I'm very pleased to uh welcome Dr. David Nass. Uh this is an event put on by our CPAG uh which is our special education parent advisory group. So this is a wonderful opportunity to learn a little bit more about uh as your child metriculates into college what you can
do in terms of providing accommodations and you know those assistance tools that they would need. So Dr. Nass will give walk us through the entire process of how do we as a student as a senior move to you know freshman all the way all the way. So, without further ado, I will let
Dr. Nass go ahead. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, John. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you so much for coming. I know we're live streaming, but I appreciate being able to see people um over uh you know, with the pandemic and all, I've been on way too many uh
Facebook or streaming this or that. You always wonder if anyone's out there as you're talking and so forth. So, thank you so much. Um I am from Ramapo College. Tonight's not meant to be an advertisement for Ramipo.
Um, I did bring materials over on the front desk here. If you want information about the college, about my office, as well as our enhanced program, there's that information. I'll reference uh stuff about Ramapo as we're talking, but more for illustration purposes. Uh this
is really intended to give a more broader overview about preparing your child um as they go through high school and start off in college. Um the reason I do these presentations, my own personal experience, um I went
throughout my public school career in special education or at least receiving special education services. Uh when my family and I were looking at colleges, there were very little information about uh support services for students with disabilities. Um, but
I was fortunate enough to go to a college, uh, Curry College that had one of the first programs for students with learning disabilities. And that besides providing me a great foundation for college, also gave me the idea that maybe I could do something for a living
related to working with college students with disabilities. Um, so, uh, I actually transferred from Curry on to Penn State, completed bachelor's in special education. Uh stayed on at Penn State for a
master's in school psychology and completed my doctorate uh at Penn State. From there I went on and worked as a school psychologist briefly in public schools uh until I got my uh first college job at Mammoth University and
since then uh moved on to county college Morris and now I'm at Ramapo as the director of the office specialized services. I've been there almost 16 years. Uh I have a fantastic staff at
Ramapo. Um Ramipo uh I I I am surprised. I know we're good, but we're nationally known for our support of students with with disabilities. Um I being the director unfortunately know how we could be better. So I guess maybe that's
what's holding me back from believing that we're so highly ranked, but maybe It's just a matter of many other schools just could do a lot much better than they than they are. So let's see how we do with our slides.
All right. So what we're going to talk about tonight, first off, we're going to talk about disability laws. Uh there is a shift from the high school setting to the college setting and understanding that is very very important. We're going to talk about the disclosure process.
When a student's going off to the college setting, there's uh at least two points of disclosure uh that's important for students and families to understand. We'll talk about documentation. Uh what is the information that colleges are
looking for? What should you be preparing on the high school level before going off to college? Uh documentation wise, we'll briefly talk about the college search cost. Um wonderful thing is there's so many colleges. That's also the challenge.
There's so many colleges. Um and we're going to talk about transition steps. Transition throughout the high school experience as well as uh getting once getting into the college the steps to to to take a smooth transition.
Um okay. It's working so far. In the high school set, the primary law that supports students with disabilities is IDA. And uh it's a wonderful law uh dates
back to 1975. Unfortunately, or just the matter of way things are, it doesn't continue into the college setting. So it's important to you know IDA ensures that a student in public school system with a disability receives a free
appropriate education that doesn't carry on. We all know college is free um the educational college setting may or may not be appropriate students that educational setting is appropriate. Colleges don't have to
students like public school settings do colleges technically don't have to monitor the students progress. Most schools like dos they disappear and we'll talk about minor
rights for parents really do disappear and the educational uh program uh does not transition to the college setting. What becomes paramount when we're talking about disability laws is section
504 of the rehabilitation act as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. And these laws really support simply the idea that students with disabilities should have equal access and that reasonable accommodations must be made
for individuals with disabilities. Doesn't go into a whole lot of details about those terms, but that's the gist of of those laws. Colleges can go beyond the laws in supporting students, but at the very least they have to meet the minimum
requirements. So a college cannot discriminate against an individual so who's otherwise qualifying solely because of their disability. You might think, oh well why would even a college want to discriminate? That sounds really odd, doesn't it?
