Disability Services Presentation

(from Mary Barhorst – Edison Community College Office of Disability Services)

-  Handout – differences in the laws (summary)

o  IDEA does not apply after you graduate from high school

o  Section 504 is the same

-  It’s very important for you to keep ahold of all of your paperwork and documents – IEP, ETR, etc…

o  A folder was provided to each student with a letter from the department of education with information regarding the transition from high school to college

-  Student is their own advocate in college – have reached the “magic age” of 18 – parents can be a resource to the student but “NOBODY IS GOING TO TALK TO YOUR PARENTS” – Mary Barhorst

-  Don’t take a ton of classes in the beginning – take a few and focus on being successful

-  Schedule is not like high school – you will not meet daily for 45min-1 hr for each class. You will likely meet twice a week for an hour and a half or have three 1 hour sessions per week (for a 3 credit hour class). Some classes will meet once a week for 3 hours.

-  General guideline – for every hour you’re in class you should spend 2 hours working outside of class

o  Example – if you’re in class 3 hours each week you should spend a minimum of 6 hours of your own time for a total minimum of 9 hours of work PER CLASS

§  If you’re recording a class that is 3 extra hours of your time (total of 12 hours)

§  If you struggle with writing your 6 hour minimum needs to be closer to 7-8 hours

-  Placement tests – students must be assessed in reading and writing to be appropriately placed into freshman comp (English) and math. You need to have accommodations in place BEFORE you take the test in order to get extra time, quiet setting etc…(almost ALL colleges require this)

o  Breaks during testing is only available between subjects not during each section

-  If you want a private tutor – this is available at a cost – ballpark $15-$20/hour

-  Professors hold officer hours for additional help as needed

Differences between High School and College

High School / College
Overall goal at the high school level is student success / In college the goal is about providing equal access to all classes not striving for student success
-  This means you may not be successful in your chosen program and will need to make changes
-  You may need to retake classes
IEP / IEP expires à helpful information but no longer a valid legal document outlining your services
School is responsible for identifying and testing students for disabilities / College does not ask if you have a disability – unless you TELL them you have a disability they will not know and must REQUEST services (self-identify)
-  Being able to verbalize your needs is a crucial step à you must KNOW your needs!
The school is responsible for designing and providing you services and accommodations – We seek you out / Acquiring needed services is your responsibility and HOW you do it will be school specific
Students must self-identify to professors as well as office of disability services – YOU MUST TALK TO YOUR PROFESSORS – (Ex) they will not know to send information to the testing center if you have not self-identified to them

Accommodations

Student must meet the essential requirements for a program regardless of disability (each program’s essential requirements will be specific to the responsibilities of the program/job that it leads to). You cannot be exempt from these regardless of disability or accommodations.

Accommodations cannot replace skills – you cannot graduate a program and be skill deficient (their goal is for you to be able to acquire a job upon graduation)

-  Encourage the use of software that fosters independence (ex: Dragon - text to speech)

-  Learning Center (Edison specific) – tutoring (free), testing services (free), writing lab (free) – for Writing Lab - people will read over your papers àassistance is places more emphasis on structure rather than content à “Writing is crucial in college; all graduates must be able to write proficiently and well.”

-  Independence is a crucial step – professors do not provide daily reminders of assignments due (it’s on the syllabus).

Accommodations Cont’d…

Yes (available in college) / No (only in high school)
Extended time – time and a half – commonly – if course is an hour, student gets an hour and a half (unless testing the speed – typing etc…) / Change in test format (option eliminated) or length
Distraction free/distraction reduced environment / No notes on test unless this is available for ALL students in the class
Test read-aloud (will be like the OGT – no rewording, rephrasing, hints, etc…) / No test corrections available
Extra help – professor office hours, tutoring, writing lab – all must be sought out BY THE STUDENT / Questions during testing are not “doable” – (Ex) if you’re stuck on #25 there is no help available to work you through the question – you are expected to demonstrate your knowledge independently
No extended time on papers/essays