For students with learning disabilities, the thicket of applying to college can be even more impenetrable than for students without such issues.
– Theo Emery, The Choice Blog, New York Times, September 24, 2009
The obstacles facing a college-bound student with disabilities are many, and they are exacerbated by the change in legal protections from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that protects high school students to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that offers fewer protections to college students. Among the many obstacles are the following:
- Students may need to explain poor grades on the high school transcript, often in areas such as foreign language or math, and they may have taken unusual, non-academic classes.
- The modifications that students receive in high school (including reduced homework, changes in reading assignments, pass/fail grading, and being given tests as study guides) will disappear when a student graduates or turns 18 under the Free and Appropriate Public Education provision of the IDEA; they will also lose their Individualized Education Program (IEP) and the team that monitors their goals and performance.
- Parents may worry that they shouldn’t be as involved in their student’s education after high school, or be confused about how to stay involved, which may cause them to distance themselves when their student still needs their support.
- Students may feel embarrassed to disclose their disability to a college, and they may feel that they should be completely independent after graduating from high school, which may leave them feeling isolated and alone, and at risk for increased anxiety and other emotional problems.
- In a classic ‘Catch-22’ situation, students and their parents may worry that disclosing a disability in the college application will hurt the student’s chances of admission; at the same time, they may worry that not disclosing will leave unanswered questions that will hurt the student’s chances. There is also the additional worry of how, when, and to whom to disclose the disability.
- For students with ADD/ADHD or high-functioning autism, their deficits in social skills and executive functioning are in the very areas that they will need to draw on to communicate their disability, request accommodations and organize their workload in college.
- In requesting accommodations on standardized tests, the obstacles include varied rules on the SAT versus the ACT, including the order of necessary steps, how recent a diagnosis needs to be, the time required for the College Board or ACT to process the request, which may be as long as 14 weeks for the SAT, and to review additional documentation.
While all of these obstacles, in addition to the disabilities themselves, make the college application process particularly daunting for affected students, there have been recent successes in the availability of information, support agencies, and legal victories that help students with disabilities and their families to navigate the process.
Applying to College – 10 Steps
When helping a disabled student to develop a strategy for applying to college, the most important step, as with any special student such as an athlete or musician, is to start early. With students who have learning disabilities, the early start will enable them to practice the self-advocacy and communication skills they will need to make a successful transition to college, since those skills may not come easily. There are many great online sources for counselors to help special needs students with the necessary preparation, and CollegeXpress offers some great tips. Here are ten steps for college consultants, drawing off of the tips, to ensure that special-needs students and their families experience success in the college planning process:
- Ensure that special-needs students are aware of and have access to any available accommodations and resources while in high school.
- If possible, spend extra time with these students to help them succeed in high school. Also, suggest that students attend IEP meetings so that they understand how their disability impacts their ability to learn and process information; knowing their strengths and weaknesses will help guide the creation of their college list.
- Work alongside parents and ensure their students have strong support systems.
- Encourage and help students to begin thinking about and researching majors and careers that they will thrive in.
- Discuss colleges and universities early in high school, noting admission requirements and support services.
- Help students work on properly documenting their special needs, so they are ready to request accommodations on standardized tests, and also in college, and if the documentation is not current enough for colleges, look at testing options with a private psychologist.
- Help students research and take advantage of any necessary testing accommodations for SAT/ACT and AP exams, which include extended time, use of a computer, extra breaks, and scheduling, among other options.
- Help students look for scholarships targeted specifically at students with special needs.
- Help students explore the accommodations available at the colleges to which they are applying and look at the cost of the programs, which may be $3-10K per year if it is beyond what is required by Section 504 (usually extra time on tests, audio textbooks and permission to record lectures). In order to determine whether a school is a good fit, the student and family should investigate the services provided by the school and whether it has a structured program, ideally including conversations with the disability office and current students receiving support.
- Ease the transition from high school to college life, by being open and honest about the challenges they will face in college, and helping the student understand that self-advocacy will be critical in college.
Disclosure – The Pros and Cons
The decision of whether or not to disclose a disability, when, and to whom, needs to be considered carefully by the student and his or her family. I would advise the student to look at all of the pros and cons of disclosure before making a decision. The decision to disclose will come up at 4 key points in the transition to college, including:
- During the application process, with admissions,
- After enrollment, with the disability service office at the college,
- To professors,
- To classmates.
During the college application process, disclosing a disability can help admissions officers understand why a student might have grades or standardized test scores that are below the average for their school, as well as to understand how the student learns. However, a disability might cause a school to reject an applicant — of course, that school might not have been a good fit. It is important that the student and his or her family understand that asking questions about services for students with disabilities is not the same as disclosing. In order to disclose the disability, it must be in writing as part of the application. By researching how a particular school treats students with disabilities, in terms of the level of support provided, a student can make a more educated guess about whether disclosure will be well-received at that school.
After enrollment, the student must disclose to the office of disability services in order to formally apply for accommodations, since there are no IEPs in college. While most colleges encourage students to disclose, less than a quarter of students with disabilities actually receive accommodations. There can be many benefits from disclosing to the disability service office, including help with communication skills, self-advocacy, and access to professionals in learning and physical disabilities. It appears that there is really no downside to disclosing here, since the student can choose whether or not to take advantage of free services, or pay for services, and anything shared is kept confidential.
Disclosing a disability to professors can help the student in a number of ways, including showing that the student is taking an active role in his or her education, letting the professor know to support the student in and out of class, and building self-advocacy skills. The downside is that some professors may be ignorant about the disability and unwilling to help beyond providing the accommodation(s) that is approved by the office of disability service.
Disclosing to peers in college can help the student to build a support network and find other students with learning issues. The cons are that opening up about a disability with new friends can be frightening and might lead to challenging discussions along with the need to clarify misperceptions about learning disabilities. However, the student may find that opening up allows others to open up, too, resulting in mutual support and understanding.
College Options
Here is a link to a great list of top schools for students with disabilities, and it is updated annually, unlike many such lists.
