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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Mon Mar 6th, 2006 03:29 pm |
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For one of my counseling classes, I had the assigment last week of interviewing Ken Chep, the Director of Disability Services at the University of San Diego about colllege search and admissions for students with learning disabilities.
Some key points Chep made in the interview:
1. LD students and parents need to be very honest about the student's needs when looking at colleges. Some LD students have a very limited disability, others have greater needs. It's also important to be realistic about how self-motivated the student will be in terms of seeking help and support. Students who are highly self-motivated can do fine in any college with some accomodations. Students who need more direction and support should look at colleges that have specific programs for LD students. Chep noted that justa college that only offers accomodations as required by law or that only has a Disabilities Service department like his is not the same as one which offers a full program/menu of support services for LD students. (He specifically mentioned the University of Arizona as a school which he feels offers an outstanding actual LD program).
2. Chep feels that students should self-identify in their applications as having an LD. They can either do it in their personal essay or by mentioning it in the "additional information" section. He says that most colleges will not handle LD applications any differently than those for regular students, but that if the admissions committee is aware that a student has an LD, it can help them put test scores and grades in proper context and that can help the student get in. He said that he feels strongly that the student should self-identify not rely on a teacher or counselor recommendation alone to bring it up. ("Counselors and teachers don't always remember things" he noted). He said it is particularly helpful if the student can explain in their application the strategies/tools they've used to deal successfully with their LD as that shows the admissions committee that the student is motivated to succeed in college.
3. Chep believes that LD students and parents should seriously include the possibility of starting off at the community college level in their college search. "Every student doesn't need to move lock-step into a four year college," he said. He said community colleges often have better skills support services than 4-year colleges, and that it can also give students a chance to learn what is expected in college and the strategies they need to use to deal with college level work in a less-stressful environment.
4. Once the student is enrolled anywhere, it is up to them to self-identify and provide documentation to the office of Disability services if they need accomodations. Chep says he encourages students to not ask all of their professors for accomodation if they don't need it --- and he suggests that students wait until after the first week to apply for accomodation (must be done through his office). That gives students a chance to look at the syllabus and get a sense for the work level. He says its important for students who need extra time on testing to know exactly which types of tests give them the biggest problems -- if a student has trouble with essay questions, for example, he may only need extra time on tests that will have essay questions, etc.
5. Chep said that the majority of professors at USD are open to giving LD accomodations, but none will allow for unlimited time on tests. He did say that there are a few faculty members at all schools who will be unhappy about the extra time involved and who don't fully understand what LD's are all about.
6. Chep mentioned that he sees quite a few students who have made it through high school without being diagnosed as having an LD. They're able to do fine in high school because there is generally lots of supervision (from parents/teachers) and they are bright enough to find ways to compensate. When they hit college, however, they suddenly find that those ways of compensating aren't working. He feels that ALL students who are having trouble during the first semester of college should be evaluated for learning disabilities. His office can do an initial screening and he said this is true at most colleges.
Last edited on Mon Mar 6th, 2006 03:30 pm by CarolynLawrence
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Mom60
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Posted: Mon Mar 6th, 2006 03:48 pm |
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Carolyn Thank you for a great post.
My jr son will be applying to college in the fall and we don't have a clear picture as to what type of school will work best and how to present it to the colleges. I also appreciate his honesty in how his school handles these students.
My son attended a private middle school that has a great learning skills program and the director of that program also speaks highly of the programs at some of the community colleges. She has had quite a few former students attend the Univ. of Arizona program with great results. But she cautions that the distractions of college life even in a directed program can prove to be a big distraction for many LD students and the ideal student must be mature and self disciplined to succeed.
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Tango52
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Posted: Mon Mar 6th, 2006 05:50 pm |
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Carolyn--
Thanks for sharing this. It has some helpful information. And yes, here too, SALT at Arizona gets nothing but praise.
Here in IL, the quality of academic/ LD support varies widely. Our community colleges are huge and at least at my CC it is easy to slip through the cracks.
There are some excellent residential 2 year colleges with LD support:
Landmark College (VT) is the best if you can afford it.
