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LD graduate off to CA community college

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

My niece just graduated and will be attending a community college in the fall. I had given her parents some articles from LD online and pages from a book of colleges with ld accomodations. My sister-in-law went in to find out about assistance for her daughter including a tutor. The college reply was that with state budget cuts they probably weren’t going to offer tutoring. The high school did not do the annual IEP which was due in May or June. The college doesn’t want to do anything. Niece took a class at the community college during senior year and struggled. College placement test appears to be low and they will go over it with her soon. I’m bad about the legal stuff, but it appears to me that the high school and now the college are out of compliance with her IEP. She is entitled to services until she is 22. The schools are taking the path of least services and my niece and parents need to find out their rights and insist. I am going to give them the flyer from TASK. I would appreciate any input regarding what the school needs to provide. Thanks.

Submitted by Sue on Sun, 06/22/2003 - 5:07 PM

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There are no IEPs in college. The duty of the college is not to discriminate against a student becuase of a disability — but legally, they absolutely do not have to abide by an IEP. The whole structure of services is very different. Were you talkng with the disabilities office or admissions, or who?
The “services ‘till 22” will probably be stuff like vocational training — generally geared toward individuals needing a lot of support. ‘Round here that’s not generally done through the community college, but those service providers sometimes do help a person with a disability figure out the best way to tap into the available services at the community college where I”m a tutor (specializing in LDs but not affiliated w/ the disabilities office).
HOw big is this community college? If it’s big… often the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Extremely unlikely that they will find a tutor for your daughter in an IEP kind of way — but look in that catalog for the services teh school does have. Look for TRIO and GOALS and other grant-funded programs for high-risk students, many of which do provide tutoring - and at least ask whether there’s somebody that’s worked with LD kids.
You can’t have the only LD kiddo doing this…. any way to try to network and see what other people are doing?
Again, if you approach it as your right to an IEP you’ll find you’re knocking at a door that isn’t there.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/24/2003 - 6:28 PM

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Sue is very correct in stating that colleges do not have ieps and in fact, do not have to honor ieps written in a public school system. If your niece graduated from high school with a regular diploma; a diploma that all studetns without a disabilty recieve, then your niece is no longer eligible for services under IDEA. That includes services to age 22; services to age 22 apply to those students who receive a certificate of attendance or a modofied diploma. Re-convening of the transition iep meeting applies only to those students who do not receive a regular high school diploma.

The department of education office of civil rights has a publication called ” Students with Disabilites Preparing for Postsecindary Education” rights and respondsibilites. I suggest that your niece and her parents get it and read it. The key word is respondsibilties.

good luck to her
Doris

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/28/2003 - 12:11 PM

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I can only say that prior to going off to college, we had our son retested - at our expense. With the results of that testing, his college was very willing to provide accomodations.

I am sure the other posters who have responded to you are correct but I yet thought that the ADA - Americans with Disability Act - offered certain protection to those with learning differnces right through college.

I am surprised that your niece’s college has no tutoring service. I thought all institutions of higher learning did. How does your niece’s college accomodate blind students? I’d start with that question - as by law that college and every other must - and work from there.

Good luck.

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