Life after High School for LD Students

I took my two High School sons to hear one of the Biology Teachers who has learning disabilities talk about life after High School this spring. I figured she would be a good speaker because the kids all talk about how crazy she is; but do so with big grins on their faces. When she was in fifth grade her mother explained her test scores to her and she felt this knowing that she was indeed smart was very helpful to her. She is severely dyslexic and used tutors in high school to get though Algebra 2 and Spanish. She put off Spanish until her junior year and squeaked by with a C-. She had an Algebra 2 teacher tell her she would never pass his class and would never graduate. She was very determined and graduated with a 3.7 GPA at a high performing public High School. She scored below 800 (out of 1600) the first time she took the SAT’s but got accepted to all eleven colleges she applied to.

Here are some of the things she did that got her into these colleges and got her through college. She visited each college and introduced herself to someone in admissions. She took her IEP with her and went over it making sure that the school would provide the right environment and support. She got a letter form her high school stating that she has a learning disability. She still has this letter and used it recently when applying to graduate school. She picked a small private school. She went up to the professors in the areas she knew she would have difficulty in the first week of class and asked for recommendations of tutors. After trying to study unsuccessfully in various places on campus (too noisy) she went to the counseling/admission and explained her problem. The school came up with the solution of giving her a key to a vacant classroom that she could use whenever she needed to. She did not tell anyone of this room so that she would not be distracted. She took Calculus at a Junior College during the summer near home backed up by a tutor that was already a known quantity.

On the job she uses overheads for lectures. She writes nothing on the whiteboard if she can help it. She keeps a Franklin spell checker with her at all times. She will sometimes ask a student she knows is an excellent speller to spell a word she has to write on the board. She communicates with staff and parents via the phone instead of email. She carries a type written list of the spelling of numbers with her checkbook.

If you get the chance to take your child to hear someone with a learning disability who is successful speak I highly recommend. My hope before I went was that she would help reinforce the concept to my college bound son to get a tutor in classes he knows he will have difficulty right away. She covered this and so much more!