Very well put Cardinal Fang.
@“Cardinal Fang” - every single college is different as to how they apply policies, as are departments within colleges – so I don’t think you are going to get meaningful feedback without identifying the specific college or university and major.
The needs of individual students are also different – so a lot might depend on specifics.
As the parent of a dyslexic son, I do feel that it is important for students to develop self-advocacy skills So a student starting or returning to college after a 10-year-gap really needs to be able to work directly with the disability services office and/or department heads at their school. My son did not need or ask for any formal accommodations related to his dyslexia and did well studying foreign languages, but he did successfully ask for waivers of specific course requirements for other reasons. He also was able to get credit for some basic coursework with minimal effort by taking some online courses at a community college and getting transfer credit for that work – again, that was for reasons unrelated to dyslexia, but I always had the impression that the online courses were easier and less demanding than the equivalent courses would have been if taught on campus. (As my son was at a CSU, there were very clear guidelines as to which CC courses earned transferable credit).
As the parent of a son with Aspergers, that’s easier said than done.
I agree – but you only mentioned your son’s dyslexia in your post. There can be a lot of overlap between Aspergers & dyslexia – but there are also individuals with Aspergers who are polyglots with exceptional skills in language acquisition, such as the author of Born on a Blue Day (Daniel Tammet). But yes, the social/emotional difficulties tied to Aspergers would tend to make self-advocacy skills more difficult to develop.
If they truly won’t grant the waiver, could he take Spanish at a community college in the summer when he is not taking other classes? With a tutor and perhaps an immersive month in a Spanish-speaking country, along with web-based language programs he very likely could pass a first year class/test. While I think you should continue to work on the waiver, I would make sure he understands that even if it is not granted, this is not an insurmountable obstacle.
Is he starting this semester? Sending lots of positive thoughts for a great experience!
@mom2and suggestion of taking Spanish at a CC may or may not work. My S’s college would not accept credit from a CC for any enrolled student. If the OP’s son wants to pursue the idea of taking foreign language at a school other than his home school he must be certain to get the courses pre-approved in writing by his academic advisor.
He started last quarter. The fall quarter went well; his accommodations and supports are working out.
That’s why I wrote that it would be helpful to know what college or system (if public) if the OP wants specific help on this. I understand the desire to maintain privacy, but what works at some colleges may not work at others. When my son was at a CSU there was no need for him to check, because the rules about transferability of CC credits to fill general ed requirements throughout the state system are uniform. But no guarantee that those same courses would be accepted anywhere else.
i found some states like CA are sticklers for their requirements while others like Nevada and Colorado are more flexible - for freshman aps - as long as you earn a HS diploma in your home state. You have to ask.
Another route in CA would be to go to a CC then transfer to a CSU
Good luck
This student is already doing well at a college, in his first year.
Yes, the question is about a current college student at a college with a foreign language graduation requirement that he may have disability-related difficulty fulfilling.
To me, it seems all options ought to be on the table if the student is doing well at a college where he currently has no path to graduation. Maybe there will be a path to a waiver, or maybe not. But since the waiver is not guaranteed, I’d want to have a plan B where he can move to a college he can actually graduate from. Putting four years’ worth of time, effort, and money into a degree program he cannot complete would make him worse off than he is now.
At some point, it might come to them saying, “We are confident we can teach any student a foreign language,” and us us saying, “OK, do it. He will take your class and study, and we will hire a foreign language tutor, and let’s see if you can make this happen.”
Not really. It is not up to the college to get him through, it is up to him. If you enroll (twice?) In a school requiring FL without a waiver, then you are agreeing to complete that requirement to get the degree. Maybe he can squeak by with D grades. It may ruin his GPA, but you assumed that risk. Yes, get a tutor and see if they will accept transfer credit from anywhere else. I don’t think the immersion programs for adolescents are going to help in this case.
In my opinion, that is at least disputable. It may be an ADA violation to require the foreign language of a person with a disability that prevents him from learning a foreign language.
You knew this was an issue before you enrolled, and had no waiver? Did you just assume you could get one? Wasn’t the time to consider this and get the waiver before the second enrollment?
I don’t know why everyone always wants students to pick schools based on their disability. That violates the spirit of the ADA. The accommodation of a waiver of FL makes total sense in this case and I think Cardinal Fang is right about the student’s rights. Every school should provide a level playing field for disabilities: the student should not have to change schools or even make this a criterion for where to apply in the first place. That’s my take anyway.
Because it may not be easy, or even likely, to get a waiver, and thus the school may not be a good fit after all. MIT was a good fit for me if I could have had the math requirements there waived due to my math issues, but that wasn’t going to happen then, or likely now. This unknown college may in the end be willing to waive the requirement, or the student may squeeze by with poor grades after all showing he could learn it, albeit poorly. But neither option is ideal or one I would take on, twice.
If it were my kid (and recognizing this is an adult and not a teenager) I’d encourage him to make an appointment ASAP with the Dean of Students to lay the cards on the line. There are three options here and I’d want my kid to know what they are as soon as possible.
Option A- the school grants the waiver after a few meetings-- Dean of Students, the chair of whatever faculty and administrative committee is responsible for setting and maintaining academic standards, the chair of the foreign language department or departments, etc. Great outcome but it’s going to take a couple of meetings to gain some momentum. School may suggest an alternative (foreign literature or world history class taught in English?) which presumably would be a fine alternative
Option B- the school insists that the student enroll in a foreign language class with support (note-taker? all classes online for later review? whatever supports they’ve provided for kids in the past) and the student is able to pass… I’d do this sooner rather than later.
Option C- the school insists that the student enroll in a foreign language class, with support, student is not able to pass. I’d prefer to know upfront what the “next step” would be with this- student asked to take the class again? Requirement gets waived? Student not granted a degree even after all other requirements are met?
Don’t you want to nail this down quickly???
Compmom- nobody is asking the kid to pick a school based on the disability. But it is disingenuous to pretend that a requirement that the student knows GOING IN is going to be hard/impossible to fulfill somehow doesn’t exist. It’s on the books; the student now needs to be proactive in finding out how many hurdles there are going to be in getting a waiver, or trying to pass the class. Continuing to chug along without getting the waiver (or the alternatives outlined above) seems quite short-sighted to me.
Please. Let’s not turn this on OP.