Well, student with a learning disability, a student on the autism spectrum, most colleges wouldn't be too concerned about those students enrolling. But I can tell you when a student who uses a sign language interpreter enrolls in our
college, it's a financial hit. We have to enroll them if they're otherwise qualified. But a year of paying for interpreters, it's it's three times as much as the tuition that that they're paying us to come to the college, but we we must
allow them to come, which for my office, they happy with that, but I I can definitely see college. Why why do we have to enroll a student? It's going to cost us more if they show up than what they're paying
us. Um can't put a cap on the number of individ individuals with disabilities attending a particular college. Once again, I could see uh a budget office saying, "Oh, we we can't afford this. We
can't put a cap on number of students. Colleges must make reasonable accommodations. What represents reasonable is up for interpretation. Um but they don't have to fundamentally change their requirements. So um
a student with an IEP potentially can have a totally modified high school curriculum based upon their disability uh needs and what they're able to be successful at and so forth. the college setting. If a degree requires certain courses and the faculty consider those
courses essential to that major, those courses are going to be required. Uh issues that come up are certain math requirements for certain majors. Uh uh languages can be a concern at certain colleges. That's not an issue at Ramico,
but uh it can can be an issue. uh requirements of internships, things things of that nature. Additional uh law of note u family education rights and privacy act known as furpa u in the public school setting
often you as parents you're probably not all that concerned about that because you have parental rights. Um however on the college setting, those rights transfer to your student. So even if they're 17, but they're at a college
setting, they are the person with the rights under FURPA, you as the parent, even though they're a minor child, they're in a college setting. In order for college officials to talk to you,
your student has to wave their their furbo rights. And even then when they wave their verbal rights, it doesn't mean the college official has to talk to you. They may talk to you. Um and as parents paying for college,
it's very frustrating. I I was sharing I I have I have a college graduate and about two more weeks another college graduate and you know you're writing the checks but you don't gain uh certain that doesn't give you certain rights and
it seems like it's unfounded why they do this. But if you think beyond traditional families and potential college students, you can think of certain situations where it would be important for a
college not to freely share information with other relatives of that student. Um examples that they've given in trainings that we I've attended is um a um a h someone calls says the student's husband
and they need to where where their class is meeting at 8:00 tonight. Sounds like an important thing, right? And so, but maybe it's an aranged husband with a restraining order against him and he's just attempting to locate
this person for reasons that are not appropriate. Um there are families where certain parents are not to have contact and so forth and so on. So um when thinking beyond just the traditional family
circumstances, it starts making more more sense. Common accommodations on the college setting. The most common academic accommodation is extended time on exams. Um we have about 750 students affiliated
with our office at Ramipo. Um well over 500 of those students have extended time as an accommodation. Typically uh colleges when referring to extended time they're referring to time and a half. Colleges don't do unlimited
time. Comes up far less now. Uh 30 years ago when I started this work it used to come up a lot more. Um but uh time and a half there's no magic formula to determine that. Um double
time is a possibility, triple time's a possibility, but most colleges would push back um uh regarding like triple time and they would want a clear uh explanation why double time is necessary. We find most students don't end up utilizing the extra time uh but
never know exactly when it is ne needed. So it's important to be available being able to use a computer for essay exams. Um, a lot of students come to college shocked that uh they potentially will have to handw write their their exam uh
questions and so forth. Um, but we are able to support BM's computer for essay responses, be able to audio record uh class lectures. Uh, that recently has really progressed in the sense of being able to have apps that will do
translations of audio recordings, even providing summaries of the audio recordings. uh you can do audio recording. One of the things we occasionally get requests for and it really falls in a totally different category is being able to
equivalent of a video recording. U very different laws regarding privacy audio versus video. We can do audio recording in the state of New Jersey if we support that accommodation. Any student can do that as long as they're with their recording device.
recording potentially we have to get everyone's permission who potentially shows up in that video. It's so it's much more complicated process. But audio recording, we're supporting it as an accommodation. As long as they're with their recording
device, it's it's totally legal in the state of New Jersey. Consider a single consent state when it comes to audio recording. Audio versions of textbooks, that's become a much easier process in this day and age. typically able to get
digital versions of textbook uh software is able to go from text to speech relatively easily. When I started in this field, it was cassettes uh from the uh learning ally I believe is the current title. I'm drawing a blank on what it
was called 30 years ago, but when I was at Bombath, I was in charge of ordering the uh books on cassettes and Underneath my desk there were boxes of cassettes waiting for students to pick them up. The worst one was the the Norton
Anthology of American Literature. It it was like um cowboy boot shoe box size. So many cassettes. Use of a calculator. Not every college course will allow the
use of a calculator unless it's an accommodation. It's an unfortunate mismatch between what faculty at colleges are expecting and what students are experiencing in the high school setting. Our current dean uh of
the school of theoretical applied science uh is really pushing our math faculty to come into the 21st century on that topic. So, it's always wonderful when when you're in alignment with the dean on particular
topics. Um, let's see. I forget. So, one of the slides I thought about adding here is also a list of things that we get regularly asked for and we just say no. All right.
