Transition to College
Questions to Ask
Remember that academic accommodations are based on a documented type of Learning Disability or Attention Deficit Disorder and its severity. Documentation regarding your disability needs to be current (within three years), and completed by a licensed medical or psychological examiner. Your school's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) will NOT be sufficient documentation.
There is a high probability that the accommodations recommended by the examiner will not exactly meet your needs in college. In some classes, you will need no accommodations, but in others you may face demands on your Learning Disability or ADD that were not anticipated. For these reasons, it is imperative that you understand your disability thoroughly enough to explain how it works to a person unfamiliar with Learning Disabilities or ADD.
While the laws allow accommodations for diagnosed disabilities, the law does not entitle anyone to misrepresent his/her needs for the purpose of gaining advantage over non-disabled people. The law probably will not protect past accommodations in a different academic circumstance unless the need can be documented. If you find yourself in a resistant environment within a college or university after you begin attending, you will need to have available your documentation of disability, with current recommendations for accommodations, to be successful in advocating for your needs.
- Are academic accommodations uniform for everyone, or are they individualized according to documentation? (For example: note takers, extended time.)
- Are there services or resources available to help me manage my life? (For example: getting homework in on time, money management, school schedules.) Who is available to help when help is needed?
- How early does a qualified student have to start making arrangements for special exam conditions with the professor?
- If my Learning Disability or ADD causes more trouble than anticipated, can my course load be adjusted?
- Are there counseling services available?
- Can I have additional time for tests? Who arranges for the extra time - me, the professor, the Office of Disability Services?
- May I tape class lectures?
- How early does a qualified student have to start to make arrangements for putting textbooks in a different format (e.g. electronic or audio-tape)?
