When the ADHD kid goes to college . . . .
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Anonymous
| DD is the classic ADHD (inattentive) type: bright but appears unmotivated due to distractibility. She takes Adderall on most school days and finds it a necessary evil for paying attention. She is provided time and a half on her tests. So my question is what happens when these kids go off to college? They just take their prescribed meds and hope for the best? Or do they go through the college's "Disabilities Office" or similar to seek extended test time? We always figured there would be no accommodations in college because there will be no accommodations in life. But now that the time is here, I'm wondering what other college kids with garden-variety ADD do in terms of accommodations (or not)? Thanks. |
Anonymous
| Not there yet with my child, but when I was a teaching assistant at UMD, a few students came to me to request their time and a half for exams. I had to put them in a separate room. They went through the equivalent of the "disability office" for permission (not sure of the name). |
Anonymous
|
If she gets time and a half now, she needs to get it in college. It will be easy, you just submit the documentation of the LD that necessitates the accommodation, and they will help her set up with her teachers. If you and your daughter would like to try to get rid of the accommodation as a preparation for life, then have her set her watch to the time limit allowed without the accommodation. She should aim to have the test done in that time and then spend the extra time going over her work. And test by test, class by class, she can work on cutting down the time until she's able to complete the test and double check her work in the regular time allowed.
You DEFINITELY want the accommodation in place from the beginning though. Depending on the college, some won't let her decide half way through the class that she needs an accommodation for a pre diagnosed condition. Instead she'll either have to drop out of the class or get the grade she gets, and the following semester submit the forms for an accommodation. |
Anonymous
| I thought the ADHD (inattentive) diagnosis was not enough to meet requirement for accommodations required by the ADA and provided for by colleges. Looks like I have some research ahead of me. |
Anonymous
| Mine gets time and a half in college. She has other possible accommodations but I don't think has used any of those. She needed testing within 3 years of starting college to qualify for accommodations. There is a learning resource office but the students basically have to discuss the accommodations with each professor. |
Anonymous
Is this based on a diagnosis of just AD(H)D or something more? |
Anonymous
|
She should absolutely go to the Disabilities office on campus and get accommodations to which she is entitled. She can decide if she needs them or not. ADHD is more than enough of a legitimate reason.
I teach at a college. Students bring me their accommodation slips and I make the necessary accommodations. For exams, those are dealt with through the exam office, they have a few people whose full time job is to do exam accommodations for students. Sometimes it is more time or a quieter smaller space the student needs. Sometimes they need their exam moved to a different day if it is too close to another exam. Sometimes I am asked to provide class notes ahead of time, or to allow tape recordings. Sometimes volunteer note takers (they don't know for who) take good notes and those notes are given to the students who can't take good notes in the fast pace of class. Definitely tell her to follow-up. Advocating for herself is a very good thing. |
Anonymous
| Do private colleges also have to follow the ADA laws? |
Anonymous
Every college I checked says it provides reasonable accommodations. In curious what that means in practice. |
Anonymous
In my admittedly limited experience, I know it means ability to tape lectures, professors will make their lectures available for students, extra time for tests, a different room for tests, priority in tutoring, paper reviewing, and things like that, as well as the ability to use your laptop in class, even if the professor has a policy against it. The reasonable accommodations are probably more strict than in other school settings. |
Anonymous
| DS is a college freshman at a private university. He continues to take stimulants and receives the same accommodations he had in high school - 50% extra time for his inattentive ADHD and use of a computer for his lousy handwriting. He went to the disability office during orientation to set it up. |
Anonymous
| Saw several of these students receive "special treatment" in law school. They tend to struggle in the real world. |
Anonymous
Yeah, David Boies apparently has a reader because of LDs. Yet somehow he ended up at Cravath and then on to found his own very profitable firm. |
Anonymous
Lots of people struggle in the real world. You're an a-hole, PP. |
Anonymous
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OP,
There are many colleges that now offer to support for students who have learning disabilities/LDs, e.g.,: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/best-ld-programs_n_603369.html http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/teens/planning-college-success-for-students-with-learning-disabilities http://www.ldonline.org/article/11772/ You might also want to ask a consultant to help you weed out choices: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25154-2002Oct14.html |