Explore the ways your child can self-advocate to receive accommodations as a college student with a learning disability

College student using earbuds to listen to audiobook. — COLLEGE STUDENTS CAN OBTAIN ACCOMMODATIONS FOR LEARNING DISABILITIES.

If you have a child with a learning disability, you might have some concerns about them becoming a college student. You’ve watched your student thrive in high school with the support of their IEP or 504 plan, which you were closely involved in creating and fine tuning, but the process of obtaining accommodations for learning disabilities in college is completely unknown. Will they get the support they need? Will they be able to achieve their full potential?

While obtaining accommodations for learning disabilities in college is indeed different from what you and your child have experienced in high school, the process is nothing to fear. In fact, it’s a valuable opportunity for your child to advocate for themselves and take charge of their future. Continue reading to discover how your child can get accommodations for their learning disabilities in college.

Accommodations for learning disabilities in college vs. high school

The best place to start is by understanding how the process of getting accommodations for learning disabilities in college is different from what you’ve done for your child in high school.

Different legal protections for college students with learning disabilities

In high school, accommodations for learning disabilities are required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which guarantees free and appropriate education to all students with disabilities. Your child has received an IEP or 504 plan thanks to the IDEA. However, this law isn’t applicable to post-high school education.

College students with learning disabilities are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees equal access and bans discrimination based on an individual’s disability. While the language of these two protections may appear similar, the bottom line is that colleges aren’t required to offer the same levels of support and services your child was used to receiving in high school. For example, colleges don’t have to provide specialized instruction or individual tutoring to college students with learning disabilities.

But don’t let these differences make you worry. There are still plenty of accommodations and support services provided by colleges. And when they receive the accommodations they qualify for, many college students with learning disabilities successfully earn their degree and have a positive college experience.

Different role for parents in obtaining accommodations

In high school, you played a major role in obtaining, reviewing, and adjusting your child’s provided accommodations. You regularly talked to teachers and attended meetings as part of your involvement. But this changes drastically for college students with learning disabilities.

At the college level, students have to step up, advocate for themselves, and obtain their own accommodations. In fact, once students reach the age of eighteen, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents parents from accessing students’ personal records or speaking with college officials on their behalf—including those in the disability office. Your child can choose to allow you to play a role in this process or speak with involved parties, but they are still in the driver’s seat.

The good news is that obtaining accommodations for learning disabilities in college is usually a relatively simple process—easier than it was in high school, at least. Your child is more than capable of guiding this process and becoming their own self-advocate.

Types of accommodations available to college students with learning disabilities

Before we share the step-by-step process of obtaining accommodations for learning disabilities in college, let’s look at some of the different types of accommodations most colleges provide.

Audiobooks—which translate required written textbooks into an audio format to assist students with visual processing difficulties.
Receiving lecture notes in advance—which usually contain the outline or summary of a presentation to help students prepare for class and stay focused during the lecture.
Lecture recordings—for students to play back later at a slower pace or while pausing and rewinding.
Smartpens—which digitize written notes and also have recording capabilities.
Designated note-takers—someone who takes notes during lectures and often types them up later to assist college students with learning disabilities.
Text-to-speech software—which reads web pages, documents, emails, and any other text on a computer out loud.
Speech-to-text technology—which allows students to dictate a paper or assignment and translates their speech into a text document.
Extra time on coursework—extending deadlines for assignments or projects, particularly if a lot of reading, research, and writing is required.
Extra time for exams—up to double the normal time to allow students to read and answer the questions more slowly.
Quiet exam room—taking a test separately to reduce distractions from classmates.
Alternate exam format—getting an oral examination rather than a written test, or vice versa.
Captioning media content—such as videos and podcasts assigned to the class or necessary for project research.
Reduced course load—taking fewer credits than required to be a full-time student.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it should give you a good idea of what types of accommodations colleges most regularly provide to students with learning disabilities.

It’s also worth noting that colleges offer additional accommodations for students who have non-learning disabilities that still impact their college experience and warrant special arrangements.

Housing accommodations—such as a room on the first floor, a room with a private kitchen, having no roommates, or allowing a support animal.
Dining accommodations—such as exemption from the required meal plan or allergy-free food prepared separately to avoid cross-contamination.
Attendance flexibility—for students with episodic conditions that may force them to miss class because they’re too unwell to attend.

Hopefully, these examples of accommodations convince you that colleges take seriously their task of caring for and supporting their students with disabilities. As long as they’re willing to advocate for it, your child will be able to obtain the accommodations they need to thrive as a college student.

Step-by-step process to obtain accommodations for learning disabilities in college

As we mentioned previously, it will be your child’s responsibility to advocate for themselves and obtain the accommodations they need to be successful in college. However, you can still play an important role—be knowledgeable about the process so you can offer guidance and encouragement to your child. So let’s explore the steps your child will need to take in order to receive accommodations for their learning disabilities in college.

1. Research different disability services offices and academic supports

The first step in this process actually begins during your child’s college search. When researching and visiting schools, see if you can arrange a meeting or phone call with advisors from the disability services offices. To help your child get into practice, they should be the one to call, email, or submit a meeting request.

When disability advisors talk to prospective students, they’ll usually share a broad overview of their services or how they work, rather than offer specifics on your child’s situation. Even so, you and your child will still be able to get a feel for the atmosphere of the disability services office and hear about the different supports and resources they provide their college students with learning disabilities.

Because the American Disabilities Act isn’t overly specific when it comes to higher education, colleges differ in the level of support they provide to students. They might all offer extended exam time, but only more supportive institutions hire tutors who specialize in learning differences or offer note-taking and time-management workshops to their students. Use the college exploration phase to identify which schools will offer the most supportive environments for your child.

