A Different World: College-Bound Learning-Disabled Must Find for Selves

By Genevieve Marshall, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Mar. 9–Stephen Powell knows that when he attends Elizabethtown College this fall, it will be his responsibility to tell professors about his dyslexia and ask for his textbooks on audio tape.

Powell, 18, said his parents and teachers prepared him to be independent and to be his own advocate early in life — he was diagnosed with a mild case of dyslexia in fourth grade. His 3.9 grade-point average at Whitehall High School is a testament to good study habits.

“I talked to professors on my overnight stay at Elizabethtown about what I can do to be successful in college,” Powell said. “I know I can ask for notes if I miss something in the lecture.”

But for many students with learning disabilities, not preparing adequately for the move from high school to college can be their downfall, educators said Thursday at Transition Academy Day hosted by Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit 20. The seminar at Muhlenberg College attracted 200 high school students who receive special education services and want to continue their education.

While some students, like Powell, , need only a little help, participants had a wide range of learning and emotional disabilities. He was one of a small handful of students who planned to do more than take a few courses at a community college.

College can be especially rocky for high school students with individualized education plans — a special curriculum fully customized to their needs — who have let their parents fight their battles and who don’t participate in meetings to help their transition to life after graduation, said Diana DiCosmo, a Lehigh Carbon Community College learning specialist.

In college, students do 90 percent of coursework on their own, DiCosmo said in a session on academic survival skills. Professors don’t assign much homework, they grade based on fewer exams, test on material they don’t lecture about, and are not required to modify their courses to suit the needs of students with learning disabilities, she said.

“I’ve had students come to me angry and disgruntled because they asked for extra credit work and the professor didn’t give it to them,” DiCosmo said. “You have to hit the ground running, because if you fail the first test, it’s going to hurt.”

Tonya Lee, a 16-year-old junior at Northwestern Lehigh High School who plans to study cosmetology, said she chose DiCosmo’s session because she’s concerned about her study habits.

“I worry about studying and getting stuff done,” Lee said. “I think it’s going to be hard to keep everything [I need to do] straight in my head and organized.”

Getting distracted and frustrated when he doesn’t know the answer in class is a problem for Omar Luna, an 18-year-old senior at Allen High School. He wants to study business at LCCC to challenge himself.

“It’s going to be something new for me,” Luna said. “I want to study something I find interesting and go on to a regular university.”

More students with learning disabilities are taking rigorous high school courses and therefore are qualifying for higher education because of the requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The number going on to college has increased steadily in the past decade and more than tripled since 1978, according to the American Youth Policy Forum and the Council on Educational Policy.

About 2.4 percent of freshmen at four-year colleges and universities reported a learning disability in a nationwide study in 2000, up one percentage point since 1988. The study did not include two-year schools, where many students with learning disabilities start their post-secondary education.

Michelle Mitchell is one of two learning specialists who serve 300 students at LCCC with learning disabilities. Most received special education services in high school.

Mitchell told students there’s a difference between eligibility and entitlement. What federal law requires schools to do for them from kindergarten through 12th grade is vastly different from what they can expect after graduation, she said.

Colleges don’t have to offer basic skills classes or allow students to substitute nonessential courses. Professors don’t have to modify the way they teach or offer a different kind of test that suits the student’s learning style. Public high schools do all of those things.

Students with learning disabilities have to alert the college and document their disabilities. Showing that they had an IEP in high school is not enough, Mitchell said. Colleges require IQ testing and other assessments that students pay for themselves if their high school didn’t test them in the past three years.

“Once they graduate from high school, it’s all up to them,” Mitchell said. “Determination will get them a long way, but they have to persevere.”

genevieve.marshall@mcall.com

610-820-6585

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

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