Learning disabilities questions

[yb1]

So in high school I had an IEP

In college at the community college I have never taken advantage of having a disability because I have just been lazy about it. Been there over a year and really haven't taken advantage of it.

Now I am strongly considering it. I can def get my psychiatrist to be like look this guy is blah blah blah blah and you should be helping him out.


I understand that I would get special treatment like extended time on tests but what else is at my disposal that I have no idea about.

I read having diabilities gives me an edge when applying for colleges

Anyone have any info. I figure you guys know all

[JohnnyHeck]

Just like in HS you may be able to get help with tutoring and note taking along with extended time for exams. However, in college you may have to pay for these services, although that is not likely in a public institution. It is extremely important that you and your health professional really figure out what will help you succeed. It's not just blah, blah, blah. In my son's ADD case he needed only extra time for essay tests because he had to free write first and then organize his point second which of course took more time. However, with math and science tests, he could work all the problems as fast and successfully as anyone else, except he could not focus for more than 1 hr. at a time without an extended break. So his accommodation here, was to take the test in 2 sections. Accommodation is not meant to be any kind of free ride but a leveling of the playing field for individuals who can compete but not without some flexibility in the application of academic pedantic rules that are not really germane to the mastery of the subject. I admire your self-admission that you have been lazy in finding the right path for your academic success. But please don't think that accommodation which you may be entitled to is just a joke to make your academic efforts easier than the rest of your compatriots. Accommodation is only there to make your level of effort lead to academic success if you put in the effort.

[Hometeacher628]

I am feeling slightly offended by the OP suggesting utilizing a disability and needing entitlements to make it through college. Did you take the adaptive ACT or SAT? If you did, you would have noticed the scores are reported as adapted. Nothing wrong with that, except schools are not going to give you a competitive edge because you have a disability and utilized an adaptive test. All service academies are out. Most private schools, colleges alike, are unable to handle many disability issues and are handled on a case by case basis. Public schools may allow more time on tests, but will usually be handled through the testing center and not at the regular class time. ADA paperwork would need to be on file and you would need to be admitted with this understanding, not just on a test you find hard or forgot to study for. Perhaps you would serve yourself better if you and your Dr. would find a medication adjustment so that you would have better success in your college classes. In looking for a future college, there are schools that have programs for students with disabilities. Some even are set up where you only take 2 classes at a time for like 5 or 6 weeks.

[cookderosa]

I'm going to come at this as a community college instructor that had accommodations sheets for students every semester for 18 years. First of all, it's common. Second of all, your instructor will always err on the side of over-documenting because if it comes down to it, the school will back you- not the instructor. It's a complicated situation for the instructor to be in, and if I can be frank, the instructor will fear that you can destroy his career, not have concern for your success. In my classrooms, I've been 101% compliant with every-single-request, above and beyond actually. Now, that I've said that....

You're not in high school any more. You've made it out of highschool, exactly what the IEP was intended to do. Now, you're an adult. You make the call, not the school. Schools can't help people who don't self identify, so no one is going to chase you down.

You're on a forum that focuses on testing out of college. A place where we all believe that we can -on our own- make it through college with little to no assistance from the college. In fact, many of us see the "college process" as a barrier to our success, so we go around it as quickly as possible; being more efficient than what the college can do for us. So, do you see yourself as someone capable of doing this, or as someone needing extra help? If you need resources, they exist.

I'm not sure if you see the irony in asking for accommodations on a CLEP exam.

[KayV]

If you need disability accommodations, you should start by looking up the disability services office at the school in question to see what services are available for you. College is different from high school in that you are no longer guaranteed success in your academic goals as with an IEP; rather, you are granted *equal access* to academics, but not necessarily success in those endeavors. For example, if I wanted to attend an actual in-person class, I would contact disability services to make sure that the classroom/ building in question were wheelchair accessible. If I did not do this, it would be too bad for me if the classroom were up two flights of stairs in a building without an elevator.

That being said, some schools (like Texas Tech) have special programs for students who had IEPs in high school. Here are some helpful links about IEP vs. ADA from TTU:
Transition from High School to College | TECHniques Center | TTU
The SDS presentation for parents is a great overview as well:
Prospective Students :: Student Disability Services :: TTU

[JohnnyHeck]

yb1 - In the above post, KayV has provided some outstanding and brief references so you can get a better feel for what accommodation for college is really all about. Then you need to go to your school catalog and/or website for their Disability Services. Here you will find the documentation requirements. If these are available in some kind of printable form, take them with you to your next appointment with your psychologist. If you don't have a current practitioner, make an appointment with your school's disability office. In a face to face meeting, ask them, "Where do I start and how do I pay for the help I think I need to succeed at our school. Take it from there. And if you need a little more TLC along the way, report back to here or shoot me PM.

