Accommodations Tips & Tricks

Be sure to self-advocate!  At the college level, students need to be their own advocate and pursue the resources they need.

You should register for accommodations, even if they think they won’t need them. At college, the system is different. You don’t have to take special classes, and no one in class will check in or check up on them so if they didn’t like being in the special education system before, they shouldn’t let their previous experiences keep them from registering.

College disability services offices take students’ privacy seriously. The only people who need to know they have accommodations are the people who’ll be involved in them, like professors. But professors have no right to know what students’ disability is, and it’s unlikely that the disability services office will tell them. (Students should ask Disability Services if they’re worried about this.) That said, you can tell professors about your disability if you like.

You should register for accommodations now. (The approval process can take several weeks.) You should know that if they find they don’t need them, no one can “make” you use them, but if they panic the night before their first exam, it will be too late to get accommodated for that test, and there are no “do-overs” for exams in college.

If one or more of your requests is denied, you should ask how to appeal the decision. You won’t necessarily get a different answer, but it’s worth trying.

Students should remember that accommodations like extended time on tests won’t be helpful if they don’t keep up with readings and go to class. You must know the material to do well. You should also know that research shows that students who were successful both used their accommodations and sought help at tutoring centers, writing centers, etc. Tell them that seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

You should be your own study coach (or seek help to learn how to do so). You should figure out what helps you focus – where can you study with the fewest distractions? How long can you read or study before you lose focus? At what time of day do you study most effectively? You should do your hardest work then. What worked in high school may not work in college. Seek help if they need new strategies.

Just because you’ve already had to learn how you study best, you are probably going to be better off than your classmates who have never really had to try before!