<p>DD’s accommodation allows her to take tests in her room. She needs to use the computer differently than the test environment and have time and a half for the test. Rice has a strict honor code and this accommodation has never been an issue. The one professor who wanted a little more controlled environment over the final had her take it in the prof’s office at a separate time but she still used her own computer. </p>
<p>Each school is so different in their culture, the influence of the disabilities office. I would not leave it to work out in the fall if it is a major issue. Definitely understand before acceptance.</p>
<p>actually, parents should provide a sounding board for the child but college profs will not discuss this directly with the parents. some colleges have spoken to students whose parents so micromanaged their high school issues that the kid didn’t know why he or she was even classified under IDEA.</p>
<p>So help them find the right college, then back off. Actually my child found the office of student services with the help of a therapist on the campus.</p>
<p>^^ Oh I do agree with that. I was referring to the finding the college portion of dealing with the disabilities office. After that the student should absolutely self advocate as they do in high school…or should be doing.</p>
<p>Haven’t spoken to an actual teacher in our area about kid’s situation since Junior High.</p>
<p>But if a child has an inability to understand what is being said by the disability OFFICE as in what the school will do, I think, just as I would involve an attorney if I didn’t understand a legal question, the kid should bring in an experienced adult. Don’t care if it’s a parent or an advocate. some of this stuff isn’t as easy to understand as it could be, and kids need to be made aware that college is different than high school in terms of what they are legally mandated to do. fwiw. </p>
<p>Mine was legally minded about this stuff. But some aren’t.</p>
<p>The student should take care of deciding whether or not he/she likes the Disabled Student Services, just like he/she does with everything else too. It’s not the parent that will be working with them, it’s the student.</p>
<p>And if the student isn’t able to decide that on his/her own, then he/she isn’t mature enough to go to college! (Community colleges are the exception.)</p>
<p>I didn’t say that the student shouldn’t have his/her parents involved. Or ask the parents to help. But the parent shouldn’t be the one making the decisions.</p>
<p>This is excellent advice in some cases. It is bad, bad advice for many students with Aspergers. Bigtrees, as far as I can tell, thinks those Aspie kids should not be in college at all, but a parent of the Aspie who disagrees with Bigtrees, who thinks her bright Aspie does belong in college and can succeed with the right support, should be very involved with the college’s disability office in setting up that support.</p>
<p>No, I don’t believe people with Aspergers shouldn’t go to college. But I will say that I don’t know the college lifestyle is right for people that have executive function disorder. If you can’t get up to class without your Mom calling you, if you don’t remember to take your midterms, if you are prone to spending all night on the internet and then can’t stay awake the next day, that’s just not the right environment for you. A person who has those troubles may need a more structured enivronment than provided in a freshman dormitory or fraternity.</p>
<p>Organization, time management, and balancing work and play are essential to success at college. They are part of what differentiates college graduates from non-college graduates. </p>
<p>A person with severe executive function disorder may benefit a lot more from living at home and going to a community college for a couple years while they transition from the structured coddled environment of high school to the less structured environment. They may need assistance but transition from a parent to an executive function assistant may be easier and smoother while at home.</p>
<p>I’m saying that everyone, including those with Aspergers, should make sure the environment they are entering is suitable for their personality, strengths, and weaknesses.</p>
<p>“Frankly, I don’t think students should be exempt from any college requirements for graduation because of a disability. A degree from a university should mean the student has met all of the requirements. Granting extra time or a quiet room is one thing, but exempting requirements is a totally different matter.”</p>
<p>I have to disagree strongly with this statement. There are some requirements that students cannot meet for various reasons and they should be exempt. My son is a perfect example. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music with a degree in cello performance. The school requires piano proficiency in order to graduate. However, my son was born missing most of his right hand. He can hold a cello bow but he cannot play piano. He took piano for one year until the head of the piano department agreed that he had gone as far he was able given his situation. It would have been a travesty for him to be denied a degree because of this. On the other hand, facility on the piano is very helpful for music students and it would be silly to drop the requirement because the few students like my son who can’t meet it. I am sure there are other instances that are similar to this.</p>
<p>I don’t know then, I’m in favor of making reasonable accomodations for people when possible. But if you waive requirements for people that are missing part of their hand (which seems reasonable and obivous), then:</p>
<p>Do you also waive a foreign language requirement for someone who claims to be unable to learn a foreign language? </p>
<p>And then do you waive math requirements for dyscalcis because they can’t see things in a mathematical sense? </p>
<p>And then do you waive swimming requirements for people that have an uncontrollable fear of water?</p>
<p>And then if you do waive a math class for someone who had a $5,000 medical diganosis as being unable to do math, do deny waiving it for someone who cannot afford the $5,000 diagnosis? Or do you deny it to someone who is convinced they can’t do math but the diagnosis couldn’t prove it?</p>
<p>This is where judgement comes in, which is why the original blanket statement by bigtrees (that no requirements should be waived, ever) is too harsh. Surely shennie’s son should not have been denied his music degree because he is missing part of his hand. Equally, we’ll all agree that, given his disability, shennie’s son should not have been able to get a music degree in piano. However musical and talented he is (very musical and talented, I presume, otherwise he’d never have gotten any degree from Eastman) he cannot reach the level of piano proficiency required of piano majors. </p>
