first you need a diploma

Marion:

Thats a good catch-22! Its like how do you get experience in your new career when no employers will give you a chance because you were out of the workforce trying to overcome your disability to get the degree they all demand of job applicants.

I was in a class for mentally retarded kids, bad kids with behavior/violence problems, sort of a hodge-podge mixed grill because 18 years ago when I was in high school, they didn’t know what to do w/ the LD’s. I was given a high school diploma that was worth toilet paper because at age 18, I could not read.

I was able to do construction work, but faced discrimination there because I was a woman (and still am! LOL). At age 24 a car accident changed that for me and left me unemployable due to my LD and inadequate academic preparation for postsecondary education, even in a trade/technical/business school.

Before I could get into community college, I had to get help with 5 years of remedial course work that would bring me up to the college level. Those courses were offered at the community college, too, but it ate up so much time and added more student loan burden to me. Before I could even get into the remedial pre-college level classes, I had to spend scads of hours (about 8 hours a day) at the local literacy center to get the ability to read well enough to get into and pass the remedial college classes. It was a real pain in the you-know-where.

This is why it took me 10 years to get a Bachelors Degree, which is a four year degree. I ran out of Pell grant eligibility prior to my last year of college because you can only get Pell grants and government student loans for a finite time frame and a finite amount of money per student. This is why I told you about 529 investment account for your son. Tax-free withdrawals from that could also be applied toward a special boarding school prior to high school graduation that will help your son get his diploma so he can get into college or any other postsecondary school requiring a high school diploma or a GED.

The remainder of the assets in the 529 can they be withdrawn, tax-free, to pay for college, or any postsecondary school that qualifies for Title IV money. Title IV money being the Pell grants, guarranteed student loans, Perkins loans, Supplemental Educational Opportunity grant, PLUS Loans, College Work-Study employment (pays fed min wage).

One of my college work-study jobs was in the financial aid office at the university, so I know that mind-boggling mess inside out. I also know the different impacts on Title IV eligibility that TAP programs, Coverdell Ed IRA’s, and 529 accounts have regarding tax issues and aid eligibility. There is alot of differences.

As soon as I read that you teach your child, I thought of a college classmate who was homeschooled. I also thought of the additional financial obstacles you and your child will face in helping him to eventually enter the workforce in a diploma/degree elite society that we have evolved into. Unfortunately, this is the society in which LD’s are stuck struggling to compete in.

They generally are open to “anybody who would benefit” from their classes, and will give a placement test for skills.
Lots of LD folks will not place well enough to take most of the college classes but *can* get the remedial classes and boost those skills — sometimes better services than they can get at high school. It’s a totally different system though, since the school simply “can’t discriminate” — it isn’t lawfully required to provide an education to someone wiht a disability.

First, you have to have your child remediated in what he or she lacks, get the GED, which has been renormed and harder, and then hope that that is enough. You have to help your son or daughter do this. My daughter ‘resigned’ from school when she was in 11th grade, received 10 hours of reading instruction with PG, took her GEDs, passed them, went to community college for a year and is now at Kent working on a radiation therapy degree, on Dean’s list. It will take her longer, she knows that but is just happy to finally realize that she is smart and will make it. It is a long process. By the way, she was 19 when she could finally read past the fourth grade. You do what you have to do.

Under the American With Disabilities Act (ADA) colleges cannot discriminate against a student with a learning disability. If the student has a documented disability that meets standard criteria the colleges have set the colleges do need to provide accommodations. Unlike IDEA, however, a disability is defined as significantly below the average student and the disability must significantly negatively impact one of life’s major activities. Education is a major life activity.
Some colleges do this better than others. The K & W College Guide has a lot of information about colleges with good programs.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0375762205/ldonlinelearningA/002-9680963-8394412

Here is more information on the process at the college level.
http://www.heath.gwu.edu
http://www.ahead.org
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/postsecondary/index.html#anchor82670

The GED, as well, provides accommodations during testing for students with LD and/or ADHD. Students who need to take the GED under accommodated conditions need to request Form L-15 from the testing center. This form is used to review and document the disability and the needed accommodations.
Here is more on Form L-15.
http://home.gwu.edu/~kkid/f15.html

Kathleen Ross-Kidder, Ph.D.
Director LD OnLine.

It’s a catch 22 no doubt about it. Homeschooling can be a way around this. Local community colleges as other posters have told you are very open to giving everybody a chance to attend college. There are also some colleges which specifically target at LD students and would likely be willing to hear out your story. Check out a copy of The K&W Guide To Colleges for LD Students from your local library.

I am amazed at and admire your perserverance, Jaqueline. My daughter is just about to start this trial of trying to get her reading and math skills up to the level to be able to take some of the college courses at a Community college. I don’t think she is ready for the college developmental (remedial ) courses yet because they are only for a semester and she needs more then that. I hope she does not get disillusioned. Your story and some of the others who have written about this topic are heartening though.
This college also has a vocational program which we hope will help her initial earning potential while she continues to struggle with the basic skills of reading , writing and math.We are having to move to a new location so that she can go there (she is not ready to be on her own yet), so I am somewhat anxious
as to whether I am making the right decision or not.
Congratulations thought- YOU made it!

Congratulations to your daughter, Shay. It’s wonderful that she has reached this far and her future seems bright.Can you tell me what helped her the most in
advancing her reading level? My daugher is 20 and, I know, can improve her reading / comprehension skills faster if she had the right kind of instruction, and guidance. I have not been able to afford tutors except for a short time, and while her teachers at her public schools have been all dedicated teachers there has not been a consistent language program for her. She has now graduated from High School and is on her way to a Community College but her reading level is about grade V.
I finally got her to test at Lindamood Bell and they recommend 6 hours a day tutorials for four months- mainly to improve her visualizing. It sounds almost like a miracle cure but is very expensive so we may never be able to do it. Have you, or anyone else who may be reading this, had experience with this program?
I certainly would love to have my daughter be able to take advantage of some of the academic courses at the college that interest her but how long will it take till she is ready? if ever?
Thanks for telling us your daughter’s story. It fans my hope!

I am a trainer for the reading program, Phono-Graphix. The program first came out when my daughter was 19. She had 10 hours of PG and she was reading on grade level. She reads her college books. I have remediated kids for the past five years, most are older. I have been very successful in doing this. I have had many students who were told by LMB that they would need 200 hours of Seeing Stars and it took me less than 10. If you would like to talk to me personally, email me. This program works well for all ages.

Dear Shay,
Thanks very much for your reply. Yes, I am interested in knowing more about the Phono-Grafix system. Does it combine the phonetic and visual approaches? My daughter learned to read mainly with phonics and until now she is very dependent on it. Please e-mail me back.