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College life poses different challenges for students with disabilities. When students enroll in college, they are considered responsible adults by faculty and staff. The expectations are that they will assume responsibilities for meeting their class requirements.
This added responsibility is coupled with a change in environment. High school is a teaching environment in which students acquire knowledge and skills. College is a learning environment in which students take responsibility for thinking through and applying what they have learned.
Another student responsibility is that of self-advocacy. Students must become adept at realistically assessing and understanding their strengths, weaknesses, needs, and preferences. Also, they must become experts at communicating this information to other adults including instructors and service providers. Although services will be available to students through an office specializing in services to students with disabilities, students will be responsible for seeking these services and supports. Good communication skills and knowledge about oneself become crucial to success in college.
As a parent, what information is available to me from my son or daughter's educational records?
In general, under federal and state privacy laws, students at colleges have the legal right to control access to information about themselves. Some information called "directory data" is public and available to anyone, even parents. Almost all other information such as grades or class schedules is private and, in most cases, a student's written authorization is required to release to a third party private information held by a college.
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How can you help your son or daughter prepare for college?
Preparing for a successful college or university experience begins early in school. Use the following list to help plan for college:
* Encourage your student to lead all of the following discussions.
* Recognize that your student with a disability will go through the same experiences as their nondisabled peers.
* Ask the high school staff for information regarding appropriate post secondary choices, such as technical college, community college, or university.
* Work with the high school teachers and support staff and community agencies to identify transition activities that will prepare your student for college.
* Ensure that your student will have the necessary recent testing that a college needs to document a disability. This includes, but is not limited to, learning disabilities. Have these reports and copies of your student's most recent disability assessment, IEP (Individualized Education Plan), and transition plan available for college staff.
* Encourage your student to contact rehabilitation services to determine eligibility for services. Rehabilitation services can help with financial and equipment support for students with disabilities.
* If the college requires admissions test results, learn the process for requesting testing accommodations. If your student needs testing accommodations, the need must be documented.
* Ensure that your student learns to use reasonable and appropriate accommodations. These accommodations are determined based on documented need and may include but are not limited to test taking, note taking, taped texts, and using adaptive technology.
* Remember your student has the responsibility to notify the college that he or she has a disability, identifying his/her needs. The college has the responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations based on documentation of the disability. |
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How can you help your son or daughter have a successful college experience?
As first-year students arrive at a college and begin to venture forth, they experience different reactions and thoughts. Some students will adjust to college life with little difficulty, while others may find that the transition stretches beyond the first year. Parents can help by understanding the developmental process that their students will journey through as they enter a college and recognize that this process is part of the higher education learning environment.
Upon arrival, many students enjoy a period where the newness and excitement leads to strong positive feelings about college life. A few weeks into the semester, students begin to realize that higher education is not all glamour and fun - there is hard work, and there can be frustration and disappointment as well. Students may receive their first low grades. About midsemester, students may begin wondering if college life is better at another school. They might believe that transferring to another institution will solve the problems they are experiencing, or they may wonder if they would be better off out in the work world. Students begin to learn that things at home have changed. Life has gone on without them.
Alternatively, first-year students learn that they have changed, and because of this, their relationships with family and high school friends may be different from what they remember. Like college, home suddenly feels like a new and changing place. As students progress through the semester, they refine their academic and study skills, engage in their first deep conversations with classmates, and enjoy expanding their circle of friends. It is often at this time that true intellectual fulfillment begins and meaningful relationships with classmates and faculty develop. With the end of the semester near, students face large amounts of work. No matter how well students have been doing academically and socially, they may have anxiety about whether they will survive the papers and exams and if they will actually make it to the second semester. They may question again whether they really belong in college.
Sometime during the second semester, students begin to view college as a total experience. They come to see the classes, casual discussions with new friends, parties, and other elements of their college life are related and part of an interrelated whole. First year students come to understand that the choices and commitment that they make have a tremendous impact on the shape of their college experience and future. |
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