When visitng colleges; good questions for Disability Services.

Parents Forum Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
1

<p>I will be taking D on several college visits starting next week. She has been diagnosed with NVLD which primarily manifests itself as Dyscalculia with a few other symptoms that she manages well. She has an IEP and receives extra time on tests with a few other accommodations., most of them informal. </p>

<p>I hadn't thought of visiting the offices of Disability Services when we did campus visits until I found CC and all of you. So thank you so much for that. Does anyone have suggestions for good questions that I can ask or is there any information that in your experience I should be asking about. Or even suggestions in general for others who aren't in exactly my situation. Thanks so much in advance. </p>

2

<p>Ask what testing they require for accommodations. Most colleges require medical testing within the past three years to gain services. Ask how student accesses services. Most colleges require the student to self advocate, and some students just don’t want to do that. Ask how student can get assistance if they run into issues getting needed accommodations from individual professors.</p>

<p>I’m sure there are other questions, these are just off the top of my head.</p>

3

<p>What would be alternatives to “self advocating”. If a student didn’t wan’t to do that, what would be alternatives? Parent involvement?</p>

4

<p>I’m also wondering the same thing, Defour. </p>

<p>We just went to our son’s future college to talk with the disability office. I have had a conversation over the phone with the office, but felt we needed to visit in person and sit down and talk. I still came away confused.</p>

<p>Basically, our son’s college has two people available for their “academic enrichment office”. Since it’s a very small liberal arts college, they probably don’t need more than two people. They offer help for the student when they write up kind of an introductory letter that is used to explain the accommodations the student qualifies for to each professor. Then it is up to the student to produce this letter to the professor to begin a conversation about said accommodations. </p>

<p>Note taking can be provided, but this college is using LiveScribe pens first. If the student likes using that product, then they can utilize one for free through the college. If for some reason this doesn’t work optimally, then a student in each class will be paid to take notes and provide copies for the student. Also, this college utilizes reading software, called Kurzweil 3000, which not only highlights each word visually on the computer, but provides audio at the same time. The software can also make taking notes from books and writing easier. I’ve heard great things about this software.</p>

<p>As far as help with planning, and meeting with the office on a regular basis, this is where things got kind of cloudy. I realize that the student has to self-advocate, and that in college things are quite different from high school. I get the impression that a student can receive some guidance from the disability office, but I didn’t think they would do so on a consistent, regular basis. They said something like “6-8 times per semester” which is almost weekly, but there’s no hard and fast rule. It’s confusing.</p>

<p>We came away from our meeting feeling like as parents WE would have to keep an eye on our son’s responsibilities from afar. Sure, we want him to do it, but I anticipate lots of bumps in the road before he fully develops the skills to self-advocate. I think that when he begins school, it would be a good idea to stay there during the first week of school, and copy each syllabus so that from home, we will know when things are expected to be done. I would rather not have to do this, but I don’t see much of an alternative if there’s no oversight by the college.</p>

5

<p>I’ve been happy with the services my son is getting at the disability office, but his dad and I ARE keeping an eye on weekly assignments and tests. It’s like he would be OK 90% of the time without our help, but sometimes that other 10% is important! He HAS been really good about getting his profs to sign forms arranging extended test times, and contacting the disability office to schedule exams.</p>

<p>He had a note taker one semester, but decided he didn’t need that service. The disability office doesn’t arrange for regular meetings, but they said they will be happy to talk to him and/or us at any time.</p>

6

<p>Thank you! It is so helpful to hear others experiences. We have our first college visit on Thursday. I feel like I have a better idea of what to ask. </p>

7

<p>I should have mentioned that the professors have all been very understanding. Since my son’s mental illness is fairly severe, I accompanied him when he met with each of them to give them the accommodation letter. They ALL said that they have students who need accommodations every semester, and they will do whatever they can to help.</p>

<p>We shared a few more details with my son’s advisor. She told my son that she understood something of what he is experiencing, because she was diagnosed with depression as a teenager. After she helped him pick classes, she took him to the department secretary and had the woman sign him up on the computer for each one. I was so thankful and impressed!</p>

8

<p>Consider asking your son to sign a FERPA waiver with the school to provide you access to his records and advisors, when really needed. Probably best to just monitor his course online portal to watch grades, assignments, etc. </p>

9

<p>If the school HAS a FERPA waiver. I had a terrible time getting this done for my freshman D2 this year. The school did not have a standard form, did not want to accept her signed letter unless she hand delivered it to the registrar, etc. I finally had to call the dean of students to get the registrar to cooperate and accept her letter stating she wanted to waiver her FERPA rights to allow me access to her records. She has given me online access to her portal anyway, but I wanted the FERPA protection just in case. The school made it horribly difficult.</p>

10

<p>I don’t think colleges have a way of documenting that FERPA has been waived so that all faculty and staff can see it.</p>

11

<p>If she has dyscalculia, how will she do with college math? Will they offer a waiver or math substitution? We found a few colleges that would, but most would not. You should definitely be aware of each college’s core requirements and major requirements in regards to math.</p>

12

<p>Yes, that has been one of our main questions. She has done pretty well in high school math with tutoring but she has been able to use a calculator in class as an accommodation. It sounds like that won’t be allowed in college for the most part. Wherever she goes, we will continue to provide a tutor whether its through the college or privately. She will only take the minimum math she needs and we have been comparing colleges by how much math they would require an English/Humanities major to take. Another option we are looking at is taking those courses at a community college or something similar and transferring them. I have also been looking into some of the technology that the various disability services departments have shown me and I do think that some of them might be a big help. A lot of this is going to be a leap of faith I guess but so was high school and we just found ways to meet each challenge. Having a disability services office that is helpful, friendly and wants to work with us is the goal I think. </p>