"It is the law here that LD  students must be accommodated so there are
grounds for appeal if a student feels he/she is not being accommodated."

Are you referring to the A.D.A.?

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt




-----Original Message-----
From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Will Fagan
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2007 6:34 PM
To: The Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1526] Re: Transition- retention rate
incollege for students with LD


A few points.
It is unfortunate when LD or any students encounter "elitist"
professors.
It is the law here that LD  students must be accommodated so there are
grounds for appeal if a student feels he/she is not being accommodated.

One point that should not be ignored is that LD students often have
parents
  who are skilled and dedicated advocates and tend to provide more
support
for their children in coping with "life skills" than do parents of
non-LD students.
Bill



On 9-Nov-07, at 3:41 PM, Arlyn Roffman wrote:


> Bill Fagan wrote - ... While I don't have statistics,  it seems

> that if LD

> students reach university they do well. The expectation is that

> they are as

> intelligent as the next student, they only need an accommodation

> to  help

> them demonstrate the knowledge they have.

>

> The bottleneck seems to be in the school system, when strategies,

> programs,

> plans, are not available to unlock the potential students have and

> they fall

> by the wayside and do not make it to university.

>

>

> Bill, I fully agree that school systems aren't doing enough to promote

> continuation on to postsecondary learning for students with LD. I

> agree that

> schools should be doing more to help students learn to problem-

> solve and

> strategize, and certainly to be self-aware. But I think our biggest

> failing

> is low expectations. Too many students fail to even consider

> continuing on

> because no one is telling them that it's a possibility. Some are

> capable of

> attending highly competitive colleges; others need to find settings

> with

> less rigorous academic demands. But even students who don't look like

> traditional "college material" have options to continue. According

> to Dr.

> Loring Brinckerhoff, who wrote the postsecondary chapter in my

> book, the

> majority of students with learning disabilities who enroll in post-

> secondary

> education start by spending a year or two at their local community

> college,

> where there is generally an open admissions policy, meaning a high

> school

> diploma or a GED is all that is necessary for admission. There are

> many

> financial and academic  advantages of the community college option,

> but

> there is a potential psychological benefit as well, since, as a

> non-residential institution where all students are commuters,

> students are

> able to “try out” the college experience close to home, near family

> and

> friends.

>

> The fact is, in the US (you mention your province, so I'm guessing

> you're

> from Canada), only 20% of students with LD enroll in college, and

> MANY of

> those (nearly half) never graduate. So, once they do matriculate,

> we would

> do well to make sure students with LD have access to more than just

> classroom accommodations. Coming back to my comments yesterday about

> community living skills, we should see to it that there's support

> for their

> adjustment to the many changes that come with college life. We need

> to help

> them adjust to larger classes, to less structured time, to having

> to balance

> academics with social demands, to less frequent feedback from

> instructors,

> to having to manage their finances independently, to dealing with

> roommates,

> and on and on. Time management alone is a HUGE challenge for

> students on

> college campuses. So, in high school and in postsecondary settings,

> we need

> to help students prepare for the broader demands of the college

> experience.

> As I keep saying over and over again here, LD is far more than just

> about

> reading and writing!

> Arlyn

>

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