college bound

Here's what I have been told and what I see happening as we help our 12th grader prepare for college. He had been without an IEP since we placed him in a private ld high school. Then junior year ( or we could still do it this year) we requested testing through our public high school. He still demonstrates a disability and it is that testing, not an IEP, that the colleges want. We declined an IEP since we did not want to return to public school. He is applying to college on the strength of his course work, grades, SAT score and application. Once he gets there his testing will allow for accomodations. We are trying to be careful about a college that has strong disabled support services.

Quote "mg":

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Hi, I am a professor at a University and I don't know if you are Canadian or a US Citizen, but it should not affect her chances at all according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (if you're American). They can't use a person's disability to disqualify them from attending a university.

My best advice to give you is that if your daughter has an IEP now and has had one since first grade, then it is not a bad idea to keep it. She maybe doing so well that she barely needs it at all in HS, but in college, she is going to be hit with piles of new issues to deal with, living out of the house, moving, making new friends, getting used to making her own schedules, exams etc. It is a lot of pressure for anyone and it *might* happen that the added pressure would be reflected in her academics. She *might* experiece some backsliding, in which case, it would be nice for her if the accomodation was already in place. In our university, they require documentation of the disability and the student go through a screening program for the accomodation. It is a fairly simple process.

Speaking as a professor, the students with issues who did the best were the ones who came to me at the beginning of the semester and talked to me about accomodations. Almost all of them felt like they wouldn't need them, but wanted to have them in place just in case. Some of them needed them and some didn't. But it was less stressful for all concerned when the accomodations were taken care of right at the start of the semester. If a student gets to their first exam and suddenly feels like they need the accomodation, it's kind of hard because, here in the US at least, it's a process that doesn't happen overnight. It can take up to a week to be approved and if time is a crucial element...well, you've just added even MORE stress.

Congratulations on your college-bound student though. I know you must be so proud.