um uh study guides. We can't make faculty create study guides. Uh before the pandemic, we almost never had a student even ask for a study guide, but they seem to all expect a study guide. We can't not make a faculty member create a
study guide. Um, being able to take over any test that they fail, plausible with an IEP, not going to happen in the college setting. Uh, being able to uh correct tests for additional
points, can't support that as an accommodation. I I can see the the uh educational appropriateness, learning and so forth, but I can't require a faculty member to do that. that's not equal access and such. Um,
once again, uh, getting, uh, course materials ahead of time. I can understand why a student would want that. I can't require a faculty member to have their materials ready before the first day of class. So, anyway, so
that's a bonus bonus slide. >> Uh, course substitutions. Colleges can uh, um, uh uh entertain course substitutions. Most colleges will have a process where a request will be reviewed. Most common areas are
languages and math. Um but colleges if they determine that course is fundamental, they don't have to substitute for that. Uh biggest mistake colleges do is simply say no. Uh that doesn't hold up in court. They have to
deliberate and then they can say no. But they can't just say we don't do that. That's the wrong answer when it comes to considering substitute. And usually it's substitution. Uh waving doesn't really typically go very far because every college has credit requirements. So they aren't going to
wave you from the overall credits. They're going to typically recommend we won't accept this other course to fulfill that requirement. So if a language is required, maybe they would accept a cultural related course. Uh at Ramipo, often uh students who have
language requirement within their major, which only a couple do, uh being able to do a sign language course instead of a spoken language often works out well for them. Housing accommodations. This is become a a much more prolific accommodation
request. also the most challenging for our office. Most common request is single bedroom um because of issues regarding autism, anxiety, OCD, uh things of that nature. We don't we won't uh support a request for a single
bedroom if it's simply I need a quiet place to study. Well, everyone needs a quiet place to study. We have other places other than your room that are quiet where you can study and so forth. Um access to a kitchen that typically relates to
dietary issues uh like ciliac or other extreme allergy related stuff. Um our our food services are very good at like avoiding peanuts, but at peanuts,
chicken, dairy, soy, uh you pretty much don't have anything to eat in the cafeteria. Ramapo is outstanding because we have wheelchair accessible rooms in all of our different types of residence halls.
Um that I imagine other colleges are catching up with us on that one. Um but it's very inappropriate to say, oh well that building over on the north side of campus, that's where everyone who uses a wheelchair, that's where they live
because that's the only one we're that's accessible. That's a really bad answer. Um, but Ramapo being a relatively young campus, uh, wheelchair accessibility is wonderful throughout most of the campus. The one
building that's a challenge is the mansion which was there before the college. Um, but only like you know the president is over there and so forth. Most students don't go see the president. She comes out to
So, then emotional support animals. That's our other housing headache. Um, so most of accommodations that we work with fall under ADA or section 504. Emotional support animals
fall under the Fair Housing Act. Under the Fair Housing Act, an individual can have an animal uh for emotional support in order to fully enjoy their dwelling. Not that it has to be a need to offset a
particular disability situation. So, emotional support animals are not service dogs. They're just animals there that give you emotional support. The problem for us is for $100 you can get a
letter off the internet saying, "My client needs an emotional support animal so forth and so on." Uh it used to be for 150 you could get a second letter for the airlines so you could take your emotional support animal on the plane with you. Uh the FAA
uh allowed airlines to tighten that tighten that up and so forth. Um so our issue is we get uh we don't get falsified records for any of the other accommodations and maybe falsified is the wrong word but we don't get
uh weak information regarding the other things. But the emotional support animal people will do really anything to get their cat or dog or hamster. Uh they even try to get their bearded dragon uh
on the canvas. Um and it's complicated particularly cats. It's amazing how many people supposedly have cat allergies. And so one student wants to bring a cat. and the other four people in the suite live in the same suite. So anyway, so
that's an area of concern. Why housing gives us so many challenges really not the wheelchair accessible part but the other things is uh not always they're not always well supported but when we say no
almost all the time they appeal when it's a housing accommodation request. I can say no to a calculator. I've not had anyone ever appeal to our ADA coordinator regarding a a denial of a calculator.
