There are 2 MBTA commuter rail train stations about the same distance - 15 minutes - from campus (and both are on the same Providence-Stoughton line which will take you to either Providence or Boston).
You’d get on at Mansfield or Attleboro (either works).
To get into Providence, get off at the Providence stop (we’ve walked from there to Brown University area). Providence has a lot to walk to - lots of coffee shops, places to eat, museums, the river, etc. For Boston, get off at Back Bay or South Station depending on which area of town you’re going. It’s about 30-40 minute train into Boston or 25-30 minute train to Providence. (There is also some limited ability for Wheaton students to take a class at Brown).
If you need a ride to the station, you can use GATRA (shuttle bus) - it’s not just for Wheaton students, but it is FREE for Wheaton students and picks up 2 different places on campus.
I believe students who are headed to NJ, NY etc. over breaks can take that same MBTA commuter rail into Providence and then switch at that station to Amtrak (at least, that’s what I’ve seen discussed by other parents, and my son dropped his NJ-based roommate off at the Mansfield station for that purpose last semester).
Providence and Boston are great for all of this, and there are lots of beach areas (both MA and RI), but the closest of all these things to Norton would be the concerts at Xfinity Center. It’s ~7 minutes from campus (but as an outdoor venue, concerts are mostly April-October, I think). Norton is not a prime spot for international food and cute coffee shops. Bagels and Cream is a coffee/bagel spot that we enjoy, but it’s the only one in Norton that I know of (Dunkin’ abounds, of course). Norton is more an Italian food, sub shops, etc. kind of place.
@3SailAway i think the key here is…what sorts of supports does your son need now in high school? Do you or his team at school feel he will need similar supports to attain his potential in college? If so…it will be very important to look at the disabilities offices at any college to see how they handle supports. This does very.
It sounds like he is already learning to be an advocate for himself, and that is very very important in college. There isn’t a case manager or some other member of the faculty who will make sure your son gets whatever he needs, and has been determined necessary by the disabilities offices at the colleges. Your son will very much need to become his own best advocate and seek help when needed.
If your son has an IEP, there should be a transition plan as part of this. I would suggest you review this, if it is the case, and discuss with his case manager at school. They can give you advice on how to best seek the supports needed as he moves on to college.
He will need current assessments for the college disabilities office to review…so do make sure that happens.
@nichols51 I started to feel like I might have missed some posts on this thread, so I went back and found your message about your S21! He does sound very similar to my son, which definitely makes me want to get to Wheaton for a visit. We didn’t know the curriculum is so open. Do you know whether you can only do one Sophomore Experience class? Or could you do one each semester Sophomore year, or one as a Sophomore and one as a Junior? Sometimes those types of classes are really cool, interdisciplinary, small, and with great mentoring by the professor, but you can only take one. Just curious!
We are lucky that S24 is a such social learner because it drives him to seek help. He gets curious about something, or he wants to work through a concept out loud, so he goes in to see his teachers during off periods. I don’t think he will receive accommodations beyond extra time because he was declassified halfway through freshman year (after receiving resource room, speech, OT and PT from age three on).
Thanks so much for sharing about your son’s experience. It sounds like you hit that sweet spot you wanted for him where he’s challenged and growing, but also confident and at home. Congrats!
There’s so much great information here. We’ve had great success with a language waiver, it’s something you may want to consider for him. In lieu of a language my son took an additional “solid”. When I had a language waiver (way back when) they requested a history class that focused on a foreign culture/time period. Other students use the extra time in their schedules for a study hall or a lighter elective.
I did receive advice along the way to push my kid to struggle his way through an online, summer or immersion class (almost exclusively for the benefit of the college application process) but ultimately for us it was clear that his dyslexia made learning a foreign language incredibly difficult. It felt more genuine (for us) to have a language waiver accommodation and use that time in his schedule to dive deeper into other classes. It sounds like you have reached your language requirements for HS, but it’s something you might want to request as an accommodation in college.
Obviously, it is best to check on colleges’ foreign language graduation requirements and whether they may be waived in some circumstances before matriculating to a college, if completing such a requirement would be too difficult for the student.
He was declassified because he had learned everything they had to teach him in resource room, and was seeking extra help on his own. He is no longer a special ed student, and no longer has an IEP. The only accommodation he has is extra time. The district officially keeps extra time as an accommodation in the student record because teachers are not allowed to grant it at their own discretion. We did not pursue a 504 as he had the accommodation he needed.
Our experience has been that college accommodations are separate from high school. While accommodations for the SAT/ACT are founded on previous school accommodations, I think college is a new thing. IEP’s and 504’s “expire” after high school and don’t translate into college accommodations. From what I’ve seen, colleges want evaluation/documentation of the disability from outside the school (doctors, psychologists), and will make their own decisions.
I could easily be wrong, and some colleges may require a high school record of IEP/504. Maybe someone out there knows…it’s a very knowledgeable group!
