If you are a student with a disability attending, or
planning to attend, a college or university, you may need academic or
work-related accommodations and related support services. The only way
you can receive academic accommodations and services23 related to a disability is when you:
1. Contact the coordinator of disability services on your campus;
2. Provide the required documentation of your disability;
3. Request services each academic term; and,
4. Work out specific accommodations.
Contacting Disability Services
All
colleges have a person assigned to provide services to students with
disabilities. (Schools may or may not have an office titled “disability
services,” or similar, where these services are managed.) The office or
coordinator, who is often identified as the Disability Services
Coordinator, may be located in the college’s counseling or student
affairs center.
If you wish to request accommodations, you must
do so by registering with this office. If you are already attending the
college you should meet with the Disability Services Coordinator to find
out what documentation of your disability is required. If you are
planning to attend the college in the near future, you should ask ahead
of time about the documentation requirements and due dates.
**Note: It is recommended that you register with Disability Services prior to entrance to college.
Providing Required Documentation
All colleges – community, technical and four-year/graduate universities – require documentation of a student’s disability and need for accommodations in order to determine:
• Eligibility for services, and
• The specific accommodations and services that are needed.
If
you are a student who received special education or other disability
supports in high school, the school psychologist or a medical doctor
probably completed testing. A copy of that assessment may be sufficient
as documentation of your disability. Your most recent IEP (Individual
Education Plan) and/or SOP (Summary of Performance) can be helpful, but
generally won’t qualify as documentation of your disability for college
purposes. Some colleges have a time limit on accepting certain
documentation. Most colleges will accept the documentation as valid if
the date of testing is within three years from the time of college
enrollment.
Since most high schools have a time limit on how long
they retain student records after graduation (usually five years), it
is best to request a copy of your last IEP and a copy of an updated
assessment (performed by the school psychologist or medical doctor)
before you graduate.
If you must be tested for a disability after high school graduation, you must pay for that testing and it can be expensive.
Requesting Services
After
meeting with you and reviewing your documentation, the Disability
Services Coordinator will better understand how your disability impacts
your learning, and will be able to determine possible accommodations.
Keep in mind that services must be requested from the Disability
Services Office each term. Services will not be offered unless you make
the request. You are your own best advocate to make your needs known,
and to request additional help if the provided supports are not
addressing your learning needs.
Working Out Specific Accommodations
It
is important to know what accommodations are available, and which are
likely to work for you. You may not need the same accommodations for
each class – a history class, for example, may require a different
accommodation than a math class. You will be in partnership with the
Disability Services Coordinator and the course instructor to work out
which accommodations will work best for you.
Although the college is required by law to provide a reasonable accommodation, they may not
always agree to your request for a specific accommodation. Determining which accommodations
will be effective can sometimes be a process of experimenting and making adjustments.
Accommodations in an academic setting may include, but are not limited to:
1.
Provision of note takers, scribes, proofreaders, editing services and
tutoring. (Note: individual tutoring is not a required accommodation,
and is considered by many schools as a personal service for which
the
student must arrange and pay.)
2. Provision of textbooks and other
educational materials in alternative
form, such as audiotapes, large
print, electronic format (e-text) or
Braille.
3. Access to adaptive computer equipment in computer labs and
libraries.
4. Sign language, oral interpreting and real-time captioning services.
5.
Test-taking alternatives such as extended time, taped tests, oral test,
alternative test site or use of a computer as an aid for quizzes and
exams.
6. Access to adaptive equipment such as closed caption
devices,
amplified phone receivers, low vision reading aids, tape
recorders
and computer enhancements.
7. Equal access to classes, activities and services.
8. Preferential seating in the classroom.
9. Extension of timelines to complete certification or degree
requirements.
10. Permission to take less than full-time credit and still be eligible to
receive financial aid.
11. Foreign language and math course substitutions, e.g., option to
take foreign culture class instead of foreign language.
12. Early registration.
Adapted
from: Ladders to Success: “A Student’s Guide to School after High
School,” Puget Sound Educational Service District, 1966.
23See Footnote 22, page 42. Also, see discussion under section titled: The Why, What, When & How of Disclosure