I'll have three or four that get to that level regarding housing accommodations, emotional support animals. All right. Um single bedrooms, emotional support animals, reoccurring issues. And my my
vice president uh my area just shared yesterday uh she was um she was explaining how she was on Facebook. That's how she gets her information from her daughter's school and her township. And in her advertising
feed feed, she's getting um ads for providers that will help you uh craft information to get a single bedroom on campus. Don't know what she's been that gets her gets her that. But I'm like, Melissa, I
knew about the ESA. I didn't know about the single bedroom stuff. So anyway, I've I've thank you for listening on that disability disclosure. So when a student uh applies to a college,
they must identify to that college if they want any support regarding their disability. Families regularly somehow assume that the high school will just automatically send that information that maybe it's on the high school transcript or whatever,
but it's not. Uh you have to disclose to the college in order to receive uh support. Um, every college is a little different regarding that process, but every college has some type of disability support office for
students. Uh, we make it difficult at college in that every school thinks they can come up with a better name for the office. uh our office office specialized services could be office of dis disability support at college of news
new jersey at one point it was the office of differing abilities there's no you know every school gets to pick their name so um and
yeah it's not listed on the transcript you need to disclose if you want support In the admissions process, colleges will treat disability information uh differently. There are some colleges that specialize uh uh in supporting
students with disabilities and that potentially their whole population are students with disabilities. So they definitely are interested in that information. Colleges typically won't ask on their application regarding disability status.
Technically, they're allowed to, but it's not a good legal move because if they do ask and they don't accept you after they ask, then you're going to claim it's because she knew I had a disability. Well, no, you didn't have a good high
school grades or what? But so, they don't ask. Sometimes people say, "Oh, it's illegal." I don't know. it's illegal, it's just you shouldn't do it and such. Um, most don't use disability information in
the process. So, if you tell them in your like personal essay, I have a disability, it's not like a golden ticket, they're like, oh, wow, you're in. However, if in your personal essay, you explain about the challenges uh that uh you've uh uh
had and overcame and how that makes you a better uh student for for that campus. I mean, that's that's positive. But if you're simply saying, well, I did really bad in high school because of my learning disability,
the admissions office is like, well, then why is it going to be different here? All right. Um All right. So, once the student's on on campus, they should connect with the disability support office. We tell families, uh
don't really don't send us anything until the student has decided to come to Ramapo. With that said, we'll get over 150 new students in my office uh from this point uh through uh the end of
August. So, you know, people are often eager to get us stuff and so forth. It's like, if you haven't deposit it, don't send it. We're not going to be reviewing it until you've until you've deposited. All right? That's just self-preservation
on on our part. Um, need to provide documentation of the disability. Um, and then how do professors find out? So a student's affiliated with disability support office. Disability support
offices usually use one of two methods. Student has some type of process where they can uh have information go into a system and send what we call accommodation notices to the professor with very little interaction with the
disability support office once that's set up. or uh the older model is where a student reaches out to a disability support office and says I want the following letters to be sent uh to these professors. So at Ramipo we use a system
uh developed by a company called AIM. It's one of three companies that have such software. Um, it allows students at the beginning of the semester to go into uh their account, see their classes for that semester, pick which classes they want to use accommodations with, select
them, submit. Next page, the accommodations they're eligible for appear underneath each of the classes they've selected, and they can include all of those accommodations or some of those accommodations for each of the classes. So, for example, extended time.
