Colleges offer array of new programs for students with learning disabilities

From the Work and Family section of The Wall Street Journal:

Students with learning disabilities are applying to college this fall at more than five times the rate of the 1980s -- and facing a confusing thicket of special-needs jargon in the process.

Colleges and universities are "the new frontier, in terms of access to education" for students with learning differences, says George Jesien of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. Only recently have they made much progress in leveling the playing field for qualified students with disabilities and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Campus attitudes and programs for special-needs students vary wildly, as Robbie Burnstine, Cambridge, Mass., saw on a tour of campuses. Her son needs accommodations for a learning difference; on some campuses, questions about the
topic elicited "whole paragraphs" describing fine-tuned supports. On others, however, "they'll say, 'We don't really have a need for much of that' -- which is a red flag."

This is a sharp contrast to the standardized approach required by federal law in public schools; they must tailor instruction to fulfill all students' right to a suitable education. But colleges are required by law only to make "reasonable accommodations" for qualified students with disabilities.

Some complex terminology surrounds these accommodations. Colleges lack universal labels to describe their supports, and guidebooks and educational consultants use no less than a half-dozen terms -- basic, limited, self-directed, decentralized, coordinated, structured and proactive -- to describe various service levels.Thinking of support programs in three main categories can help students compare colleges.

"Basic" programs, also called limited, self-directed or decentralized programs, offer only the accommodations required by law, such as untimed testing or note-taking help. Most schools fall into this category, and it works fine for many students. Among my five step- and biological children, two have special needs, and one attended a college with basic services, where she got the minimal help she needed to secure extended-time testing.

At worst, however, a "basic" label is a smokescreen for doing nothing. Such failings are one reason retention rates among undergraduates with learning disabilities trail overall retention rates by 10 percentage points, federal data show.

At the next level of support are programs described by Marybeth Kravets, co-author of a Princeton Review guidebook on the topic, as "coordinated services."

These go beyond the minimum supports required by law. They have at least one trained staffer, may have input on admissions decisions and offer study-skills classes, tutors and other services.

The highest level of support is found in what experts describe as "structured" or "proactive" programs. These programs often require students to sign a contract, and may charge fees of $2,000 to $8,000 a year. They may offer modified coursework, and trained staffers monitor students' progress. Fewer than 100 schools fall into this category, Ms. Kravets says.

At least as important as all these categories, however, is a campus visit. Students should make an appointment with the disabilities office or staffer, which all schools should have; interview staff about services and size up their comfort level in working with the personalities there. While many students worry that tipping their hand about a disability will poison their chances of admission, campus officials say that isn't likely to happen at most colleges. (Besides, if a college discriminates against you for visiting the disabilities office, maybe you don't want to go there anyway.)

Make the first cut of target colleges based on general factors, such as academic and extracurricular offerings and campus climate; then do a second cut based on disability supports.

And don't forget an exit plan.

Often, "people are so focused on, 'Can I get in?' that they're not sufficiently worried about, 'Can I get out'" with a degree, says Michael Shuttic of the Association on Higher Education and Disabilities. Make sure graduation requirements, such as math or foreign language, aren't insurmountable, and that needed course substitutions or remedial classes are provided.