Dean College (somewhere in New England)
Mitchell College (also in New England)
Louisburg College in North Carolina
All of these have good reputations for working with LD/ ADHD students who need more help than they are likely to get at 4 year schools. Just some other options for kids who want to go away....
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Mom60
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Posted: Mon Mar 6th, 2006 08:34 pm |
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Tango
Have you visited any of the two year LD schools? If so could you give us a report on them.
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Tango52
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Posted: Mon Mar 6th, 2006 10:31 pm |
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Sorry, I haven't. I have a friend whose son went to Landmark, and will ask her if she could write her impressions for me to share.
Louisburg I heard about from a presenter at a CHADD conference. She had interviewed them, and was impressed enough to view it as a back up plan for her son if a 4 year was too much for him.
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Northeastmom
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Posted: Tue Mar 7th, 2006 06:37 pm |
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| I have also read that Muskingum College in New Concord, Oh. has a good program. I don't know why, it just came to mind. I read about it on another message board years ago.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Wed Mar 8th, 2006 01:07 am |
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Northeastmom,
Funny that you mentioned Muskingum. This school was mentioned in one of my counseling classes by an independent counselor specializing in LD students. I've looked at their website, and it looks like a solid little school with a very pretty campus.
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Northeastmom
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Posted: Wed Mar 8th, 2006 01:15 am |
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Carolyn, Years ago I was on another board and a couple of parents who had children with learning disabilities absolutely raved about this school.
BTW, what classes are you taking? Are you seeking a degree?
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Wed Mar 8th, 2006 06:29 pm |
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| I'm enrolled in the College Admissions Counseling program at UCLA. It has been interesting so far, but I've learned that I can't handle three classes in the same quarter, my "real" work, and life at the same time. Next quarter I have some health issues I have to deal with so I probably will only take 1 course. Last edited on Wed Mar 8th, 2006 06:30 pm by CarolynLawrence
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HImom
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Posted: Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 06:56 am |
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My kids' problem isn't LD or accommodations per se. Because of their health condition they have frequent & sometimes extended absences. Would appreciate any info anyone has about schools that are accepting of this & don't penalize kids for absences (tho it seems schools allow each professor/instructor to set attendance policies). In HS, my kids have been able to work with their private school to get the assignments & do the work independently when they are home for medical reasons & turn it in when they return to school. A few exams & quizes have had to be taken when they return as well. Not sure what policies different schools have--so far have not been impressed with Santa Clara U's.
Any thoughts & references will be greatly appreciated. Some folks have reported it was helpful for their kids to attend schools which allow their kids to have on-line & in person classes so that attendance isn't as much of a factor.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 05:56 pm |
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HiMom,
I think you need to be careful about saying your children don't need "accomodations" - flexibility in their schedules/make up work may actually be an accomodation under the terms of ADA/Title 504. You will, however, need to prove that your children qualify under the ADA for any special disability services --- a good resource is the http://www.heath.gwu.edu/index.htm If you look under the resource links there you'll find lots of information. Another organization to get in touch with http://www.ahead.org which specializes in disability issues for higher education.
Last edited on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 06:12 pm by CarolynLawrence
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HImom
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Posted: Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 06:43 pm |
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Thanks, Carolyn, you're right of course. I guess I just meant that they don't need wheelchair access, tutoring, a reader, interpreter or those services. Mainly, they really need flexible attendance & possible rescheduling of due dates & tests/quizes they may miss due to health-related absences. Thanks for the resources--I had hoped things would get easier as we moved from HS to college, but it seems more complicated! The decisions we will have to be making will also be different & based on how well we can work with each school & their disability offices & whomever else will be working with our child. His dream schools may well have to be other than expected.
The expert we had who evaluated the kids in NY last year is comfortable working with schools to advocate on their behalf & is a nationally recognized expert (he has many patients attending various schools, including Harvard). Our kids' HS will be happy to review the accommodations in flexibility & rescheduling they made on behalf of our kids throughout HS. Our kids' treating doc will also advocate on their behalf.
Last edited on Thu Mar 23rd, 2006 06:51 pm by HImom
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Sat May 27th, 2006 12:40 am |
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If they can get into a school without mentioning disabilities in the application, it might be better, as long as the schools have the services available for them when needed.
