foreign language waiver, please read...I am confused!?!?

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

How can a University claim that they have the authority to waiver language requirements (like spanish or latin) on the basis that it is similar to math and that learning disabled students might have trouble learning it, but not waiver math?? This makes no sense. Waiver one subject on teh basis that your learning disability might make it hard for you to learn and use as argument that it is too similiar to math, but make students with dyscalculia take math irregardless if it is relevant to their course of study or not. Does anyone think this odd??
They do this at my Unviersity, which I will name…The University of Memphis…

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/10/2004 - 2:11 PM

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We seem to be having the same issue and I have been doing some research and found under the ADA the following:

· Colleges may not measure student achievement using modes that adversely discriminate against students with disabilities. I.E. her documented memory deficit or math deficit.
· Alternative formats and methods for students to demonstrate course mastery
· The form of an exam must be altered if the testing procedure puts a student with a disability at a disadvantage based on the student’s documented disability.
· An individual faculty member who fails to provide an accommodation to a student with a documented disability may be held personally liable.

We are contacting an educational lawyer to find out our daughters rights and to see if they are being violated.

Will let you know the outcome. They do have advocates for each state, perhaps one in your state will help you. This is over the phone and no cost to you.
Best of Luck

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 04/10/2004 - 3:10 PM

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Maybe these people would be able to help you. They have an advocy group and are in your state. Hope they can help.

http://starcenter.tn.org/departments.php?departmentid=23

another helpful site:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/ltrs/accoms.colleges.drbrown.htm

Put college in the homepage search. There is a lot of info.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 04/13/2004 - 8:23 PM

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I thank you for your response and I wish you luck with your child (or I should say, young adult, really:).

I am failing this elementary algebra again, and this is the second time I have taken it. What is odd is that the remedial classes do not count towards your gpa at my university, but…if you have transfer credits, you must take care of what you were never taught in high school within earning thrity credit hours or you can only take the class you were never taught (in the resource room) in high school by itself…over and over…until you pass it. This means that after this semester, I am being disallowed from taking any other courses or registering from any other courses until I pass a class I am not really fully capable of ever passing. This is the rule of the Tennessee State Board of Regents, and tommorrow I am meeting with the lady who runs the offices of student disabilites to see if I can have my “high school defiencies” waived. I really do not know if this will happen or not. What is odd, is that the offices of student disabilites made everyone fill out a questionare and the topic of their waiving high school defiencies came up on it but no one ever told me of it.

I e mailed the lady who runs the offices of student disability and she said she would speak with me tommorrow about what the high school defiency waiver may or may not mean to me, which makes no sense. Now, these are the same offices of student disability that have only ever given one math waiver in 13 years, and that was for someone who had a traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident and whose greatest wish was to get a university degree.

I still have to take the same remedial algebra course, but at least I will not be slowly run out of the Unviersity…I do not find out what is going to occur with this until tommorrow in the mid morning…it is either going to be something very bad or very good is how I look at it. I have an English major at Unviersity and I have begged for a math waiver to no avail. And I mean begged. I do not understand that if you happen (just so happen) to be learning disabled in a “subject” that really does not pertain to your course of study, why you have to take the subject you cannot do all too well…over and over again. I have filed a complaint with the higher education branch of the offices of civil rights, and let it go after filing a complaint with the University, I got back a response that was full of lies…so now I am going to re file a complaint with the higher ed branch of the offices of civil rights. I do not understand how you can be run out of a school, basically, this is slowly occuring, because you are learning disabled. It makes no sense…I took pre algebra as a senior in 1992! Not my fault, eh? I try very hard, just as I am darn sure you child does, with math and I reach a block with the elementary algebra once it all gets too abstract…I do fine until square roots and formula re arrangement…It took me two semesters to do three of the six units the course covers.

I will fill you in on what occurs and I thank you very much for your post. Good luck with your child.

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