Accessibility Accommodation Services:

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Note taking for Temporary Disabilities

Students experiencing temporary visual, hearing or mobility disabilities are urged to secure note taking assistance by:

  1. Contacting instructors to request notes, copies of lecture. Permission to tape classes or use a laptop.
  2. Enlisting the assistance of other students in the class or requesting help from friends, or
  3. Requesting paper from AAS for fellow class member to use in providing a second set of class notes.

 

ADHD Tips for Student Success:

  • When studying, consider chunking; this means to set aside some interrupted time to work on a project. One of the gifts of ADHD is the ability to hyper focus on projects. Don't take emails phone calls etc. Remember that constant interruptions and or moving too quickly from one task to the next may be more difficult for you. You may want to set aside time like this with breaks in-between with the plan to work on one project/course at a time.
  • To stay organized, use an electronic calendar and use the reminder feature. Or if a paper version is more useful for you. Purchase a journal and write tasks and reminders in this.
  • Spend time daily on planning, and schedule this at the same time every day.
  • Build routines into your daily/weekly schedule, including exercise, meals, classes, studying, sleep, social activities etc.
  • Create a list of short and long term goals and break long term goals into smaller workable increments. Schedule both on a daily basis.
  • For longer projects challenge yourself by setting a completion date
  • Sleep, diet and exercise are especially crucial to the successful management of ADHD. Go to bed earlier than you have to in order to begin relaxing and to ensure sufficient rest.

 

How College Students with Learning Disabilities Can Advocate for Themselves

By Linda G. Tessler

Through grade school and high school, your parents and your special education teachers fought for you. With your interests at heart, they spoke up on your behalf, helping you get the services you needed to thrive with a learning disability.

Now it is time for you to learn how to advocate yourself, to support yourself, to reach your full potential in college, where there are large classes, less instruction with professors, and the expectation that you will manage your own study time. You must speak up! Here are some suggestions for easing the transition from depending on others to being on your own advocate.

  1. Know Your Rights
    1. Remember that you are not asking for a favor; you are asking for a right that is guaranteed by the federal government.
    2. As a person with learning disabilities, you are entitled to receive certain accommodations. In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act says no discrimination should take place against anybody who is disabled. This includes persons with learning disabilities.
    3. Colleges are required to allow you an equal opportunity for success. Your job is to work hard to take advantage of that opportunity.
  2. Know Yourself
    1. The list of accommodations that the other students with learning disabilities have received is not a shopping list from which you can choose.
    2. You are entitled only to the help that allows you to use your accommodating techniques on order to overcome your disability.
  3. Develop Your Support System from the Beginning
    1. As soon as possible, or before school begins, make yourself official, register with the college’s Office for Students with Disabilities. Bring some documentation describing your learning disability to the appointment.
    2. Find out where the tutoring and additional services are, introduce yourself, and create your supports.
    3. Make friends in class. Other students are excellent supports.
    4. Schedule an appointment to meet with your professors to discuss your needs. Be able to explain what kind of perceptual difference you have which inhibits your learning. Speak in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Professors want to help responsible students. From the first day in class be dependable. Attend all classes, arrive on time, and complete work by its due date. There’s no substitute for hard work

Source:  From the Learning Disabilities Association of America https://ldaamerica.org/