<p>At my first school the disabilities office just provided carbon paper for me or my professors to give to a willing volunteer. At this school they offered free use of their copy machines or carbon paper to a willing volunteer-- I just ended up buying my own carbon paper for whatever reason and the professor asked the class for a volunteer-- sent out a mass email saying that a student in the class has a disability and needs someone to assist with notes. She gives one of the copies of notes to the professor at the end of class, then I pick it up after everyone leaves, or in the event of a large lecture class I pick it up in the drop box at the professors office. I once had a volunteer who typed all her notes, who I identified myself to because I’d had a few classes with her and she’d been my notetaker more than once, and she just emailed them to me after class. No big deal.</p>
<p>Unless there is a shortage of willing volunteers, which I suppose could be the case though I’ve never experienced it, I’m not sure why anybody bothers to actually hire people. It seems like the resource of a notetaker would be much more accessible if they didn’t have to go through a hiring process and pay people to do it.</p>
<p>Missypie- I think you need to move to a different state!
There is no way a note taker should be such a huge deal. For my son the professor would ask another student if they would be willing to share their notes. I think the student received a small fee. The school did not hire a special notetaker.My son also had professors who gave him hard copies of their teaching notes and of any power points. It has never been an issue.
Also you might consider getting him live scribe. I think that is what it called. Costco sells it online. It records the lecture while you are taking notes on special paper. I bought it for my son but he never used it but your son might.</p>
<p>With the community college disablities lady I got a distint vibe of “I am following the laws and the rules; no more no less.” I have a feeling that they don’t have much control over volunteer notetakers, thus the notes might be incomplete or nonexisent, thus we might sue, thus instead they need to spend a lot of time and money hiring notetakers.</p>
<p>I would hope that the people who work in the disabilities field would be those who have a passion for helping people. And the belief that every student should have the opportunity to reach their potential. Sounds like the people you have encountered should apply for a job at the Department of Motor Vehicles. (at least in our state the DMV is know for rude and unhelpful employees)
I must admit that when my son visited colleges he went with my H. I made all the arrangements and made sure that a visit to the disabilities office and director were a part of each visit. They were able to get a good feel for the services and how helpful the person was going to be. They were very impressed with the program at Willamette for those of you out there looking.
Also I just checked at our local CC they have a Learning center that is staffed with tutors in all subjects. It is open Mon-Thur 8 am-8 pm Friday till 4 pm. This is for all students. The school also has a Math Lab and a Writing Lab. Granted the tutors are other students so I am not sure how great some of them are. And this is in cash strapped California. Is this abnormal?</p>
<p>^That sounds just like my old CC. Our program there was wonderful, and this is in Michigan. At my university now I think they have most of the parts of a good program but they aren’t all working together yet. I am working with my student organization to help improve that, we are kicking off a mentoring program this year for new students with disabilities to promote the development of self-advocacy skills specific to our university and to encourage integration into the university community. It’s a shame that there aren’t more students willing to go the extra mile to extend the services offered by the disabilities offices.</p>
<p>Well, one thing the DSS lady told me in no uncertain terms is that she can’t have a thing to do with tutoring…she can’t arrange for a tutor or get him into the science resource center. Those things are available to students, but she said that if she got involved with them, she would lose her job.</p>
<p>Seems like it would be very easy to coordinate tutoring with disabilities services…at least make introductions, arrange a meeting, etc.</p>
<p>Are you trying to work with TCC, missy pie? Because that is one of the most incompetent bunch we’ve ever dealt with.</p>
<p>Skip the “DSS lady” and email (or even better, make an appointment with) Dr. Lace, the current Vice Chancellor for Community Services. I believe he would be the boss of the DSS lady, and why keep spinning your wheels trying to get satisfaction from her? She sounds like she has no authority anyway.</p>
<p>I would go straight to the top if it’s as bad as you say.</p>
<p>I suggest you go to the head supervisor of disabilities office and request that money be funded for the professor to offer another student a job as notetaker. The other student simply has to zerox his notes to give your son and be paid for it. </p>
<p>There is absolutely no excuse not to provide a notetaker if there is a documented need.</p>
<p>The other thing to consider is if your son is more comfortable with visual supports and stay away from professors who are giving all info. orally.</p>
<p>I’m not a parent but I’m a student who took Bio last year and I have a severe visual disability that gives me poor hand-eye coordination and note-taking, since we were assigned an overabundance of notes each night. For labs - he’ll just have to learn a different way to do things - for instance, when my classmates used microscopes I had the pictures projected on a TV - the teacher does sound kinda harsh but doesn’t your son have a 504 plan to cover that? I hope it all goes well - I know my situation isn’t exactly the same but I thought I would offer my experiences.</p>
