No idea about all schools, the ones she has looked at with language requirements doā¦
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(and I think they all SHOULD!)
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Advice I was given and it works with my childās birthday is to test before college and after their 18th birthday, as their āadultā testing will last for the duration of their life. Meaning they can use it in graduate/law school, etc.
Previously, I was told by our school our child needed to be retested/evaluated every five years.
Iām not sure how you feel about Canadian schools, but my son was admitted to McGill and UBC with his LW and their academic support seems strong. Like your kids he really doesnāt need much support and advocates well for himself. Sunny disposition too! Weāve changed schools a few times and it always seems the heaviest lift is just establishing accommodations at the start. Ideally, coming in with fresh evaluations as well as a long documented history will give your son a great start!
Finally, we disclosed his LD very clearly to all the schools that he applied to, so hopefully that leads to acceptances at schools that really see the benefit of having non-traditional learners in their classes. Fingers crossed. The days of March are looooong.
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It is impossible say what is acceptable at āallā colleges with certainty. Always best to check in advance (and if possible get the answer in writing).
Agreed, but I would sincerely hope that ASL would be treated as equal to other languages. If not, it would make me angry (especially considering the history of prejudice against this language and its speakers). My kids did not take ASL as their language in HS, but we have known several kids who chose that option.
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I do as wellā¦just in the ābetter safe than sorryā school of thinking.
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This is so helpful. You donāt get this much information from websites, or even from asking at the office of student accommodations.
We do have a comprehensive neuropsych evaluation scheduled for this summer. I thought it would be good to have the most recent assessment before S24 makes his decisions on where to send applications. I donāt think the office of student accommodations at any school is going to make any promises, but I do think we will be able to get some sense of how open they are to extra time for LD. We can also ask current and former students with the same diagnosis.
We do know a fair number of students with a wide range of disabilities, and have yet to find someone whose college denied the help they asked for. It could be that the students we know chose wisely when they applied, or that they disclosed their disability, and only the schools willing to accommodate accepted them.
For us, the disclosure decision is up to S24, who says he will absolutely disclose and if a school denies him for it, thatās fine. Iām glad he feels that way because he really is different as a student, and I wouldnāt want him at a school that canāt see past the challenges of that difference to the gifts and insights it gives him.
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Perfect!
FWIW D23 disclosed her dyslexia on all of her applications (where possible) and has received some very good admits/merit offers, including honors programs and in one case, full tuition.
There is evolving evidence that neurodiversity may an evolutionary advantage! 
Wishing your son the best of luck!
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Because Roanoke was on your initial list here is S21ās experience there:
They require a neuropsych eval within the last three years and accommodations have to be refiled every year. Once eval is submitted they meet 1:1 with student and ask what accommodations are desired. Then those go in the record. That meeting happens every year (or semester based on student request).
And its studentās responsibility to meet with each professor and identify how accommodations will work for each class. Sounds like your son is already set up well to have meetings like that!
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It is likely that colleges with a foreign language graduation requirement have two classes of language:
- Foreign language that the college offers.
- Foreign language that the college does not offer.
ASL could be in either category, depending on the college. How a college handles languages in category 2 depends on the college.
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As far as I know, they can take more than one. The āMaking Historyā class I posted about had no specific registration restrictions on it this semester and didnāt fill up, so Iād think there would be no issue. The Bio Research Experience classes do seem to have a restriction on them that limits them to sophomores only, and some of the other Sophomore Experience classes say permission of the instructor is required, so it may depend on whether there is space, with preference given to sophomores first.
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Because Wheaton is also on the list, Iāll share that our experience was quite similar to what @ububumble has described at Roanoke. The main difference is that they do not require us to go through the academic accommodations process again every year, and they have stated that this is their policy as long as the challenges are not of a short term nature. They gave S21 no difficulty with granting all the accommodations he requested. He did not have a 504 or IEP since he had not been in public school for high school. Here is what the collegeās policy was in regards to evaluations vs. 504s and IEPs when we went through the process, at least:
āDiagnosis by a qualified evaluator is required. The diagnostician must be an impartial evaluator who is not a family member nor in a dual relationship with the student. Testing must be comprehensive and submitted in the English language. Individual Education Programs/Plans (IEPs) and Section 504 plans are useful but are not sufficient to establish the rationale for accommodations. Testing should be performed within the last three years of the date of enrollment at Wheaton College.ā
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Hi, wanted to add our experience with accommodations in high school and college. In high school my ADHD/dyslexia kid had a 504. His high school counselor said he would not get extended time on the SAT/ACT and doubting any in college. WELL, for the SAT/ACT you have to show history, I have ALOT of history of independent testing going back to kindergarten and paid for another one in Jr. year. He easily got time and half on ACT/SAT and for college I submitted the recent evaluation and he was given many accommodations and access to full service learning disability center. I think it depends on the college, some have more robust programs than others.
