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You Know You Are Ready for College When
You:
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Once your college determines
that you are an individual with a disability and you have requested
an academic adjustment, the task becomes one of what will be provided.
You will explore that on Checkpoint 2, below. First, what is
an
"Academic Adjustment"? Do you already know about academic
adjustments and how they affect your college supports? If so, after
reading the red headings below for new information, skip
to summary for Checkpoint 4 then go on to Checkpoint
3.
High School Special Education Compared to College Academic Adjustments
A high school student with a disability is guaranteed a Free Appropriate
Public Education (FAPE). This means that instruction will be designed
or modified to ensure that it is appropriate to meet his or her learning
needs. For example, a student might get assistance from a specially
trained teacher using specialized instructional techniques. FAPE might
mean changing the amount of material covered in a class or even the
classes required for graduation. Special services such as nursing, speech
therapy, busing and counseling might be provided if they are necessary
to participate in special education. In short, the emphasis is on providing
students with disabilities a program that is appropriate to meet their
individual needs.
Unlike high schools, colleges are not required to
guarantee students a learning program that is appropriate to individual
needs. As you have learned, colleges must provide access to
learning. Academic adjustments are provided so students can
participate in (have access to) instruction, facilities, and school
sponsored events. Academic adjustments might be:
- A modification to a class that does not substantially change its
fundamental purpose,
- A modification to facilities (such as a ramp or signs with Braille),
- Alternatives to procedures (early registration or alternative testing
arrangements),
- Alternatives to instructional media (such as large print textual
material, amplification, sign language interpretation), or
- Technology enhancements (screen readers and specialized computer
hardware).
What Colleges Are Not Required to Do
It is important to understand that colleges are not required to make
academic adjustments that would alter the fundamental purpose of a class.
For example, let us say that you are enrolled at a community college
to become a veterinary assistant. You have always known you had allergies
but until recently did not know that you are allergic to cat fur. You
request that you not have to work directly with cats because of your
allergy. The college might deny that request on the basis that the ability
to work with small animals including cats is a fundamental outcome of
the Veterinary Assistant Training.
Colleges are not required to make academic adjustments if students
are unqualified or become unqualified for their program. Let us take
the example of a nursing student with a learning disability. The university
admitted him to the program after determining that he was qualified
and developed a plan of academic adjustments to address limitations
related to his learning disability. During winter break, the student
had a serious snow boarding accident that made it difficult to stand
for long periods or lift heavy objects. As a result, the student requested
that his spring quarter practicum requirement be waived because he could
not stand or lift. The university would most likely deny that academic
adjustment because the student was currently unqualified as a nursing
student because of his physical limitation.
Your Responsibilities
As a college student, you need an excellent understanding of your learning
strengths and preferences (Checkpoint 10) as well as how your
disability limits you in school (Checkpoint 9). With this understanding,
you will be better prepared to consider how different academic adjustments
will give you an equal chance to learn.
Go back and look at your responses on Checkpoint 7 worksheet
titled
Supports
I Think I'll Need in College.
In the third column, you listed
the support that you think you will require. Ask yourself, Will
these supports qualify as academic adjustments?
Click
here for tips on how to answer this question.
Summary- Discuss with a teacher or your parents the rights you have now as a high school student and how those rights affect
the learning support you are getting in high school. Compare these rights to the right to access instruction in college.
- Think about and discuss learning supports that you receive now that your college might not provide.
- Consider the new responsibilities you must take on to ensure your own learning. Review what you know about how you learn best and what type of supports help you in otherwise difficults situations.
If your college might not provide that support, discuss what you can do.
- Write down questions that you have as you discuss these changes.
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