More and more students with learning disabilities are attending college; however many of these students are not performing as well as their non-disabled peers. Why? According to the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, completed in 2009, fifty-five percent of postsecondary students who were identified by their secondary schools as having a disability did not consider themselves to have a disability by the time they transitioned to postsecondary school. Thirty-seven percent of postsecondary students with disabilities identified themselves as having a disability and informed their postsecondary schools of their disability. Twenty-four percent of postsecondary students who were identified as having a disability by their secondary schools were reported to receive accommodations or supports from their postsecondary schools because of their disability. In contrast, when these postsecondary students were in high school, 84 percent received some type of accommodation or support because of a disability.
What happened here? Why are students thinking they no longer have a disability, when it has impacted their education all through school? Why are they no longer getting accommodations? Why are they lagging behind their non-disabled peers? Where is the disconnect? I believe that many students with disabilities have not learned the steps to self-determination and self-advocacy. I think back to many students I have mentored over the years and remember some of their statements: “When I get to college, I won’t need any accommodations”; “I’ll have lots of down time in college and will have more time to study, so I won’t need those accommodations”; “I don’t want anyone to know that I have a reading problem and since I’ll have more time, I’ll be able to manage”, and many other similar comments. These were bright and often gifted students, with good work ethics, taking advantage of every tutoring session, test review, or opportunity to work with a study partner.
For many of these students, it was their parents and teachers who made sure everything was in place for academic accommodations or social opportunities. They were the recipients of many hours of discussion about their progress, drafts and rewrites of IEPS and 504 Plans, and phone calls about when, where, and why they needed each service. Some never had to ask for an accommodation, because somehow it “just happened”. Or if it didn’t happen, the student was embarrassed to tell someone they needed it, or didn’t know who or how to ask, or decided that it was easier to do without than risk a sour grimace or gesture by a disgruntled educator or peers who “didn’t get it”.
So with college on the horizon, it certainly seems easier to “forget” about the learning disability and its implications, and think that things will just be “okay”. Unfortunately, despite being bright, capable students, many don’t make it in college, because they lack the tools of self-determination and self-advocacy. This could be true for students without disabilities too, but is more apparent for students with disabilities, as evidenced in the NLTS-2.
So what do we do about all of this? As parents, we work harder to instill and teach skills to promote self-determination and self-advocacy. We listen to our children, engage them in thoughtful conversations, give them opportunities to speak for and about themselves, push them to do things for themselves, allow them to be proactive instead of reactive, encourage them to ask questions and expect a reasonable answer, provide constructive criticism and teach them ways to accept it, tell them we are proud of their accomplishments, and all the other parental guidance we can provide.
As educators, counselors, or educational consultants we can provide them with tools and strategies to become better self-advocates in school. We should recognize and appreciate their learning styles and help them determine what these are. Students should be able to explain this to anyone- how they learn, which teacher-style works best for them, how they study best, and which tools can support them. Case managers can encourage students to be key-players in IEP or 504 review meetings. In preparation for college, counselors or case managers can help students rehearse disclosure statements, including what the disability is and how it impacts them in school. Guidance counselors may know previous students who have been successful in college despite learning disabilities and ask that student to meet with a current high school student about navigating the college scene. Teachers and students can develop timelines together to help with time management of assignments or projects.
The key component here is to teach students the skills they will need to be comfortable with their abilities and to ask for help when needed. In college, this translates to disclosing the disability to the Disability Support Services office in order to get the needed accommodations to enhance the chances of success in classes and/or the dorm settings. Students need to be able to explain their disability, its functional impact, and the supports that have been helpful in the past. From there, students will need to be proactive in talking with their professors about the same issues. None of this will happen, if students never have a chance to practice this in high school. I hope by the time the next longitudinal study is completed, the percentages of students with learning disabilities succeeding in college will have increased by leaps and bounds. Give them the tools now to ensure a better future.
