If you have a learning disability, you may be concerned about how it could affect your success in college. Understandably, there’s a lot to consider. But while the individual education plans (IEP) you had in high school may not be available in college, there are still many ways colleges and universities provide support and accommodations for students with learning disabilities.
For example, at the Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources at Azusa Pacific University, staff work with students to help identify their needs, communicate with faculty, and provide the tools they need to support their learning experience.
Carmen Varela, director of APU’s Accessibility and Disability Resources, brings more than 25 years of experience as a disability and civil rights practitioner in Texas and California to her role at APU. She said it’s important for students with learning disabilities to get the accommodations they need to succeed. “The services we provide are critical to the success of students with disabilities on campus,” she said.
“One thing I love about APU is that it’s not a huge public campus,” Varela noted. “That allows us to individualize and personalize accommodations for our students, based on the student’s need.”
The level of support students require can vary, so APU offers a wide variety of solutions. Some common accommodations for students with learning disabilities include:
- Assistance with testing, including extra time, a less distracting environment, or earplugs or headphones to help filter out noise
- Transcription software that can record and transcribe a lecture (Varela said her department is moving toward using transcription rather than note-taking)
- Extended time on assignments