Last edited on Sat Jul 28th, 2007 08:18 pm by WestrnMom
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HImom
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Posted: Sat May 27th, 2006 05:44 am |
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| Especially if he needs a lot of support & has succeeded well with it in HS, it would seem appropriate to mention his health challenges that he has overcome & continues to overcome in a positive way in his application. My son & his counselor did mention the chronic health issues he has & continues to overcome & has been accepted by many of the schools he applied to with substantial merit aid. We ended up turning down one of the schools because they showed inflexibility in working with son & his chronic health issues, even tho the admitted him with lots of merit aid.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Sat May 27th, 2006 08:28 pm |
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WestrnMom wrote: I wasn't sure he should mention disabilities in the applications. His previous counselor said it sounded whiney and self-serving. He's got a different counselor this year who said she could help him include it in a positive way.
I think the second counselor has it upon something important: how you bring up a disability is important. If it's just "my grades are bad because I have a learning disability," yes, that will sound whiney and self-serving. But, if you can explain exactly how you have compensated and learned to deal with your disability, and perhaps how what you've learned will make you a great college student, then you're presenting it in a different way.
I think, however, that I would use the "additional information" section on the application for this, or attach a separate sheet, rather than writing the main essay about my disability. I'd use the main essay to show something different and unique about myself other than my disability.
I would, however, make sure that my teacher(s) and guidance counselor got a copy of the "additional information" essay explaining how I have learned to compensate before they sat down to write my recommendations. (In fact, I recommend that all students give the teachers who'll be writing their recommendations and the GC a copy of their main essay as well).
A friend of my daughter's has ADD and a related LD. She used both techniques on her applications (main essay about something important other than her disability, plus supplemental essay describing how she learned to work with her ADD/LD). She also asked the head of the learning center - our school's program for LD/ADD kids - to write a recommendation for her. I thought that was an excellent idea as the learning center director knew her very well after having helped her develop those compensation strategies over the four years of high school. She also got a recommendation from another teacher, but I suspect the recommendation from the head of the learning center went a long way in the terrific admissions results (including several merit scholarships) that she had.
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Sat May 27th, 2006 10:49 pm |
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Last edited on Sat Jul 28th, 2007 08:18 pm by WestrnMom
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sweetkidsmom
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Posted: Tue May 30th, 2006 02:34 am |
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Last edited on Fri Mar 16th, 2007 09:41 pm by sweetkidsmom
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emeraldkity
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Posted: Sat Jul 28th, 2007 07:56 pm |
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Chep mentioned that he sees quite a few students who have made it through high school without being diagnosed as having an LD. They're able to do fine in high school because there is generally lots of supervision (from parents/teachers) and they are bright enough to find ways to compensate. When they hit college, however, they suddenly find that those ways of compensating aren't working. He feels that ALL students who are having trouble during the first semester of college should be evaluated for learning disabilities. His office can do an initial screening and he said this is true at most colleges.
We found this to be very true.
With our oldest daughter- possibly because we were ( I was) completely occupied with her younger sibling- & because her private school was accomodating without needing written accomodations, she did fairly well without much until 11th grade, when she needed a little more.
When we were looking at colleges- we also investigated disability supports and found that a school ( Reed College) that wasn't known for accomodations, actually had a lot of flexibilty and could be appropriate for someone with learning disabilties. ( not as accessible as I would like to see for physical disabilities however- but they are making changes)
She also had classmates who were finding it more and more difficult to keep up with the amount of work, and began asking her lots of questions about the ADD support groups on campus.
Kids who are very bright , sometimes are able to get away without developing good strategies, that are needed once they get to college.
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HImom
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Posted: Sun Jul 29th, 2007 03:24 am |
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Actually, so far, for my S, his experience has been the opposite. His HS was very grueling in terms of stamina and tended to penalize absences (tho not "officially"). He's been doing MUCH better in college, since he as able to have much more control over his schedule & better pace himself.
He dpesn't have any LD, but does have chronic health issues which make his stamina highly variable and unreliable.
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