Well, you might think, "Oh, that's for every class, right?" Well, a lot of classes, but if you're in a fine arts major, you may not need extended time tests for your drawing class or your oil painting class and so
forth and so on. So, you can customize your accommodations based upon particular classes. Not all colleges have gone to that method, but there are three different systems out there. So it it's definitely uh slowly creeping across across the
country. Um faculty are used to receiving these notices. Uh at Ramapo more than 10% of our student population's part of our office. So 10% a class has 30 students. On average three students are using
accommodations in in a particular class. Um and Rambo is not that different when it comes to percentage of students with with disabilities documentation. So every college is going to require
some type of documentation of a student's disability. Many will require that documentation to be no older than three years. So if you're presenting child study team evaluations, they're those colleges are expecting them to be from sophomore, junior, senior year of
high school. Even if a college isn't requesting or requiring it be three years, if you have the opportunity to up have re-evaluations during those last three years of high school, it's in the students best interest because there may
be a need during college to use those reports. So if a student is in teacher education, they'll have to take the practice exam as part of the certification process. Uh ETSs will ask is the documentation current? If it's
from 8th grade, ETSs is may not be accepting that. All right. Uh as a college, I can I can be flexible, but if I take something beyond three years, I point that out to the student to the family that we're accepting it, but it
may challenges down the road at our in our office and a lot of colleges is al also moved to this is documentation forms. So students who are not coming right out of special ed uh in order to document their situation we have different forms that can be completed by
professionals working with them. So chronic medical conditions uh mental health diagnosis uh things of that nature. We utilize those forms. We came up with those because we just getting like notes on
prescription pads from doctors which student has this condition uh provide them with all appropriate accommodations. All right, so we have those forms and I'm seeing most colleges have some version of those forms if uh the traditional child study team
evaluations aren't either available, appropriate or uh no longer uh meet timelines. Um the college is requesting the information from the student. So uh
student family has to work with the school district regarding this. The college can't mandate the school district send us the information. We can't mandate that they do test the student. It's up to the student, the family to provide the information.
And I'm going to backtrack just for a moment. A student with a disability does not have to affiliate with disability support office. It's their choice to do so. vast majority of students with
disabilities should uh at Ramipo uh students who are affiliated with our office graduate at the same rate at the general population. Uh we're a little behind at four-year graduation rate, six years graduation
rate, which is the next benchmark that colleges use. We are the same as the general population which is in the 70% range graduation rate. Students who start the affiliation process with us. So we're assuming they are individuals
with disabilities but they just don't complete the process because they have second thoughts. They don't carry through getting us information whatever. Only 40% of those students end up graduating from Rambo. Now, it's not a
perfect analysis, but students who are affiliated with us are doing as well as everyone else. Those who could be but aren't are not doing as well. So, students are allowed to make choices. I recommend even if a student isn't necessarily interested in using
accommodations that they still affiliate because if they end up needing them, if they're affiliated with the disability support office, we can make things happen like that versus explaining the process and it taking three weeks in a semester that
is only 15 weeks long to begin with. Three weeks is a tremendous weight to get things up and running. All right, college search. Finding a school with the major the students interested. That sounds so
logical. However, I've met a few students over the years where I'm the one breaking the news that we don't have the major that they're gramopo or gamma for or whatever. So having the correct major that the students addressing the size u
a thousand students 35,000 students it makes a difference um cost private schools public schools uh private schools will often give a lot of um uh money uh to reduce uh tuition
costs and so forth. But you need to be cautious. What does the student have to do to maintain that scholarship? Is the GPA something that they can meet and keep that scholarship or is it beyond a level that they've ever had in high school? So, it's going to be one year
and that merit scholarship disappears. Um, financial aid opportunities that kind of feeds in into the previous statement. U it'll vary.
State schools like Ramipo are typically more challenged on giving out large sums of of merit money and so forth, but our tuition to begin with is lower than most private school location.
With my kids, it had to be in driving distance. Now, my daughter went to Rochester. It's a long drive, but I could get there in my car. That's not just a parent talking. as a college administrator who knows that things happen on college campuses that
can be a student nothing. The student could be totally un not at fault regarding anything but stuff happens. Uh myself summer program I was in between senior and senior year and freshman year of college
bunch of us came down with salmonella. Now fortunately my mom was able to come and pick me up. It was a long ride home from Boston, but we were able to make it. I can't imagine if I was Miami, Florida,
stuck in my dorm room with cramping. And anyway, so location for me, it had to be driving distance. Could be a long drive, but had to be driving distance. For some students, you know, half hour might be the distance and so forth. housing
living on campus can be a challenge but it also can be a real good leaping off point. What is right for the particular student will vary. Um so for myself uh of living away from home but in an
off-campus apartment was the perfect setting. living on campus itself, >> but an apartment off campus, walking distance to campus, that is fantastic. Athletics, uh, whether spectator or performing, inter murals or whatever, that can be a
factor. Uh, for my daughter, she was a fencer in high school, she was happy to find that her college, they had a fencing club, so she was able to continue that activity uh and such. And the admissions process, it will vary.