2. Register with the disability services office

After your child chooses which college to attend and submits their enrollment deposit, the process of obtaining accommodations can begin in earnest. Your child is ready to start their official request for accommodations. At most colleges, your child will simply submit an online registration or application form to the disability services office to get assigned to a disability advisor and schedule their initial meeting.

Technically, students can ask for accommodations at any time during their college career. However, if your child wants to maximize their potential for success, it’s in their best interest to obtain accommodations for their learning disability before they begin freshman year. Add this task to your child’s before-college summer checklist. Some accommodations take a while to arrange, so they don’t want to wait until classes have already begun to request them.

Some college students with learning disabilities are hesitant to ask for accommodations, especially if they think they don’t need the accommodations they were provided in high school. While each student should make their own choice, it’s generally better to have accommodations available and not use them than to struggle alone and request them after their grades have started slipping.

Going to college with a learning disability is more manageable when students obtain the right accommodations. There’s no need for students to struggle in silence when colleges are eager and willing to offer the support they need.

3. Provide documentation of learning disabilities

Before any college will grant your child’s request for accommodations, they’ll need evidence of their learning disability. While the exact documents your child needs to provide will vary according to their disability and the college they attend, you can expect to supply some of the following items:

Your child’s high school IEP or 504 plan
Medical forms
Letters from their healthcare provider(s)
Psychological or psychiatric evaluations
Psycho-educational evaluations or test results

Your child should check their college’s disability services website or contact their disability advisor directly to see what specific documents are needed to verify their learning disability. In addition, some colleges require evaluations or test results to be recent, usually within the last three years. So don’t be alarmed if your child’s disability advisor asks them to get re-evaluated—it’s merely routine.

4. Meet with a disability advisor to determine accommodations

Once your child provides all the requested documents, they’ll be ready to meet with their assigned disability advisor and determine which accommodations they’re eligible to receive. You and your child can decide whether or not you should be present at the meeting. Remember, the goal is for them to take the lead in managing their learning disability and advocating for themselves, so you should only join the meeting in a supportive—not a managing—role.

If your child is nervous for this meeting, help them practice explaining their learning disability and the challenges they face in their education. They don’t need to be an expert on what types of accommodations the college is able to provide—the disability advisor knows what’s possible and what to recommend. Your child should just be prepared to express why they need accommodations and what’s worked for them in the past.

During this meeting, the disability advisor will review your child’s learning disability documentation and determine what accommodations they can offer your child. When deciding on accommodations, disability advisors evaluate two factors—necessity and reasonableness.

In order for an accommodation to be necessary, it must directly relate to the impact of your child’s learning disability. For instance, it’s necessary for a student with ADHD to receive extra testing time or be offered a quiet room to take their exams, since getting easily distracted is part of their learning disability. On the other hand, it probably wouldn’t be necessary for them to receive an alternate exam format (oral instead of written), since their learning disability isn’t related to reading comprehension.

In order for an accommodation to be reasonable, it must not replace the required skills or knowledge the student is meant to demonstrate. For instance, it’s reasonable for a student with dyscalculia to use a calculator on high-level math or statistics exams. On the other hand, it might not be reasonable for that student to use a calculator on lower-level math exams meant to assess their calculation skills, since the calculator would be replacing the skill altogether. A more reasonable accommodation in this example would be extended test time.

5. Receive accommodations and work continually with the disability services office

After your child’s accommodations have been determined, their disability advisor will let them know what steps they need to take in order to use them. For instance, when they want to use a quiet room to take an exam, they might need to request it one week ahead of time with the disability services office. It will be up to your child to follow whatever procedures are in place for them to utilize their accommodations.

Depending on your child’s college, the disability services office might send your child’s professors for the upcoming semester a list of their provided accommodations. If not, your child will receive a letter outlining their accommodations and be responsible for informing professors themselves.

Your child must be prepared to work with their professors to navigate the logistics of receiving their accommodations. For example, if they’re supposed to receive lecture notes in advance, they’ll have to determine with their professor when and how they’ll get those notes. If they can have extra time to complete projects, they still need to talk to their professors to establish their new deadlines.

Throughout their college career, it’s your child’s ongoing responsibility to check in with their disability advisor and say something if their accommodations aren’t working. While this may seem like an extra burden other students don’t experience, help your child view this responsibility as a chance to continually improve their self-advocacy skills.

Talking to new friends about their learning disability

It’s a major accomplishment for your child to obtain the right accommodations for their learning disabilities in college. But we can’t neglect to address the social transition challenges that college students with learning disabilities face.

Your child should never feel pressured to tell classmates or new friends about their learning disability if they don’t feel ready. As they get comfortable and build close friendships in college, encourage them to open up and share this part of their lives with those they trust. This is another part of self-advocacy—learning to own their story and be proud of who they are.

Unfortunately, there is still a lingering and frustrating stigma surrounding learning disabilities, even though more and more individuals with disabilities are attending college. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 11% of college students have learning disabilities—that’s one in every ten students. Through advocacy, your child can play a role in starting conversations and reducing the stigma for college students with learning disabilities.

As Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” An effective self-advocate has the courage to be authentic and surrounds themself with a supportive network. If your child can achieve this level of personal growth in college, they’ll be well-prepared to succeed in their career and beyond.

Final thoughts

Now you know what lies ahead for your child as they graduate high school and begin the process of receiving accommodations for their learning disabilities in college. Encourage your child as they take on the role of self-advocate, and always be ready to offer guidance when they face challenges. Your role as a supportive parent is to help them problem solve, use the resources available, and continue dreaming of their bright future.

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How to Get Accommodations for Learning Disabilities in College