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•Services
for Learning Disabilities
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Services
for Students
with Learning Disabilities
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Our Philosophy |
| Lewis & Clark encourages
students to take responsibility for their own academic strengths
and weaknesses and to actively seek alternatives for the conventional
ways of learning that don't seem to work for them. The student
support group, the LD/ADD Network (described below) plays an
active role in this process, since learning disabled students
themselves are some of the best teachers of new strategies.
We also believe in openly confronting one's disabilities and
working around them rather than treating the condition like
a "disease" that should be kept hidden. Part of this effort
has involved students themselves participating in panel discussions
on learning disabilities for graduate education classes; teaching
workshops; giving talks in psychology, communications, and education
classes on what it's like to have a learning disability; and
leading support groups for children with learning differences
from the community. |
Some of the Available Services |
| Student Support
Services, located in the Student Development Center at Lewis
& Clark, gives advice on study skills strategies and curriculum
planning to learning disabled students, as well as coordinating
and offering the services listed below to these students. Once
a student has adequately documented a learning disability, the
Coordinator of Student Support Services fills out a Notice of
Disability form that describes the nature of the student's learning
strengths and weaknesses and recommends accommodations that
the student might request. Copies of this form are sent to the
student's professors at the request of the student, who decides
each semester in which courses accommodations will be requested.
Listed below are some of the services which a student with a
learning difference might wish to request from our office: |
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These are obtained
from Recordings for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB & D), a nonprofit
organization located in New Jersey. This is a free service for
students, and the Oregon State Library supplies the special
tape recorder that is necessary for the tapes free of charge.
If documentation of the learning disability indicates that taped
books would be a useful accommodation and a student believes
that listening to taped versions of his or her textbooks will
increase reading speed and comprehension, requests for tapes
can be processed through Student Support Services in the Student
Development Center. The student decides which classes he or
she will be taking each term, fills out a form requesting books
on tape, and they are requested from Recordings for the Blind
& Dyslexic. If a particular book is not available from RFB &
D, we can arrange to record the text on campus if the student
requests it. Since all of this takes time, the student must
be quite organized so that texts can be ordered well in advance
of the term they are needed. Those who have used this service
at Lewis & Clark have found it very beneficial. |
Students who have difficulty with writing speed
and/or legibility because of their learning difference often
profit from taking essay exams on computer. They can sometimes
arrange with the professor beforehand to take the exam in a
nearby office or classroom on a computer (lent by Student Support
Services) or can arrange to take it in the Student Development
Center. Students need to make these arrangements well in advance
with the professor and the Coordinator of Student Support Services
(if involved) to ensure that the procedure runs smoothly.
The software program
Ultimate Reader is installed on ten Macintoshes
and one PC in the Throckmorton computer laboratories. This program
allows students to hear text on the screen read aloud, whether
the text has been scanned onto a disk from a book or articles
or written by the student him/herself. The program highlights
the words or lines as they are read, and the student can adjust
the speed and even the voices reading the text. This allows
the student to hear and see papers he/she has written in order
to catch possible errors, as well as allowing the student to
simultaneously see and hear reading assignments that have been
scanned onto computer disks.
There is also speech-to-text
software (Dragon Naturally Speaking) on a PC in the library,
in a room specifically designated for Student Support Services
use. This technology allows students to speak to the computer,
which learns to recognize users' voices and translates speech
to text. While perfect transcriptions are not possible, this
program is a good way for a student to communicate his/her ideas
to paper. The student can then proofread and edit his/her work
or show it to a tutor for further editing. Each year a student
technology assistant is trained to help students learn how to
use this equipment. |
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Funds are also available
in the Student Development Center budget for hiring student
notetakers and tutors at the request of learning disabled students
who have trouble taking notes in their classes. A reliable student
in the class is hired to share copies of his or her notes and
to explain and discuss the notes when necessary with the learning
disabled student. Other peer tutors can also be hired from outside
the class if that is preferable. Our student government has
also developed a peer-tutoring program that is financed through
a special student-controlled budget, and, in many cases, this
service has also been helpful for our learning disabled students.
Occasionally, if a student seems to need extensive tutoring
that is beyond our services' capabilities to provide in a particular
subject, we have recommended that he/she use a private tutor
and pay that person him/herself, and we have offered assistance
in locating such a tutor. |
Sometimes students
need assistance in explaining their specific learning differences
to a professor or in negotiating accommodations for tests. The
Coordinator of Student Support Services should be called upon
for such assistance.
