Jane Jarrow

Paula, I agree. That is what "equal access" is all about! Dr. Jane Jarrow

Michele, Be aware that there ARE no IEP's at the college level. The IEP is unique to the K-12 system (and are focused on success, not access). You'll have to find a different benchmark to use. Dr. Jane Jarrow

Ryan, Ouch! I agree with your idea (that extra time is just leveling the playing field), but I am not thrilled with your phrasing. To refer to some students as "fully functional" kind of makes the other students -- students with disabilities -- sound defective in some way. The way we talk about people DOES make a difference in the way we think about people. See if you can think of a more positive way to describe such things. Dr. Jane Jarrow

Ryan, This kind of leads back to the question of doing a reality check -- OUR perceptions of what a student can do and their knowledge of what they can accomplish are not necessarily the same. We have to give them the courtesy of making their own decisions. Dr. Jane Jarrow

Ryan, There is a difference between giving an honest appraisal of the job opportunities and the practical problems you see that the student may face and counseling the student out of a given field ("you shouldn't go into ____ because you'll never got a job"). The first is acceptable. The second is not. Dr. Jane Jarrow

Sheritha, In addition, sometimes students know what accommodations that had in K-12, but those don't always transfer over to higher education. You need to have someone on staff who can "translate" the student's accommodation needs to those that would be appropriate at the college level. Dr. Jane Jarrow

Sheritha, That's an interesting twist in the way this is usually phrased. People complain that students with disabilities get an unfair advantage when given extra time. You flipped that around to suggest that students WITHOUT disabilities have an unfair advantage when extra time is NOT given to those with disabilities. Hmmm... I like it! I may have to steal that! Dr. Jane Jarrow

Sheritha, I agree. We shouldn't let our own biases or limited experience put boundaries on the students opportunities. Dr. Jane Jarrow

Sheritha, That's great. Just a thought, though. Make sure your colleagues in Career Services are as open to allowing students to test their own potential, and are not going to shut the student down when they get there! Dr. Jane Jarrow

Jessica, I agree. In this case, "too much information" is just that. When more information is shared than is needed, it tends to get used inappropriately or end up in the wrong hands. Dr. Jane Jarrow