College Admissions and Learning Disablities

Does your teenager have a learning disability?

If so, the whole college process might seem even more daunting.

With these parents in mind, I recently talked with Joy App, a college consultant in Houston, who has worked with many teenagers with learning disabilities. I am passing along some of her advice for parents of learning disabled teenagers.

To start, I’m sharing a book that App highly recommends for parents with students with a learning disability. She calls this book her bible: College Sourcebook for Students With Learning & Development Differences, which was written by Midge Lipkin. Sorry folks, but you can’t find this title on Amazon, but you can buy it directly from the publisher – Wintergreen Orchard. In App’s opinion,  this book is superior to this popular title, K &W Guide to Colleges for Students With Learning Disabilities.

Schools With Strong Learning Disability Programs

App also shared with me schools that are considered strong for students with learning disabilities. She said in her experience private colleges and universities typically have better programs for these students than state institutions.

• WEST:  Whittier College, University of Montana, University of Denver, University of Arizona
• SOUTHWEST: University of Tulsa, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Schreiner University, Texas Tech University, University  of Houston
• SOUTHEAST: Lynn University, Flagler College, University of the Ozarks
• MIDWEST: DePaul University, Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), University of Indianapolis, Loras College
• NORTHEAST: Mitchell College, Landmark College, Curry College, Franklin Pierce College, Westfield State University, Lesley University

I’m adding two more schools from the Midwest to this list – Westminster College (MO) and Augsburg College.

If you want to recommend other schools, please share in the comment box below!

Should You Disclose a Learning Disability?

During the college admission process, many families struggle with the disclosure issue.

“I’ve had people say to me that this will hurt their children’s chances,” App says. The Texas consultant, however, reassures parents that the admission and disability offices at any college are prohibited from talking to each other. Consequently, revealing a student’s issues with disability staffers will in no way jeopardize a student’s admission chances.

Of course, this leads to the inevitable question of whether a student should reveal to an admission office that he or she is dyslexic, ADHD or possesses some other learning issues. I agree with App who says students should disclose this.

It’s important to know if the institution is going to be friendly to LD students. “If a school is like Princeton,” App says, “and isn’t friendly to LD students, I want to know.” And, she added, if a school holds a disability against an applicant, that’s not the kind of school the student should attend.

I ran a guest post on my college blog last year by David Montesano, one of my favorite college consultants, who is based in Seattle, that suggested that disclosing a disability to an admission office can actually increase a child’s admission chances. You can read the post here:

Getting Into College With Learning Disabilities

Here are a few other facts that I picked up about learning disabilities when I attended a session at the annual conference of the Higher Education Consultants Association earlier this summer:

Only 14% of high school students heading to college know what their diagnosed learning disability is. Strange as this may seem, parents don’t tell them.  (Not a good idea!)

Colleges and universities are creating more structured learning support programs for their students with learning disabilities. There is a demand for these programs, but they can also be moneymakers for the institutions.

Just because a teenager gets into a school doesn’t mean he or she will be accepted into the learning disability program. For instance, students who get accepted into the University of Arizona are not automatically accepted into SALT (Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques), which is highly regarded learning disability program. Students must submit a second application to get into  SALT.

Next:

In my next post I will share questions that App says that families need to ask a disability services office when visiting a college campus.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of the second edition of The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price.