The Dyslexic Advantage (31 page)

Project Eye-to-Eye has grown rapidly in the years since David and Jonathan established the program. Currently, there are chapters at forty universities and colleges across the nation, with more being added all the time. Even for schools without a chapter, parents, teachers, administrators, and dyslexic students can learn from Project Eye-to-Eye about the importance of building community among students with dyslexia.

When students with dyslexia decide to attend college, they should approach this transition with careful planning and strategy. Some of this planning should start as early as middle school. The following points are important to keep in mind.

 

Choosing the Right College, at the Right Time, for the Right Reasons.
Students with dyslexia should choose their college as practically and dispassionately as possible. Each college should be evaluated for the help it can provide in reaching further goals, rather than approached as if getting in and going to that particular school were the goal in itself.

 

Factors Affecting School Choice.
For most students with dyslexia, the margin between success and failure at college is thin, so questions of school prestige, family tradition, or social life should all take a backseat to whether a particular school will provide the necessary supports and services. When applying to schools, students with dyslexia should be honest and open with admissions officers about their needs, and they should also be critical in evaluating the responses they receive. Schools that are good environments for students with dyslexia will have a clear support system in place for these students.

Campus visits are also important to make sure that the reality on the ground matches the website rhetoric. Students with dyslexia should speak directly to staff at the disability resource center and to at least one—and preferably more—student with dyslexia who works with the center.

A good resource center should provide technology supports like text readers or recordings, help in obtaining classroom accommodations, access to notes, assistance with organization, tutors, proofing and correcting papers, advice on scheduling and instructors, and help in making contact with other students with dyslexia. Students with dyslexia should also ask about faculty attitudes toward accommodations (especially in the area of a contemplated major). If a school doesn't have a consistent and easily demonstrated record of helpfulness in all these areas, look elsewhere. Students with dyslexia almost always have a better experience at less prestigious colleges that show a greater commitment to helping them succeed than at more prestigious schools that are less committed to their support.

Helpful lists of schools with exceptional disabilities services offices are available through the American Educational Guidance Center (
www.college-scholarships.com/learning_disabilities.htm
). Many students with dyslexia have also found that Loren Pope's books
Colleges That Change Lives
and
Looking Beyond the Ivy League
provide helpful information about schools that are especially nurturing for students who require more personal connection to thrive in their education.
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An additional question for those looking to attend a four-year college is whether to attend a smaller private institution or a larger (typically state-run) university. Each can have advantages and disadvantages for students with dyslexia, and determining which provides the best fit ultimately depends upon the particular needs of the student. However, there are several typical differences that may be helpful to consider.

Larger schools often have fewer standard requirements and more options for fulfilling the requirements they do have. This greater flexibility provides students with more opportunities to select classes and instructors that better meet their needs. Larger schools also typically provide more opportunities for earning credits for independent research or practical projects, and this can allow students to avoid some coursework. Larger schools also tend to feature more courses that are geared toward providing practical career training, and this “real-world” focus can appeal to some students with dyslexia.

Smaller schools, by contrast, often provide a greater sense of community, which means students are less likely to simply become “lost.” Students also typically have more direct interaction with instructors, and class sizes are often smaller. Both factors promote more back-and-forth discussion and person-to-person learning, which many students with dyslexia prefer.

Another important factor that distinguishes many large and small schools is the kinds of tests and assignments they give. Larger schools typically have large classes, which generally means more standardized tests (often multiple choice) and fewer essays or papers. Smaller schools tend to show the opposite pattern, requiring more written work. Either format may be preferred by different students, but knowing which format is the best fit for a particular student can be helpful when selecting a school.

 

When to Start College.
The transition to college may come right after high school, or it may be made later. Because of the late-blooming developmental pattern many individuals with dyslexia follow, some students who'll eventually thrive in college may not be ready by age eighteen. Students who don't yet show the focus, drive, or motivation to enter college at eighteen may benefit from a few years off to work, attend part-time classes, serve in the armed forces, travel, or join a service organization before entering college as a full-time student. These experiences often help to focus career plans as well as to develop maturity and character, and many students find that they enjoy and excel at work in the real world more than coursework.

For some students with dyslexia, the transition to college can be gradual rather than all at once. Many students with dyslexia find that taking a full college load right after high school is too much, but a half or three-quarters load is quite doable. Often these students find that a part-time college program that is stretched over six or seven years works quite well for them. Students who are intellectually capable of high-level work but who still struggle with the speed or organization needed for heavy course loads often do well pursuing a part-time college schedule right from the beginning.

A gradual transition from high school to four-year college may also involve taking courses at a junior college. This is an especially good option for students who have difficulty motivating themselves for courses outside their core areas of interest. Junior college allows these students to take the entry-level courses they need outside of their major in settings where the competition and grading may not be as intense and where they can take fewer courses per term. Students with dyslexia also often enjoy taking entry-level or survey-type courses in a less competitive junior college environment because these courses—with their extensive reading lists, broad but shallow approaches, and emphasis on memorizing details rather than mastering big-picture concepts—often stress their weakest skills, putting them at a particular disadvantage to the “A students” who are typically in heavy supply at four-year colleges. Many junior colleges also offer online courses that are easier to balance with work schedules.