As far as I know, colleges are not asking good students with dyslexia to leave without a diploma because they can not pass foreign language. Apart from that, people with dyslexia are not incapable of learning language. It’s a matter of the extra time, effort and energy which must be spent due to a language learning disability. The centers of their brains for processing sounds and syllables are actually smaller than those in neurotypical brains, and the ability to hold letters in their short term memory is impaired. The pathway a dyslexic brain takes to process the nuts and bolts of language is also not as efficient as it is in a neurotypical person, so it is slower and glitchier. (Interestingly, with early intervention in Orton-Gillingham or Lindamood-Bell, dyslexic brains begin to process language more like neurotypical ones, and this is a lasting change.)
Every kid is different, but I can speak for my two dyslexic kids. D21 got through seven years of Latin by absolutely shining in Roman history and mythology, and spending untold hours in creative study methods for the rest. She had so much trouble getting Latin words into her long-term memory that instead, she would memorize the English translations of Vigil, Ceasar, and Sappho. She could then match the English lines to the Latin by using key Latin words on the tests, rather than actually translating the Latin. Compared to her neurotypical friends who could memorize a vocabulary list in an hour, she was spending weeks memorizing pages in English, and then using mnemonics and tricks to remember the key Latin words. It was great for her discipline and study skills, and she wanted to do it, but you can see that a language waiver would have allowed her to put that time and energy in a more useful direction.
S24 could absolutely take college Spanish, especially if they allowed him to take the beginner level. He could also pass it because he is basically a master at compensating for his disability, similar to his sister. But is that type of commitment of resources to one subject what the college had in mind when they instituted a language requirement? If he were to fail Spanish because he was not willing to prioritize it above all other subjects, carefully balance his workload etc., would one of the colleges on his list really deny him a diploma? Maybe some posters would say they should, because rules are rules. Maybe I would have said that before I got a close up education in what dyslexia really means.
You are correct in that IEPs and 504 plans previously held do not in and off themselves carry over to college. BUT…the colleges do need current data that supports the need for accommodations. Often when a student has an IEP or 504 in HS, there is sufficient recent data to support continuing this in college.
It sounds like this student is doing some great things in terms of independence, and self advocacy.
I would very strongly suggest you discuss how your school is documenting your son’s continued need for extra time. You also mention someplace a possible need for recorded lectures (or something like that). Again….supportive data will be needed by the college disabilities office to support these continued accommodations.
It does sound like this student is successful with these so do be sure to find out exactly what is needed for them to continue.
Adding…colleges absolutely will use this evaluation data done by school personnel. Our school psych and special education personnel did many evaluations with high school juniors (near the end of that year) or seniors so that colleges would have the necessary data to continue services. HOWEVER, this was done as part of the transition plan for kids with IEPs…and our district did so with 504 students as well.
Since your student no longer receives special education services or accommodations through a 504…I’m not sure that the district will do this unless it’s done as a new referral.
In addition to @thumper1 advice above I would contact the Office of Disability Services at a couple of colleges to understand exactly what type of documentation, HS history etc. is needed to qualify for additional time at the college level. I’m not sure if the process will be more difficult since he has no formal supports (ex. IEP, 504) in place now. (And definitely do this before making a final college choice.)
Regardless of what they say, schools vary greatly in their willingness and ease of obtaining accommodations. Investigate each carefully and assume nothing.
I have been through this process twice with two different colleges. My S17 is ADHD and S22 is ADHD and dyslexic. They attended a private high school, so we did not have an IEP or 504 plan. We were advised to have a full neuro psych evaluation done when they turned 16. Our school learning specialist told us that would be accepted as documentation at every college in the country. In both cases, we were not asked for any additional info from the colleges but the psychologists report did include information about the accomodations they had been using in high school. In both cases, the schools granted every accomodation recommended in the psychologists’ report. I have heard from friends whose kids have gone through the public school system that some colleges are not requiring a full Neuro psych report and will accept documentation from the school system. I don’t believe the absence of an IEP would preclude accomodations at most colleges, but having one could potentially save you the couple of thousand dollars you would have to spend on a psych Ed evaluation.
Her (college-prep) HS required an official evaluation for accommodations, and we were advised to (and did) have her re-assessed the summer before her senior year in anticipation of requesting accommodations in college. Though she has always had several accommodations suggested, she has generally only made use of time and a half on exams, due to slow processing speed in reading.
Our experience with all of the schools to which she has applied (from small to large) after contacting their DSP offices, is that they require a ‘reasonably’ current report - I’m assuming a 504/IP would do, or, in our case, it was a private neuropsych evaluation. Once submitted, the schools were all quite clear that they will decide which accommodations can be offered. As others have said, I would contact those offices asap and ask, and not assume a similar level of accommodations can be offered, particularly without a report. We also investigated several schools’ DSP offices, what services they provide, the ratios of program officers to students, percentage of students at the school that are LD (where we could find statistics) etc.
As a side note, and I believe as mentioned upthread, many schools will accept ASL, which was her language selection, to fulfil language requirements for graduation. Our D found this to be perfect for her dyslexic brain (as well as eye-opening to the challenges of being hearing impaired and an incredible insight into the deaf community, fwiw).