If I could go to a community college...

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What are some accomodations I could get for my HFA/AS, Severe Anxiety, learning disability and ADHD? I mean, what accommodations did you or do you have for colleges? I just want to know so that maybe if I ever do decide I am ready then I know what I can request for. When I was in High School, I never got accommodations I needed and that's what caused me to struggle but now that I know and understand my needs... maybe this time I can get the help that I need.

The on;y problem I have with a community college is that I am required to take the primary subjects (Math, English, Science, History... you know...) and I can't do that or it will overload me just like in high school. It's hard for me to do homework too because of a strict routine. I want to be able to get noise block headphones or having music during work to help with noise and distraction.

But maybe you guys can tell me what accommodations I could get as an autistic/anxiety sufferer/ADHD/Learning Disabled.

First of all, there are no accommodations which will exempt you in any way or form from taking required courses or that will lighten your workload.

The university/college will not lower its requirements or standards for you. They will recognize disabilities and work with you so you get through the class but the class material and assignments will not be changed for you.

The accommodations you can expect are things like the ability to take exams in a quiet room, being able to film your presentations and play them in class rather than stand in front of the class and present it..things like that.

Err.. if you cant do the primary subjects how do you think you will be able to do the advanced courses? I will tell you right now that the workload becomes increasingly more intensive when you start taking your advanced classes.

There's a big difference between high school and college however . In college YOU decide how many classes you take per semester and YOU can choose their schedule based on whats available. I know people that prefer to take 30 minute classes every day whereas people like me, prefer to take a 3 hour class once a week. Some people take just 2 classes a semester others can take more.

Two semesters ago I was taking 6 classes. Thats a LOT. The workload was crazy but I got through it with A's. Why? Because the way I scheduled it gave me 3 days in between classes so I had a lot of time to sit down and do the assignments and research. I would have never survived it if it were like high school where I was stuck going to class every single day and had homework piled up to my eyeballs.



This has nothing to do with the college. How you do your work is entirely your responsibility. Unlike high school, if you fail class you fail it. There is no remedial classes, no summer school, no law that forces the college to pass you after X attempts. Ive seen freshmen repeat a class 4 times and the college refusing to accept them in that class a 5th time since he is just wasting a student slot. So you do whatever you need to do to get your work done... the college will not step in to tell you how to do it or help you in doing it.

and how else do you expect me to do anything with my writing capabilities? That is one of the things I want to get into without worrying about dealing with taking other classes. I mean going to a university would be twice as worse for me ebcause I would be away from home and I have too many separation issues with my parents. I get homesick too easily and extremely distressed about change and my routine changing.

I have no directions for my future in writing whatsoever because of my challenges. What's the point of pursuing a writing career when I can't even follow-up on what my writing does for me?

You don't have to go for a degree. You can just take the courses you're interested in and/or the courses you think will improve yourself. Of course if there is a course required, you'll have to take that one first.

You can audit classes for noncredit. You won't have to take any tests or be required to do any homework. It'll be placed on your transcript as a "V" for visitor. (At least that's the way it is at the college I just looked up.)

You know yourself best and know your own limitations. Contact the disability office of the college you're interested in to talk about potential accommodations.

Good luck.

I'm not sure if they do that at this college I go to. I mean I want to take Japanese but they don't have Japanese class... yet its the only closest college there is to where we live. MCC (Mesa Community College) is miles away from us.

Listen, I know this is harsh but it is how it is. The college is not responsible for your education. By law they will do as much as they can to assist you in taking the classes but they will not exempt you from a required class or give you a light/easy assignments.

Here's the gist of it: A college or university that operates in the US is required to have you take those non-english writing classes before they can award you a degree. Its something to do with their accreditation credentials.

You have two paths then. You go for the degree or you go for personal enrichment.

The degree means you will have to find a way to take those required classes. Personal enrichment means you can just take the classes you want (I'll assume it will be the writing classes) but you get no credit for it. You have the knowledge but it wont count at all towards any degree,certificate or job search.

If you take personal enrichment then be aware that you will not qualify for any form of financial aid nor grant/student loans (if you need them) as those are only available for credit, degree seeking students.

My personal opinion: If you're going to spend money,time and effort into it you may as well do your best to suffer through a few required classes and get a degree. Out of a 4 year degree you are only really forced to do less than 1 year of it doing your mandatory, non-degree related classes. After that its all classes you want and classes based on your degree.

edit:
You mentioned the Japanese class... you can contact your local student advisor at the college and find out about how you can transfer credits from other colleges into yours.

For example, I'm majoring in Anthropology and History. The history degree I want to focus on asia...but my college doesnt offer asian history classes. So what I'm going to end up doing is taking my asian history classes online from the university of Hawaii and transfer them into my university in Florida before I graduate.