Students with dyslexia who still need to improve their academic and organizational skills before attempting a conventional college program may benefit from attending a junior college that has special programs geared to helping students with dyslexia. The first accredited junior college established specifically to prepare students with dyslexia for advanced schooling was Landmark College in Putney, Vermont (
www.landmark.edu
). Landmark offers a variety of programs to prepare students with dyslexia and other learning challenges in the basic academic skills that are required for success in higher education, including reading and writing, executive function and organization, self-help skills, and the use of assistive technologies. More than half the students who enroll full-time at Landmark have previously attended other colleges, where they have struggled with their coursework. At Landmark, the focus is on building the skills these students will need to transfer back to a four-year college. Some students attend Landmark for as little as one academic term or for the summer, but many attend programs that extend for as long as two years. Often students earn transferable college credits while at Landmark.
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Another college that focuses exclusively on educating students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities is Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida (
www.beaconcollege.edu
). Like Landmark, Beacon offers two-year associate in arts degrees, but it also offers four-year bachelor of arts degrees as well.

While some students with dyslexia require extra preparation before attending college, some highly capable dyslexic students may find college to be easier and more interesting than high school, and they thrive with early entry. In general, these students are highly motivated, goal-oriented self-starters with strong self-advocacy skills and good support at home. One of the individuals we interviewed, Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Matthew Schneps, followed this path. He took advantage of a program that let New York City high school juniors matriculate at City College of New York. According to Matt, “That opened the world to me. All of a sudden I went from typical high school testing, where they're just seeing how well you can memorize things, to people caring about your ideas and how you can put them together; so getting out of the school system was very helpful for me.” Many bright students with dyslexia find college easier than high school because of the greater freedom it offers to focus on areas of strength and avoid areas of weakness. Finally, many colleges provide better disability support services than many high schools, which is obviously an advantage for these students.

 

Getting a Formal Diagnosis before Applying to College.
To receive accommodations either for admissions testing or for college courses, a student must have a formal diagnosis of a special learning challenge. This diagnosis must be made by a qualified specialist on the basis of appropriate psychoeducational testing. To receive accommodations for admissions testing, the psychoeducational evaluation must usually be performed within five years of the date of the admissions test.

Examples of the tests, diagnoses, and professionals accepted by the organizations that administer the college entrance exams are available on their websites (
www.collegeboard.org
and
www.act.org
). Typically, these organizations require an IQ test (like the WISC-IV) and an achievement test (like the WIAT-III or the WJ III). We've found that many bright students with dyslexia may not show problems with reading speed or comprehension on the simpler passages contained in standard achievement tests but will struggle to read the more advanced passages found on the SAT or ACT. In general, we've found that the Nelson-Denny Reading Test is a better predictor of such problems, and it should be used in testing all students in ninth grade and beyond. Several of the other less commonly used subtests we've found to be especially helpful in documenting the important executive function and processing speed challenges that can require extra time on admissions tests include the WJ III NU subtests on decision making, visual matching, and pair cancellation.

 

Establishing a Record of Accommodations in School.
Before granting accommodations for the admissions tests, the organizations that administer these tests (the College Board and ACT) require documentation that the student has both needed and been given accommodations in school. Documentation must include a formally accepted plan from the student's school, approved within the last twelve months. These organizations also need to know the date at which the student first began to receive accommodations, and they will usually not respond favorably if the student has only recently begun to receive accommodations. That's why it's so important to get a diagnosis and a plan of accommodations established early.

 

Choosing the Right College Admissions Test.
The two primary admissions tests are the SAT and the ACT. The SAT, which is offered by the College Board (
www.sat.collegeboard.com
), is designed to assess general college readiness, while the ACT (
www.act.org
) tries to identify the level of academic achievement the student has reached in specific subjects, including English, reading, math, and science reasoning. Some students with dyslexia prefer one format over the other, but we haven't found a firm rule for predicting which test will appeal to which students. We would recommend that students explore sample problems from each kind of test to see which format they prefer, either on the College Board or ACT websites or using commercially available test preparation books.

 

Admissions Test Accommodations.
Depending on the precise nature of the challenges that a student with dyslexia shows, different accommodations may be required during the admissions test session. Based on a special review, the organizations that administer the tests can provide students with accommodations that include extended time (typically double time); reader and scribe (assistance with reading and recording answers); permission to mark answers in the test booklet rather than on an answer sheet; a small room for the test session; extended or more frequent break times; permission to use the computer for writing essays; and large print on the test booklet or answer sheet. The particular accommodations granted will depend upon the documentation the student provides, including the kind of evaluation we discussed above. For students who need accommodations for testing, the testing organizations recommend applying at least nine months in advance of the desired test date. Some students may also need to complete an appeals process to receive accommodations if their initial request is turned down. This is particularly true for homeschooled students, who typically lack a formal record of classroom accommodations. For students who feel they've been unfairly denied accommodations, attorneys are available who can help families negotiate this process. Families can also check at
www.wrightslaw.com
for information about rights and legal recourse.