college disability services

[rsb101]

What is the name of your state? california

i was diagnosed with a severe learning disability august of 2000, recieved accomodations and IEP throughout high school. the diagnosis was by the state of california's diagnostic center and included a full week's worth battery of medical and psychological tests and the result was unequivocally a severe disability.

now i have entered college and wish to get the same accommodations, however, the school will not give them to me with my current diagnosis. they claim that the testing needs to be recent, within 5 years (currently 6.5 years) and needs to be to adult norm.

i don't believe this, for one thing, there is no possible way for me to ever get such comprehensive testing again with by such experts, not even if i paid a lot. also the testings include the raw scores so they can always be renormed.

my thinking is that i'm entitled to disability services under the americans w/ disabilities act and they cant impose these extra requirements. a suitable diagnosis was made by a team of experts, of a disability which there is no documented medical evidence of "recovering" from.

am i correct in my thinking or are they allowed to require this?!?!? thank you everyone.

 

[lealea1005]

What is the name of your state? california

i was diagnosed with a severe learning disability august of 2000, recieved accomodations and IEP throughout high school. the diagnosis was by the state of california's diagnostic center and included a full week's worth battery of medical and psychological tests and the result was unequivocally a severe disability.

now i have entered college and wish to get the same accommodations, however, the school will not give them to me with my current diagnosis. they claim that the testing needs to be recent, within 5 years (currently 6.5 years) and needs to be to adult norm.

i don't believe this, for one thing, there is no possible way for me to ever get such comprehensive testing again with by such experts, not even if i paid a lot. also the testings include the raw scores so they can always be renormed.

my thinking is that i'm entitled to disability services under the americans w/ disabilities act and they cant impose these extra requirements. a suitable diagnosis was made by a team of experts, of a disability which there is no documented medical evidence of "recovering" from.

am i correct in my thinking or are they allowed to require this?!?!? thank you everyone.

Acutally, the college may be correct. Is it a private or public university? Usually, if you have an IEP or 504 throughout high school, your IEP/504 coordinator will/should advise you about the need for retesting (about the end of your junior year) should you desire to continue with one through college.

I cannot answer your question about ADA accommodations. It may depend upon your disability. I am not in Califnornia, so I do not know if it may be different there.

BTW..what is your disability? That information would be helpful.

 

[rsb101]

it's a medium/smallish private school...but it was my impression that at the college level the public/private distinction didn't matter much. maybe i'm wrong.

pervasive developemnt disorder related to high functioing autism and aspergers, if you've heard of those

i think i may get progress by appealing up the chain of school officials as most of their policies reference specific development disorders (dyslexia, fine motor skills, speech disorders,etc) and things like ADD/ADHD, I do not believe they are very experienced with pervasive development disorders which are quite very different diagnosis wise...

 

[lealea1005]

it's a medium/smallish private school...but it was my impression that at the college level the public/private distinction didn't matter much. maybe i'm wrong.

pervasive developemnt disorder related to high functioing autism and aspergers, if you've heard of those

i think i may get progress by appealing up the chain of school officials as most of their policies reference specific development disorders (dyslexia, fine motor skills, speech disorders,etc) and things like ADD/ADHD, I do not believe they are very experienced with pervasive development disorders which are quite very different diagnosis wise...

PDD is a recognized disorder as described in the DMS-IV and really not as unusual as you would think. Five years is considered a "current" testing period. Perhaps the college has an appeal process for individuals who were tested outside the 5 year requirement. Since your last testing was 6 years ago, they may reconsider.

Again, your high school IEP/504 corrdinator should have offered you the option before you started applying to colleges. They are well aware that colleges may have different accommodation requirements.

Make an appointment with the college's student disability services advisor and speak to him/her in person. Bring all documentation of your PDD, copies of your testing, IEP's, and your high school transcript.

If you have current health insurance, perhaps you can investigate your coverage for psychological testing.

Good luck!

 

[rsb101]

probably because i graduated a year "early" so there never was an opportunity i guess. i say "early" in quotes cause they held me back a grade before they realized there was a disability involved, and once it was diagnosed properly, they wouldn't fix their error (school district policy no one gets to skip grades)

also my iep coordinator was really ditzy and didn't undertstand how to do things properly, wouldn't follow the iep rules at all. if she didn't think i needed an accomodation(based on her observation) she wouldn't tell my teachers to give me that one. my parents had to talk to each teacher indivdually to get them to give me the accomodations.

and thanks for the advice...i really appreciate it

 

[notsmartmark]

Section 504 plans of accommodation can be considered as situational. An accommodation appropriate in one situation may not be needed another, and, my experience has been, manny of the items identified on IEPs as accommodations are really modifications. Just as each college or employer can challenge the validity of accommodation or the qualification, you have rights of appeal.

Many public/private colleges will require additional testing, especially if it was done prior to turning 18, and most will require additional evidence as the accommodation request becomes more significant.

What are the accommodations you have requested?

 

[rsb101]

nothing exceptional, really. extra time on exams, computer/word processor use for certain exams, and extended deadlines on large projects.

i find it particularly strange because the issue centers around requiring certain psychological exams (wood****-johnson, etc) to be recent and around adult norms. however that is not how i was diagnosed at all and so it would be extremely pointless to do those testings again as they'll show nothing again!

 

[sisymay]

Sorry I can't answer your question.
I have heard time and time again that even though public and private schools who recieve state/federal funds DO have to abide by federal IDEA laws (IEP) and 504 laws, that colleges do NOT.
I'm not sure why, seems to me that they also recieve funds and have to do the same.
Go to www.schwablearning.org and sign up for free on their 'parent to parent' message board. Post your question there and I guarantee you'll get GREAT answers and help.
Good luck!!

 

[sisymay]

'''also my iep coordinator was really ditzy and didn't undertstand how to do things properly, wouldn't follow the iep rules at all. if she didn't think i needed an accomodation(based on her observation) she wouldn't tell my teachers to give me that one. my parents had to talk to each teacher indivdually to get them to give me the accomodations.'''

Yep, this is the norm among schools. THey don't follow IEP's and the special ed laws because they can get away with it. There is no one to enforce schools to follow laws, so they don't.
They do horrible things to parents and children in special ed all across the country.
Not sure how colleges are concerning this, the schwab board could tell you!