Succeeding in College

[hsmom]

My son will be a junior in college in the fall and is doing very well. However, with his learning challenges - slow processing speed for one, he needs assistance from the disability services on campus. He had a single dorm room both years, extra time on exams, books in digital format, and the ability to take notes on his laptop, all accomodations provided by the disability services.

From the time we were looking at colleges, visiting the office of the Disability Services and meeting with the Director and the staff was an important step as is explained by LeDerick Horne in the video put out by CHADD:

"Registering with the disability services office for accommodations can be an important step in achieving a college education. LeDerick Horne has advice on taking the first steps to be successful as a college student with ADHD and the importance of connecting with the university's support services."

"LeDerick Horne was diagnosed with a learning disability in the third grade and he is now a poet, disability rights activist, motivational speaker, and education consultant. His work focuses on improving the outcomes of students with disabilities. He is also the coauthor of Empowering Students with Hidden Disabilities: A Path to Pride and Success."

chadd.org/for-parents/succeeding-in-college-with-adhd/

[healthy11]

hsmom, thank you for sharing the link, as well as updating us about your son's progress! I've forgotten what he's majoring in, but it's great to hear that he's doing well.

Although the "search" feature on Millermom's forum isn't the best, anyone else who is reading this discussion should know that there are a lot of past postings with suggestions of ways to help kids succeed in college. For example, millermom.proboards.com/thread/14086/use-academic-resources-college

[michellea]

I am so glad all is going well for your son! I agree - registering and using disability services can be the difference between succeeding and crashing in college. I've heard from the families of clients that are now in college. To a client - those that are strong self-advocates that are proactive in securing and utilizing accommodations have a better track record than those that refuse to disclose to themselves and their college that they need accommodations (and other supports).

I'll take it one step further - when young adults seek certifications in their careers - they should be ready and willing to apply for accommodations for tests. In the past, I was the one that found the applications and gathered the paperwork. Now that DS has graduated, he has taken over this responsibility.

[jisp]

And this is why TRANSITION as mandated by IDEA is so important. When I was doing advocacy work I was shocked at how few IEP teams actually followed through on the mandate that Transition become part of the IEP service. It is often overlooked. But when it is considered IEP teams can collectively help a child learn to advocate and be prepared for the adult world. If you have a child who is in High School and on an IEP and Transition has not been brought up than you should bring it up and ask them to download the transition forms. I think many teams feel if a child is going to college and not going to need state adult services they simply do not need to formally deal with transition and this is a mistake.

BTW, depending on where your child goes to school they might not need the disability services office. College professors are often quite willing to accommodate a student who asks them directly for what ever they need because the focus on college is helping students to master the material not necessarily (as is often the case in a high school setting) to rank students. Freshman year our son approached his Linear Algebra teacher and explained that writing out matrixes was difficult for him and often resulted in him making careless mistakes. He asked if he could do it on the computer and the Linear Algebra teacher complied. More importantly the Linear Algebra professor was so impressed with our son's advocacy and initiative and study habits she wrote a letter to his HS to thank them for preparing him so well for college. Funny thing is she sent it to our public high school which had been a disaster for our son with mathematics because of their refusal to accommodate and adjust the curriculum to meet his needs. Our son ended up finally learning mathematics in a community college self-paced class with an excellent teacher and later in extension classes at Universities in our area.