Um, uh what what's going to be required? Uh do you just have to submit stuff and you're in or are there more more steps involved? An open enrollment school like community colleges are, you just need a high
school diploma or the equivalent. Uh they'll require you to take placement tests, but those placement tests are to determine where you should start uh in like math curriculum, uh, English curriculum and so forth. A selective admissions process may require the
following things and they will vary from school to school. Um, they may be looking at particular high school courses the students taking, looking at high school grades, some colleges require class rank. Some schools still require SATs or ACT
scores. Most don't. Um, but I'll come back to that. Uh, personal essay, letters of recommendation. Some schools still do personal interviews. SATs and ACT scores. Uh,
those those tests used to be thought by so many as this tremendous hurdle that you just had to get over and so forth. Now that we don't require them, I've learned that the problem is that we get
students at Ramovo, and it's not just Rambo. You get students in college who have fantastic high school transcripts, but that high school transcript doesn't truly represent college prep work. It was highly modified. Uh they may not
have been uh completing the same work even in a uh in a in um in support classroom. It may not have been the same work as their classmates in that setting. So without that, we've lost that somewhat objective measure to help
students help colleges determine whether or not it's the right right setting or not. Um and it gets back on the high school transcript. There's nothing denoting special education. There's nothing denoting disability. So the admissions
office looking at course titles and grades and so forth. So that's something that now families don't necessarily realize they need to consider uh and so forth that you know they have great
grades but what do these grades grades disability support on the on the spectrum you have uh colleges that just provide services And then on the other end, programs services are simply meeting legal requirements.
Documentation is required, but it is open to all students who meet uh the documentation requirements of that office. Programs provide support beyond just legal requirements. So at Ramoa we have the enhanced program which is for students
on the autism spectrum with a focus on the emot emotional social organizational uh growth of the student and they work with peer facilitators. They have a weekly meeting with professional
counselor. There are workshops. There are social activities that are planned uh and so forth. None of that's required under the law. can be really helpful, but that's because it's a program. You have to
apply to be part of it. Most programs have a cap. They just can't serve beyond a certain number. They they have because they have a cap, they have some kind of selection process. Um, and most often they have an
additional fee. The enhanced program um is almost $8,000 a year and that's beyond tuition, room and board and so forth. A disability support office that's simply providing accommodations,
disability services there there should be no additional fees for those. That would that would be illegal. But you know sometimes illegal things notable. We're not charging for just
accommodations and so forth. Um there are programs for different types of disability situations. Finding them means looking across different colleges and so forth. Ramapo has a program as I mentioned for
students on the spectrum. Curry College where I attended was a program for students with learning disabilities. Uh Rochester Institute of Technology where my daughter went uh is nationally known for their programs for students who are
deaf. She's not deaf, but they are definitely known for that. And you definitely notice it when you're on campus between the interpreters and and so forth. All right.
I've gone so far. >> Oh, I went the wrong way. >> I got you. >> All right. Thank you. Dr. D. All right. Students should never enroll in a college they haven't visited. Sounds
obvious. I'm always shocked. I have a student who came to Ramapu from Oregon. She never never been to the campus. Oh my goodness. I mean, we're a nice campus, but we're not Oregon. But anyway, um
students really really get caught up in making the one right choice. U one of our counselors in the office, her daughter is facing a May 1 deadline right now. Maris Ithaca. Maris Ithaca.
I think both could be right. Go with the one that you feel you're most comfortable with. Particularly in this there there is I don't see a wrong choice for her and so forth. But students are always thinking there's one right choice. The other thing is when you're choosing a college, you'd
like to pick the right one. But if you need to transfer, that's not like a mark of shame or anything. you haven't sworn an oath of allegiance to your college that you've chosen. All right. I myself went to a college for my first year, had
a very productive time and learned that I really wanted a different setting. So, I went from a school of a thousand students to a school of 36,000. went from being on the student government on the varsity baseball team
to sitting in a stand watching other people play football um and reading about the student government in the student newspaper and so forth. I was quite happy in that second setting even though it was very different than the first which I thought
was what I wanted coming out of high school. More students should consider the community college setting. U it's less expensive. Um it uh
their college courses you you can transfer them on to a four-year school. Um but at the same time there's a greater range of students at the community college setting. Um so uh a student may feel a
little less shocked by their their peers in a community college setting and if they just go right off to a four fouryear college. Uh coming from this school district that there may be a little less of a shock.
