Preparing for Post-Secondary Education: College Versus Vocational Training - Página 2

Making a Four-Year Degree Obtainable

Many high school graduates with learning disabilities do opt to attend college. Often students choose to begin at a community college, with plans to transfer to a four-year college to complete a degree. Some of these students are successful, while others spend many years drifting from one course of study to another, and finally give up; time passes and no real progress is made professionally.

 

If college is the post-secondary choice for your child, then it’s essential to provide them with extra support in order to ensure their success. Two areas where that support can be provided is in planning for college entrance exams, as well as school selection.

 

College Entrance Exams: Planning for Exams Like the SATs or ACTs

 

Thoughtful planning in preparing a student for any standardized test is essential so that the student knows what to expect, and understands the directions and the design of the test. We recommend conferring with a professional who can guide a student through the myriad of college decisions.

 

Selecting a Smaller College

 

If students are interested in pursuing a college degree, we often counsel our students to apply to local, small, four-year colleges because they have some major benefits over the large public or private universities.

 

Since IEPs are not recognized in college, and 504 accommodations may not be helpful enough, real meaningful support might come from college professors and the college academic support center. Students who can live on campus have easier access to the academic support center because it is usually housed near the center of campus or the library.

 

In addition, smaller colleges hire faculty who focus on teaching rather than on research. For this reason, the professors have an easier time identifying the students in the classroom who need extra time for re-teaching, and there is increased flexibility for professors to be more creative in the delivery of their curriculum.

 

In some of these smaller colleges, the focus is shifted from what the professor is teaching to what the students are learning.

 

The Bottom Line: Planning Is Essential 

A realistic plan will require more than just a student’s wishes or a parent’s desires. Working with your child’s school counselor as well as a post-secondary education counselor to determine the correct road for your child is key to her or his success as an independent adult.

 

The Prentice School is an independent, nonprofit, day school for Pre-K through 12th grade students with language-based learning differences such as dyslexia. The school also serves those with dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia (apraxia), and/or working memory, attention, auditory processing and visual processing issues.