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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a college professor as well. All of my teaching is at highly competitive institutions, so take that into account--the kids I refer to may be particularly intelligent and particularly ambitious--and perhaps particularly well-prepared.

At the beginning of almost every semester I get a note from the dean's office letting me know that so and so is allowed extra time for tests and assignments and that the student will come and speak to me about any further needs. I almost never hear about it again.

Sometimes I have granted extensions and sometimes I have allowed for more time on quizzes or exams. However, these sorts of accommodations are very commonly allowed to all sorts of students, regardless of diagnosis or disability--they just aren't that unusual. What I have found is that if students develop good study habits in high school and earlier on, if they are taught to compensate for and work with their challenges, then they can make the transition to college very successfully. Often these kids are very careful about planning ahead for schedule conflicts. They are often very good at understanding themselves and their own abilities. Often they are very organized, for example, about asking for an extension for a written assignment weeks ahead of time. In my many years of teaching experience, I can think of very very few situations where students manipulated their situation and demanded special accommodations in a way that seemed inappropriate.

Not that I can't imagine that situation--the truth is, a great many college students are disorganized, overworked, and inconsistent. Sometimes the kids who never needed to develop good study or organizational practices before are the ones struggle most with the unstructured nature of college.  [/quote]

I'm another college instructor and I agree with all of the above.  The only times I've really run into problems are when students who haven't worked with the Office of Disability Services come to me late in the semester and, at that point, says that consistently low grades are due to a disability.  At least a my institution, the ODS really discourages us from making on-the-fly accommodations without their oversight, because they want to make sure that disabilities are documented and accommodations are made according to need.[/quote]

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