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I also want to note that I paid for a private tutor for the ACT which not only improved his score, gave him a much needed boost of confidence.
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We asked each school what was needed for accommodations and were shocked that at S23s top schools they did NOT need a recent neuropsych (we had one done just before entering high school). They were okay with a history of accommodations (shown by individual learning plan, 504, IEP etc) and/or accommodations from the College Board (SAT/ACT). Glad I asked as it saved up a ton of $ on a neuropsych.
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I agree, it seems way easier to get accommodations in college!
In case people reading this are curious about world language requirements, and how American Sign Language sign language fits in, I did some research into the schools on S24ās list.
Clark, Hobart, Marist and Wheaton do not require foreign language, so no issues. (Clark offers ASL.)
The rest of the schools have a language requirement.
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SUNY New Paltz, Connecticut College both offer ASL, and count it toward their language requirement.
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Dickinson does not offer ASL. They used to accept courses in ASL from other universities to fulfill their requirement, but in 2018, they changed their policy to say that only students who have been granted permission through the Office of Disability Services are allowed to use ASL. For International Relations Majors or International Business and Management Majors, ASL can not fulfill the requirement under any circumstances.
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Elon offers ASL, but specifically says ASL does not meet the World Language Requirement. Students can apply for an exception to the requirement. According to their website, the college might ask students to make an attempt at the class, but I highly doubt they refuse diplomas to those who are honestly trying but can not pass.
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Washington College does not offer ASL, but allows substitution of the foreign language requirement with two classes with a global perspective, such as Comparative Government, Comparative Religion Music of Latin America, History of Modern Japan, etc.
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Gettysburg does not offer ASL, but does allow approved students to substitute classes about other parts of the world for their language requirement. They also have an extensive Handbook for Students with Disabilities online.
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Franklin & Marshall does not offer or mention ASL, but does spell out the process for modification of their foreign language requirement. The student substitutes three classes from one of the following categories instead of language: African, Asian, Classical, Hispanic, Judaic, Middle Eastern, or Russian studies.
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Lafayette does not offer ASL, but allows the student to substitute a class under the heading of Global and Multicultural, if approved.
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I think this is so college dependent that itās an important thing to research for colleges of interest.
The other thing to rememberā¦while accommodations are given to the studentā¦it is also prudent to find out exactly how the college monitors this, and how much is the responsibility of the student to self advocate.
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Just as a caveat, beginning ASL classes can have their own challenges, depending on how they are taught.
My dyslexic nephew registered for an ASL class in community college. The instructorās whole teaching method relied on videos and video-based quizzes, which required the student to process rapid-fire subtitles while also watching the actual ASL. It was nigh-on-impossible for him. He asked for accommodations (extra time/repetition, copies of videos to watch at home where he could pause/repeat, having subtitles read to him), but the instructor refused and said that the focus of the class was on deafness, not on accommodating other disabilities, and that he should drop the class if he couldnāt handle the way it was taught. Drama ensued - negotiations with Disability Services, etc. etc. Ultimately he was approved for a late drop that wouldnāt show on his record, because of his good-faith effort to make it work, and the instructorās refusal to accommodate. But it was a whole mess in the meantime.
After he transferred to his current four-year university, he tried again, and had a much better experience with a different instructor. Heās getting a minor in Deaf Ed, and every Deaf person he meets is impressed with his fluency in ASLā¦ but it was a very rough start.
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And for bigger schools, it is major/school specific.
At one of the schools where my son was accepted, he could take a similar major in 3 different colleges (Liberal Arts, Biological Sciences or Natural Resources). He chose Natural Resources because there wasnāt a language requirement.
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