New Here - Not sure where or when to start

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
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Some posters on another board suggested that I visit here. My daughter is a junior currently looking at Small LACs. She had a rough start in life and as a result has cerebral palsy. She gets along pretty well but the biggest impact to her education is her handwriting/fine motor skill challenges and what I think might be an undiagnosed processing disorder. (Reading takes her much longer - could be muscular but she does better listening to books or having someone read them to her.). She also has mild anxiety. Her 504 plan allows her to type everything (although for math it’s always an issue. Hard to do math when you can’t write well.). She is also able to answer orally at times when it’s easier and she gets copies of class notes and extended time to complete assignments that are done in a fixed amount of time like tests and quizzes.

She takes a variety of honors and AP classes and has B+ in AP classes; A/A+ in everything else. Her ACT score was 24 and very lopsided toward English. She is taking again in June after getting some help in math and luckily many of the schools she likes are test optional. She has accommodations for ACT and AP exams. Her ECs are focused on community service including working with disabled children. She does a few other clubs as well.

Sorry for all the background - just thought it would be helpful. I’m trying to find out some information on when to start the conversations with schools, any experiences or guidance on the process and of course happy to hear from anyone that has a similar child or experiences with some of the schools we are looking at. Also anxious to hear about experiences with acceptance and inclusion of kids with differences. We want her to end up at a school where people are supportive. She sometimes has issues with daily living activities. I want to know that someone will be willing to lend a hand if she gets stuck like not being able to unlock her dorm door or something.

At this point the schools she really likes are: Denison, Dickinson, St.Olaf, Clark and Skidmore. Some more competitive schools she liked were Bates, Vassar (legacy) and Colorado College and we want to visit Haverford because of the community.

Thanks for any advice. The college process has me very stressed and given her special challenges I want to make sure that she’s in an environment that will help her succeed.

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If you ever visit Dickinson, perhaps you can stop and see Elizabethtown College. I’d call it a hidden gem. The merit and academics are good. And the director of disability services is absolutely wonderful. I’d also look into the Stamps scholarship there. I really think Elizabethtown is worth investigating with all you have shared.

While we were looking for college for my oldest, I just called up different college’s disability offices. I think it gave me a good sense of what the people were like who would possibly be responsible for helping D over four years and what they could offer us. I found it very helpful.

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Definitely plan meetings at Disability Services at any school you visit (or call/email to information gather, if not visiting), but I would also strongly suggest asking if they can connect you and your daughter with a current student who has similar challenges, too. DS will give you flowers and sunshine and an actual student will give you the lowdown. :wink: Plus, if they can’t produce a student with similar issues, that suggests she’ll have trouble finding one on that campus, herself.

My daughter attends a small liberal arts college, and Disability Services assured us that they could accommodate her various needs, no problem, they do it all the time! We made the mistake of not asking to meet with students with similar issues (processing disorder necessitating extra time, for one thing), and have since encountered numerous stories of professors who “can’t give” extra time on various quizzes (for an assortment of ridiculous reasons) and DS has kind of shrugged and said “Well, the teacher has the final say.” My kid has worked around this by researching professors and making sure not to end up with ones who are problematic in this way, but I wonder if she would’ve chosen a different school if she’d known. (Perhaps not. She loves it there; I just wish we’d been clearer on how sometimes Disability Services talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.)

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I like your idea of small colleges. However, I see you mentioned schools in the Northeast. Be careful about getting around campus on snow infested sidewalks. I don’ know where you live but think you may want to have your daughter close to home. I think good sources of information could include friends, co-workers, websites with disability information, public libraries, search small colleges by state on the web, women’s colleges… There seem to be more small schools in the South.