<p>So in considering waiving a foreign language requirement, the school must consider how central the foreign language ability is to the degree being conferred. A random elite LAC might say, “We really want our graduates to be able to speak a modern language, but we will waive that requirement for deaf students.” On the other hand, the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, which requires proficiency in a modern foreign language, might reasonably say that all its graduates must be proficient, no exceptions. (I don’t actually know the policy of Georgetown SFS; this is just an example.)</p>
<p>bigtrees - You are not alone in your ignorance of the process and scientific basis of learning disabilities unfortunately. </p>
<p>A student who claims to be unable to learn a foreign language will not get a waiver, a student who has been tested and medically diagnosed with an inability to spell in English or a foreign language should have that aspect of her foreign language proficiency waived. This is not something that can be “fixed” with proper training, their brain does not work like that - the synapse is missing and nothing you can do will correct it.</p>
<p>Dyslexia is a catch-all phrase and their are many implications with that disability. Believe it or not, the general definition of dyslexia, reversing letters and number, the visual aspect, is the more rare type of dyslexia; it just happens to have been the original diagnosis by Orton so it’s what stuck. But, yes, a student with the visual inability to tell a “p” from a “q” will be unable to do many parts of geometry. For that child they can modify and change it to “r” and “s” or some such letters. Sometimes the problem is the inability to separate graph lines in black and white, simple modification by using colored graphs works. I must say I don’t understand how one would “see things in a mathematical sense” as you say.</p>
<p>There is a difference between a physical (although unseen) learning disability and a psychological disability. These tests differentiate between the two. Most schools try to modify the requirements so that the disabled student has a more even playing field to allow him/her to achieve the best they can aside from their disability. Are you against the marathons that allow physically disabled runners to ride modified bikes?</p>
<p>School systems provide testing to those who require it but cannot afford to do so privately. Is it as good? Who knows. But that is a whole other issue, and this is the United States, a capitalist society, so money does make things easier.</p>
<p>In my experience, the schools do prefer to provide substitutions or accommodations whenever possible as opposed to a complete waiver, which is also what I prefer. But sometimes they are not willing or unable to do that and that is where the waiver comes in. </p>
<p>What’s annoying is that I already have credit for the entire Spanish sequence here that I transferred from a school with a program that WILL accommodate me, but though they will accept the credits I have to meet my proficiency here anyway. So they are making me retake courses unaccommodated basically just because they can.</p>
<p>I have zero experience with LD or any other disabilities and the subsequent accommodations which are appropriate to those disabilities.</p>
<p>What happens after graduation to a student who has been accustomed to these accommodations when they go on to work in their chosen career? For example, if a student is used to being given “extra time” to complete tests or other tasks, does this become a problem in the corporate world when deadlines are given and expected of an employee? Are the LD or otherwise disabled employees legally entitled to require their employers to extend deadlines, provide “quiet” environments, alternative work stations, etc. to accommodate the disability? I know that certain laws exist to protect the interests and well being of the physically disabled, but how does that extend to the kinds of disabilities we are discussing here?</p>
<p>It’s a common misconception that school mirrors life.</p>
<p>For example, my daughter, who had perfect SAT scores (I only say this because commonly dyslexia or dysgraphia is seen as a diminished intellect), and very high IQ, cannot write readable prose without the assistance of a computer. Can you imagine an office environment where my D would not be able to plug in her computer and print something up?</p>
<p>That’s it. Nothing else. She has a notepad computer which turns her notes into text and voice to text technology, which she uses less and less frequently. Actually, the older she gets the better she writes…there is some evidence that after 20 certain neural pathways become available for Language dysgraphics and dyslexics…</p>
<p>My D could not read until 7th grade. But, in 7th grade she went to a specialist who had her spend a week making letters and sight words out of clay and she could then read at an 11th grade level…is that a failure to learn? Or is that a failure to use all possible methods to teach? </p>
<p>Once my D leaves school, she will never be hired as an editor…given the shrinking of print media, I hardly see this as a disability…however, she might be hired to invent the next drug to cure cancer, or she may be busy modeling aerospace gear, who knows? She, like most intelligent dyslexics, is highly adept in the 3rd and 4th dimension.</p>
<p>If there is an accompanying intellectual deficit? I have no idea what will happen. However, with my kid, no worries. She’s been begged to return to any job she’s ever had…so far, no problem.</p>
<p>D is on a 504 and I’ve been told it will go with her to college and even grad school. It took neuropsych testing but that was done by the school psychologist at no cost to me. She has extra time on tests and various other accommodations: (she’s dysgraphic so she can’t read maps and “bubble” type test answer sheets are a torment to her.) What it’s done is given her a basis to talk to different teachers and find alternate ways to learn the material – it’s been a big help and no hindrance at all. So-- can you have the high school test your son? Or, does he have a 504 already? If so, I’m pretty sure it will carry through, though you’d want to speak to his guidance counselor or SPED teacher and confirm that, and see how it will transfer.</p>