Go to someone else who supervises the person you’ve been dealing with. I experienced my share of nightmares from individuals who should be working for the DMV, and it’s most effective when you have a totally legitimate reason that’s not being addressed, like this, that they’ll wake up and realize how bureaucratic they’ve become…especially when you take it to a top level person.</p>
<p>@Emaheevul07- I’m glad to hear what’s happening at the university… I’ve been pushing them for TWO years on these particular issues. Let’s see if these new ideas and plans go through for this year. I certainly gave them a earful every semester!</p>
<p>@OP
Where does it say in the manual that in order for a notetaker to be approved, it has to go through 5 departments? It’s quite unreasonable. If it’s not on paper, insist on using student notetakers. Professors are good at spotting organized students after a few lectures and this professor should be able to recommend a few students. Besides, wouldn’t a student notetaker be cheaper than a professional? No student’s ever said no to getting paid to take notes in a class and just xeroxing notes a few times a week (Since I was in humanities, I had my notetakers just make copies by Friday afternoons).</p>
<p>As for tutoring, I would imagine, without the 504, it will be difficult to gain easier access. If his particular weakness in science is explicit on his IEP/504, then they should consider it. If it doesn’t exist, then he’ll have to take his turn. I used to have serious English/foreign language issues so I was able to get accommodations in writing center and for exams. I needed them as my weakness was already stated on my IEP/504 that my English/foreign language language skills were weak and I needed assistance in that particular area. Didn’t apply to my science and math classes. I never got extra time on my math and science exams, only anything involving writing.</p>
<p>Ignore the syllabus’ tone- if there’s no curve, there’s no curve. He gets what he gets. Make-up exams are very, very rare at college level anyway so your S better do his best to show up. Sounds like a fair, nonsense professor to me that gets whiny students to shut up fast.</p>
<p>He will eventually get the notetaker - it’s just that the DSS lady made a huge deal and tried to talk Son out of it. In one class, there is another Aspie kid that Son has known since kindergarten - they could both use the same notetaker.</p>
<p>ticklemepink-- the office has been very receptive to all my ideas and has been all about helping me implement them, and even told me that if my organization has any good ideas (like the mentoring program) they’ll try to get them into their budget. They’ve been really supportive about the whole thing, and I am actually being presented with an award in a few weeks. This was by far the best university for this little activist to get her education! We are also starting an autism social group for students this year, too.</p>
<p>But, ideally one has all these programs in place when they arrive at school, rather than having to make them up by themselves when they get there and realize they can’t get what they need. lol. But Mich will get there in time. I guess they just needed some fresh minds on the problem and someone with enough time, energy, and tenacity to do the legwork for them.</p>
<p>Re the tutor: this is when the “modification” in high school collides with the “access” of college. I’ve yet to see a student come in with “tutoring” as an accommodation. It’s an access issue. Colleges have to do what they can to make sure the student has the same access to an education as everyone else. As a result, there are many classroom accommodations, but darn few for work done outside of class. For insance, as school might have to provide a someone to sign during a class taught by a deaf student. The do not (and will not) provide the interpreter if the student wants to join an out of class study group. If the college offers tutoring to all students, and there’s nothing that bars a disabled student from gaining access to the service, there won’t be accommodations.</p>
<p>Similarly, IEPs and 504 plans only fall under public k-12 schooling. They are not applicable/part of ADA regulations (followed by higher education) and unfortunately have no legal bearing on higher ed accommodations in the traditional sense.</p>
<p>But I thought that the disabilities office could provide “access” to the tutoring center. If the means of getting a tutor is difficult or hard to navigate, it would make sense for the disablities office to help with that process.</p>
<p>Not exactly sure what you mean about “access” to a tutor. Does that mean your son has difficulty finding the room? He doesn’t know how (or where) to sign up? He doesn’t do well with schedules? Some of this might be handled at home, with you, over the internet. Some of this may just take some tenacity and constant follow-up (which, if he’s like my son, is always in short supply.) But some of this is also just common sense. </p>
<p>I suggest you let your son try to navigate the process as much as possible before you step in. The more he can do on his own, the more he’ll be able to take over the process. Too much coddling (from you and your DH) isn’t always helpful. Look past his disabilities label and see he needs to start to do this on his own. He only has a few more years of college before he’s out in “the real world” and ouch, it’s hard for our kids.</p>
<p>With his track record, he has only *this semester *of college before he’s out in “the real world” if he’s not successful. He’s running out of options and if you flunk out of community college, the options involving higher ed are pretty much nonexistent.</p>
This was by far the best university for this little activist to get her education! We are also starting an autism social group for students this year, too.</p>