So you have this option as well... just give it thought, research what classes you want+need and how you can get them. This only applies if you're doing it for credits (Degree path).

Last edited by Dantac on 02 Jun 2011, 9:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Japanese is pretty specialized. You may have to find a course online to teach yourself in spite of what you believe about online courses. I was under the impression you wanted to improve your writing. You can audit classes at MCC. If the other college you're talking about is a trade school, you probably can't.

You might also check in with your state's vocational rehabilitation services to find a workable plan. They can help with determining your abilities and interests. They might also be able to help with some of the costs.

Last edited by Seph on 02 Jun 2011, 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well I sent the other college this email:

I don't do so well speaking on the telephone and since there was no
way to email special need services... that's why I am contacting you.
I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, ADHD and Severe Anxiety. These
disabilities hinder my life and even how I learn. I have a very hard
time dealing with sound and touch as well as changes in routine. I
have trouble expressing myself regardless of being able to communicate
verbally. I am prone to extreme amounts of distress due to severe
anxiety and can stress easily. I also have a hard time with homework
due to the nature of strict routines at home and being able to process
it as well. I have problems with organization and without any self
help or direction it becomes even more difficult for me to function. I
would like to try and get into classes for writing but I heard that I
would have to take other classes for english, math, science and
history. It would be hard for my routine to attend school every to
attend these classes and I only want to get into writing classes to
improve my skills in writing. So I was hoping I could get some
information without speaking on the phone since it causes great stress
and anxiety for me to do so.

But they haven't gotten back to me. I tried to explain to them the problems I have the best that I could but they haven't gotten back to me. My mom doesn't know my disabilities as much as she thinks and in all honesty, I do think anyone really does. I have to do all these things myself to get answers because I'm the only own who knows what my problems are. >____>

The college may take a while to reply- they usually have a lot of emails to get through. Have you checked their website? Some have disability sections that give information about their services.

If you don't mind me asking, how do you plan to be a writer if you don't like English? I thought the two were pretty much linked...

Dantac has a point in that they are unlikely to waive requirements, but sometimes they work hard to help you. In my university they gave people with writing problems (dyslexia etc.) special laptop-things to record lectures and type on..

Good point. Writing is literally an English Arts degree. Before he can take any writing (fiction/nonfiction/technical) classes he will have to pass the primary english requirement courses plus whatever additional classes would be considered pre-requirement for the advanced writing classes.

Looking up in the Mesa CC website, they only offer two options for this: The Associates degree and a Certificate option... for any kind of english writing he wants to do.

Certificate doesn't require him to take non-english classes like history and such. The AS will require him to take them ..and the AS can be used to transfer to a university to continue into a 4 year degree.

A certificate is rather worthless in the job market but an Associates degree on the other hand does help since its an actual degree.

Seeing Mesa CC's graduation requirements for an AS will show the graduation requirements for any college or university in the state..and yes, for an Associates degree they do require 60 credit minimum of which half will be required courses like history, us gov and such. So out of a 2 year degree he'd have to spend 1 year dealing with those classes.

The college will simply look at him and say 'well, you DID pass high school which is entirely made up of non-writing classes so you have already proven you can do it'. And I agree.. he did and he can do it for the 1 year thats required of him if he wants a degree.

..and honestly iheartmegahitt, you CAN do it. College classes are much less stressful than high school. Again, you set your own schedule, classes are smaller (hell if a crowd stresses you then you can take night classes.. colleges are literally empty past 7pm) and the workload is much lighter than in high school since you would only be taking 4 classes a semester (to be considered full time and graduate in 2 years time.. otherwise you can take 1 class only if you want and graduate at your own schedule) and you would have to be really unlucky to get a teacher that gives homework every day. Unlike high school, college teachers DO have better things to than grade 100+ homework assignments a day.

Plus you can take some classes online too.



oh they wont. They simply cannot. Any college caught doing that would lose their accreditation.

I know, I love English. I just don't want to have to take a math class or anything. x.x

There is this writing group I can take. It's at the place where I see my psychiatrist. It's were a lot of people with disabilities, some like mine, go. I could try it but its just getting it in my schedule and my parents won't let me bring my laptop with me but its the only thing that makes me feel less anxious of my routine...

Sounds a good idea. Maybe ask your parents again about why you can't bring the laptop - are they worried you'll lose it?

I have seen people with disabilities in college allowed to take their test in different environments than others. I have also seen time restrictions removed for certain disabilities. You should talk to the school's counselors of what changes are possible for you in your specific school.

Don't give up on college though. Please do try it at least 2 semesters (first semester is always the hardest since its a completely new experience). You can take 1 required class per semester to make the stress manageable too. I do suggest though that you take the required math classes first since you will be fresh out of HS ...taking them a year or so later means you will have forgotten the math and then it will be very hard. Believe me, it happened to me XD