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Many students find it difficult to
understand how different disability laws affect the
provision of services at college. There are two important
laws that concern education, but they apply in different
ways at the post-secondary level.
The first thing that a student needs to know is that
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
which provides for the creation of an Individualized
Educational Plan (IEP) for a student with a disability,
does not apply at college. Although it covers students
through the age of 21, it only does so for students
remaining in the K-12 system. This is why an IEP
does not carry over to the post-secondary setting.
While Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities
Act does cover students at college, it does so in a
different way than it typically does in the K-12 setting.
The 504 plan that a high school may draw up (much
like an IEP) does not apply to the college setting.
A university can grant accommodations to a student and
provide other forms of support, but the law does not
provide for any sort of formal paperwork like the kind
that a 504 plan provides at the K-12 level. Section
504 is designed to prevent discrimination against individuals
with disabilities; at the post-secondary level, this
means that the university must provide access to curriculum
and services. Access can be provided through various
methods, such as making sure that classrooms can accommodate
students with physical needs, or providing copies of
texts in alternative formats when appropriate.
Some
other important points about IEP's and 504 plans
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Because these documents
don't apply at the post-secondary level, a student's
accommodations may be very different from those
granted in high school. |
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IEP's and 504 plans,
while sometimes helpful, are often insufficient
as a sole form of documentation at the college level
because many do not include the testing that most
schools require. |
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At the post-secondary
level, there is no law that requires formulation
of a plan like an IEP or 504; colleges must provide
accommodations, but such adjustments are made without
formalized, legal paperwork. |
Overall, the responsibilities of the student and of
the school are very different at the post-secondary
level. Here are some key points:
Identification
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At the high school level,
the school is responsible for identifying a student
with disabilities, testing that student, and providing
services. |
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At the college level,
the student must locate the office that provides
services for students with disabilities, identify
him- or herself to the office, request accommodations,
and provide documentation to support the need for
accommodations. Any student who needs additional
or updated information to support requests, or who
has never been identified before college, is responsible
for paying for any testing. |
Services
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At the high school level,
a student is typically assigned to time at a learning
center for strategy instruction with a teacher who
is specially trained in working with students with
disabilities. |
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At the college level,
unless the student chooses a school with a specialized
program that provides such services, the student
must make his/her own appointments at a learning
center, where services are generally the same for
all students (i.e. no special kind of instruction
is typically offered for students with disabilities)
and the staff does not typically have special training
or background in working with students with disabilities. |
Communication
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At the high school level,
part of a student's plan may include mandated follow-up
by school staff to inform parents of the student's
academic performance, completion of homework, etc. |
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A college may not, by
law, contact parents about a student's academic
performance unless the student gives the college
permission to do so. Parents wishing to know how
their student is doing must ask the student directly
or get the student to give permission to the college
to release such information. |
Accommodation arrangements
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At the high school level,
a formal plan (IEP or 504 plan) makes it the school's
responsibility to arrange for the student to receive
accommodations. |
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At the post-secondary
level, the student must, once approved, request
his or her accommodations in each instance that
they are needed. For example, the student must provide
a purchased copy of a text in order to have it converted
to an alternative format. For testing accommodations,
the student must provide the appropriate office
with the dates and times of his or her exams and
may be required to have more participation in the
arrangements for such accommodations. Colleges are
not responsible for knowing a student's schedule
and arranging accommodations without some form of
initiation from the student. |
Objective of accommodations
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At the high school level,
accommodations and services are usually designed
to maximize a student's potential. |
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At the post-secondary
level, accommodations are granted to create a "level
playing field," rather than to help a student
reach his or her greatest potential. Often, the
reason certain accommodation requests are rejected
is that they go beyond the scope of this goal. |
As with many other things, services vary from college
to college. Students transferring to one post-secondary
institution from another may experience similar differences
in the level of service offered. Any student with questions
should contact the Office for Disability Services.
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