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We met with disability services at the college ds will be attending in the fall. It went great! He said all of our documentation is in order (all we have is an eval from the public schools and they weren't sure if a medical eval would be needed for this school), and he saw no problem with any of the accommodations we requested. He didn't give us any trouble about me joining in the meeting either and encouraged me to stay involved.

 

The coolest thing he told us is that all students that are registered with disability services get to register first for classes each semester! Ds didn't properly appreciate that until he got his schedule yesterday (the college makes it after you fill out a form) and he didn't get the class he most wanted because it was already full. I told him this was the last time he would ever experience that and then, in that moment, he got it. He really didn't want to register with disability services, and now he is glad he did.

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happy dancing with you!!!  oh yeah!

 

tip from my adhd college daughter that may or may not apply to all places:  at her college, they register online (after the initial semester as freshman) and it begins at midnight.  She found out to stay up and register at midnight for best chances of favorite sections even among those who get to register first with disabilities there was still "competition" for some sections of a class.  She knows a friend who waited until morning...  (it all worked out of course, but it's her tip to share with others)

 

and another tip she's saying...  at my college, we go to dean of students in the disabilities services office and then get letters to present to each professor.  Do that as early in the first week of the semester as you can so the professor knows before first test.

 

We don't know if that's standard for all places.  But wanted to share that little tidbit from her experience this year as freshman.

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happy dancing with you!!!  oh yeah!

 

tip from my adhd college daughter that may or may not apply to all places:  at her college, they register online (after the initial semester as freshman) and it begins at midnight.  She found out to stay up and register at midnight for best chances of favorite sections even among those who get to register first with disabilities there was still "competition" for some sections of a class.  She knows a friend who waited until morning...  (it all worked out of course, but it's her tip to share with others)

Wow, who would've guessed? There are actually only about 30 kids at this school registered with disability services (small LAC), so it shouldn't be too big an issue. There aren't enough of them to fill very many classes :). However, I will pass this along to ds so he can make informed decisions!

 

and another tip she's saying...  at my college, we go to dean of students in the disabilities services office and then get letters to present to each professor.  Do that as early in the first week of the semester as you can so the professor knows before first test.

This is exactly how the disability services person told us it will work. He said he would have the letters ready for us to proof at orientation in 2 weeks and then have them waiting for ds to pickup when freshman arrive on campus in August.

 

I really wanted ds to meet with disability services BEFORE he accepted with this college. We know the local State U has a good reputation for dealing with disabilities. He did dual enrollment there and didn't want to attend there for 4 years. This LAC has no reputation at all when it comes to disability services, and their numbers show so few kids using it, I was afraid it would be bad. Not at all!

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I'm so glad to hear this good news! My son just finished his first year at a state university- smaller, engineering/science focused university- and we had a great experience with getting him set up for accommodations. He was reticent to meet with disability services at all, but the director was so welcoming and encouraging. He only accepted extended time for testing, but their procedure for setting it up is pretty streamlined, so it was easy to use and he did use it for some of this classes. Early registration can be a real boon for those freshman classes. Ds didn't actually request it because he has advanced standing due to his transfer credits, which puts him higher in the registration priority anyway. But if he had not had that priority bump, I would have highly encouraged him to request that accommodation.

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Being able to register without having to wait in line was one of the best accommodations out there (of course, I'm so old that my undergrad plan included the words "tape recorder" :)!

 

Congratulations to him-and to you, because advocacy is a tough road to travel!

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Wish we had the option on registering first here but no such luck.  In fact, last year they instituted some policy that if you dropped a class once the course started you couldn't pick up another one!  I'm not sure what would have happened if there was a problem with a professor/class being a good fit for my ds and his hearing disabilities and he had to drop a course - so far so good but I wouldn't hesitate to be a squeaky wheel.

 

My ds received his MOAs prior to the semester starting and he set up appointments to meet with the professors prior to the course starting just to introduce himself and answer any questions a professor might have with his needs.  This was an excellent suggestion per the disability counselor but my ds has disabilities that are not as common as say LD/Dyslexia/ADHD.  After the first year he gained more confidence and just meets with them after or before the start of the first class or so.

 

Enjoy the new experiences!!!!!!

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