisfactory completion of a language as part of its graduation requirements.</p>