[JohnnyHeck]

I'm not sure if you see the irony in asking for accommodations on a CLEP exam.

Thanks for the insight on the accommodation from the angle of the CC college teacher. And of course you cannot be wrong in pointing out that yb1 has to realize that he/she has to take command of their situation. But, I would like to say that in my experience, any tone of comment that might even possibly misconstrued as "Just put your shoulder to the wheel." could be ultimately non productive. I mistakenly followed this path for 20 years with my son, until after many years of family pain and strife I was blessed with an epiphany under the guidance of my son's new psychologist and my own blitzkrieg of study on the subject, which is quite maddening to those of us who have quick minds and easy willpower. However, I do not see the irony of accommodation on a CLEP exam. If mastery of a subject can be demonstrated with just some more time or break of some kind during the test, all that's been lost compared to you or me is that the accommodated student needs more time. In the real world of course this individual may have to work more hours in a day to meet deadlines than we do. And quite rightly, there are many professions where this extra time would certainly not be appropriate. But on CLEP subjects, I don't see it.

[cookderosa]

Thanks for the insight on the accommodation from the angle of the CC college teacher. And of course you cannot be wrong in pointing out that yb1 has to realize that he/she has to take command of their situation. But, I would like to say that in my experience, any tone of comment that might even possibly misconstrued as "Just put your shoulder to the wheel." could be ultimately non productive. I mistakenly followed this path for 20 years with my son, until after many years of family pain and strife I was blessed with an epiphany under the guidance of my son's new psychologist and my own blitzkrieg of study on the subject, which is quite maddening to those of us who have quick minds and easy willpower. However, I do not see the irony of accommodation on a CLEP exam. If mastery of a subject can be demonstrated with just some more time or break of some kind during the test, all that's been lost compared to you or me is that the accommodated student needs more time. In the real world of course this individual may have to work more hours in a day to meet deadlines than we do. And quite rightly, there are many professions where this extra time would certainly not be appropriate. But on CLEP subjects, I don't see it.

I understand, and of course I'm compassionate to the difficulties anyone faces and the strength they need to overcome them. I don't see asking for help as a weakness, I don't think you think I do, but just to be clear. When someone is opting out of services, they're opting out. That's their decision. This student hasn't self identified for regular coursework, so why now?

Getting extra time is only one type of accommodation, of course there are many others. It's not really a specific accommodation that I'm struggling with (clearly, we can have the exam read if our test-taker were blind, etc.) but rather the tone of the thread. Judging by other's comments, I'm not the only one who smells something fishy.

[BGSU_Alum_86]

I would like to provide some info from the test center administrator side...

There is a minority of testing candidates at our center who request testing accommodations at the time of setting up an appointment. For the most part, this would be the extra time accommodation. Most candidates are good about calling first to ask about the steps they might need to take. Our office needs to know the specific amount of extra time that candidates are granted before we can book an appointment (there is a big difference between 150%/1.5x, 200%/2x and 300%/3x!). Candidates who say they are granted "extra time" eventually learn that we need specifics and that this generality will not work.

CLEP offers some accommodations available through their testing software (screen magnification, adjustable screen colors, extended time, and rest breaks). Other accommodation requests need to be approved by CLEP ahead of time (reader, scribe, sign language interpreter, a script of the audio sections of the foreign language exams) and may not be available at each individual test center.

Candidates are instructed that they must bring documentation to their appointment (or fax ahead of time), with this documentation coming from either their current school's disability services office or from their medical provider (evaluation and diagnosis within the past 5 years).

For those who seek accommodations to take the DSST exams, you will need to submit accommodations requests directly to DSST (I believe this is explained on their website).

Every testing program is a little different in their requirements of the test center and the testing candidate so it is always good to do your homework ahead of time. Call the testing program (customer service), call the test center (or several), be thorough.

[hightecrebel]

This student hasn't self identified for regular coursework, so why now?
...
It's not really a specific accommodation that I'm struggling with (clearly, we can have the exam read if our test-taker were blind, etc.) but rather the tone of the thread. Judging by other's comments, I'm not the only one who smells something fishy.

I'll agree the tone of the thread is a bit off at first glance, but I'm leaning towards trusting the OP. I've got a number of family members who had issues in school, but intentionally concealed it when they went to college or other higher ed for the simple fact that they felt it made them an outsider and was detrimental to a point that it outweighed the positives of the accommodations. One self-identified only after he came close to failing the first of three major exams for his career, when regular coursework had him a solid B+/A- student in his classes. If it's an issue that makes concentrating in a specific chunk of time a problem, it can be overcome in a classroom or with homework, but a block of testing is another story.


Granted, I might be wrong, but that's just my 2-cents based on family and friends