In addition, the Writing
Center, the Math Skills Center, and the Counseling Center all
provide services for the student body as a whole and are especially
helpful to our learning disabled students. The Math and Writing
Centers offer one-on-one work with students by professional
instructors and/or trained peer tutors. We are fortunate also
that the College's classes tend to be small, and students have
the opportunity to work directly with faculty members. |
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Waivers or Substitution
of Requirements
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The Coordinator
of Student Support Services assists students in requesting the
waiving or substituting of certain requirements via Lewis &
Clark's standard waiver procedures. If we cannot work out a
viable way to handle the requirement with appropriate accommodations,
and the student's disability appears to prevent the successful
completion of the course, the student prepares a petition and
he or she supplies evidence of his or her disability, along
with any other appropriate supporting materials. In the case
of requesting a waiver or substitution of a General Education
requirement, the petition would be directed to the College's
Petitions and Waivers committee. In the case of requesting a
waiver or substitution of a requirement in the student's major,
the petition should be submitted to the chair of his or her
department, who would, in most cases, consult with other members
of the department. In either case, faculty would be deliberating
over whether this waiver or substitution seriously compromises
the academic goals or integrity of the program involved.
In the case of the
foreign language requirement, a more streamlined policy exists
for the substitution of the foreign language requirement for
students who have documentation that clearly demonstrates a
disability that would compromise learning a foreign language
in a college classroom. After providing documentation and completing
the appropriate petition with the Coordinator of Student Support
Services and receiving the approval of his or her adviser, the
student is allowed to substitute International Studies courses
for the required foreign language courses. |
Writing Assignments |
Lewis
& Clark places a strong emphasis on writing. We do not encourage
our learning disabled students to avoid writing tasks, but we
do encourage them to be realistic about their strengths and
weakness. For example, we advise that dyslexic students "balance"
their courses so that they aren't overloaded with heavy reading
and writing courses during a given term, or we advise students
with learning disabilities to take a slightly reduced course
load and plan to stay in school a bit longer than the average.
We encourage our students to work with the assistance of the
Writing Center and their teachers on their writing assignments
and develop, over time, effective strategies for organizing
and expressing their ideas.
This emphasis on writing
has produced some exceptionally fine papers from among our learning
disabled students, papers that have won high praise from professors
for their creativity and unique perspectives on a variety of
subjects. These have included senior theses, honors projects,
and papers chosen for presentation at campus symposia. |
Requesting and Using Our Services |
The
learning disabled student at Lewis & Clark is encouraged to
take advantage of an administration, support services, and faculty
who will respond to his or her needs, but the initiative to
take advantage of our services is wholly in the student's hands.
Students are responsible for utilizing the resources that are
available on campus; taking that responsibility involves coming
to terms with one's learning strengths and weaknesses and dealing
realistically with them.
This means that students
themselves must decide whether or not to send the Notice of
Disability to professors. We encourage all learning disabled
students to do this, but some are reluctant to do so, and it
could be considered a breach of confidentiality for college
staff members to inform faculty members without a student's
consent. Most faculty members tend to be flexible in dealing
with students when students both inform them of their learning
differences and act responsibly in trying to meet the course's
requirements. If students or instructors request help, however,
the Coordinator of Student Support Services can often assist
in working out difficulties in communication or problems in
finding strategies for handling coursework.
It also becomes the
student's task to decide whether he or she should carry a full
course load during any given term. We often suggest that students
with learning differences carry a lighter course load when they
take required courses that they realize will be especially difficult
for them. This may mean that the students will need to make
up credits during the summer if they want to graduate in four
years, or they may simply decide to take a little longer going
through school. (If a student receives financial aid, however,
he or she must work closely with Student Financial Services
to see if this is possible.) Neither of these options has been
unusual for learning disabled students at Lewis & Clark. |
LD/ADD Network |
| The LD/ADD Network
is an on-campus support group for students with learning differences
that meets regularly to share ideas and strategies for coping
with college life. This group of students is an important factor
in the success of many of our learning disabled students. Sharing
their experiences and feelings helps give them the morale boosts
students with learning differences sometimes need. Meetings
are also opportunities for students to communicate with guest
"experts" in study skills, relaxation techniques, etc. |
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