Austinmshari is exactly right about establishing a history of disability and updated diagnosis, providing an extensive history of development and specific functional limitations as they remain the same and vary of time, history of impact of the disability on schooling and life and knowing what accommodation and services work. She was also fortunate to provide quality tutoring. If I got documentation from her I would have been beyond thrilled. BtMell also has information and documentation nailed. Hurray for both of you.
Parents of students from public schools often have more difficulty with documentation. The IDEA has a group of about 11 eligibilities for services and the student must require special education, meaning the disability has an adverse impact on learning. (Not all students with disabilities need special education. Very bright and capable students with LD or other disabilities as described above seek auxiliary aids and services from the most prestigious schools in the country, When you ask about the impact of their disability, the descriptions are very clear and compelling.)
Back to special education. Sometimes, I think it is unclear whether a student needs extra assistance and the eligibility is how they get those services. A disability such as LD has been identified by at least three ways in state school codes that I know. A student may not match the eligibility criteria in his or her state. There is a long-time movement to rights without labels, but the US government is all about sorting who does or does not merit assistance in one way or another. Personally, I would use the money for school lunches, solid tutoring, and good (new) textbooks kids can take home over spending time and money sorting though paperwork to determine if the kid is eligible for food or some services.
The things that alarm me abut sped, more particularly about IEPs include: 1) evaluating a child at a young age and services continue forever under that eligibility with little evaluation of overall functioning and on-oing needs, Have even seen problems such as difficulty with counting and knowing the letters of the alphabet n a high school IEP. Now assuming homework is a good thing and helps kids nail down academic skills, why do students with eligibilities get less homework than academically capable peers? If homework doesn’t secure academic skills, then what strategies are used to secure academic skills of kids with eligibilities? If homework doesn’t have an academic goal or impact, why must everybody read Silas Marner or…? Some kids with eligibilities also get an adapted form of classroom instruction that leads to learning less than their peers. How is that helpful to kids with academic challenges? In high school, leveling the playing field means earning the same grades as peers, but standards are lower. In college, leveling the playing field means functional limitations are compensated with accommodations so every one has an equal opportunity to try and succeed or fail. I am very concerned about what is happening to some kids out of over-concern for self esteem and too much “kindness,” because I have seen to many who are under-prepared. this in NO WAY means sped teachers are not capable and concerned. Instead the law and best practices seem wonky to me.
If your child needs disability services in college,then documentation of a legal/ civil rights disability must be submitted. Ahead.org has a good set of documentation guidelines. I’d get going on the documentation asap. The IDEA does not make schools do full evaluations for college. Tell them what you need to know and why (not college) and request a re=evaluation about junior year.