>> Um I uh like myself and my kids, we were in the West Morris uh school system. College wasn't a tremendous step up uh which was pleasant a pleasant surprise.
Um, but at the same time, uh, I still hear from parents, uh, like, well, how could they get a F on that paper? They really tried. It's like, well, because they didn't meet the criteria that the professor had laid out. And, and
sometimes that's really shocking uh, for students and families. >> Keep going. I got you. >> All right. Thank you. questions asked about this court office who is in charge
um it's it used to be some I don't see this I don't can't give an example of this currently but when I started uh there were sometimes faculty who did this work as part-time they
taught their classes and they were covered disability support services I I don't know of of that here in New Jersey, but I'm sure it exists somewhere. Who makes up the staff? Are these uh all like graduate students working in the office or are
they true professionals with advanced degrees? Can students have appointments with their disability support counselors? Is the office set up to be able to do that? At Rambo, counselors carry a case load of 150 students. That's quite a few
students, but uh I know university Purdue University, it was over a thousand students per counselor. You aren't going to get a weekly appointment with that person. Um, what are the common accommodations?
I think a good test regarding how a school handles is if a student's using testing accommodations, where does that take place? Does that school put the total responsibility on the faculty or is there a testing center because the disability support office provides a
uh for accommodated testing and things like that. Nothing like a bunch of cranky professors who have to handle all of the testing accommodations and so forth. So unfortunately at Rambo faculty sometimes think that's all we do in our office and it's like
during the pandemic they're like oh what what do you guys do all day? It's like we meet with students. All right, transition. All right, freshman year of high school, sophomore, first half of junior year, students
should be looking at uh potential careers or majors. What What do you want to do if you're thinking about going on to college or, you know, maybe don't need to go to college depending on the career direction you're looking at, a summer job or an internship. It doesn't even have to be related to their
interest. It is disheartening the number of students I see at college who've never had a job. Anything where they report to a boss is can be very helpful.
Um develop sound academic skills. Look at taking challenging classes. So often as parents we're worried about them getting good grades, but sometimes taking challenging classes and doing mediocre can be more productive than just getting good grades. Limit
modification, meaning uh if a student potentially is allowed to simply submit a three-page paper versus the six-page paper that everyone else, well, that's a modification. That's not going to help at the college level because it's not going to happen.
utilize accommodations, being able to use the extended time on a test, being able potentially use a computer to to write out an essay response or things like that. But don't don't look at reducing the bar or the
requirements. Looking at the high school curriculum, more writing the better. My biggest challenge on the college level is students using darn AI and I have to sit on hearings where students like well I didn't think it was cheating it said in
the syllabus but anyway but writing writing writing um when it comes to math if student can get through algebra 2 for most college majors they'll be fine uh not in the
STEM related majors but education ation. Uh they'll find science, some making sure they have a lab as part of that. And languages aren't always required by
colleges whether to get into them or uh once you in the curriculum in the college, but high school would be the time to try uh because on the college level there won't be any real additional supports. So it would be the time
give a try and learning to use a keyboard, touch typing. So, I had two classes that I found very frustrating in high school. However, they had a profound um impact on my life. Freshman year of high school, typing. I was the
worst typist. I was typing 32 words a minute. Now in in my adult life that really is a functional 32 words a minute uh but I would never have become a typist but sitting there with the with the
typewriter I had it right after Jim. So I would literally well too much information but it was hot in that room anyway. So I I think I got a C. However I use that skill every day. The other class
that I took senior year and gets back to taking challenging courses. I took advanced placement biology my senior year of high school because I thought I wanted to go into biology. I like biology. I found it interesting. And by taking that advanced placement class, I
learned yes, I am interested. I'm not very good at it. Uh there were two particular things. One, we had a fruitfly experiment and they died on me. And then I had to sharp dissection and
that occurred after being out sick and almost almost had a relapse and all that. But what I learned was I was not going to be a biology major when I went to college. So when I took my first semester of classes, I didn't have
biology 101 and finding out my first semester in college that biology wasn't the right direction for me. And then also questioned, should I be in college? I thought I was going to be a biology major. I can't do biology. What do I do now? Well, I went into college not with
a particular major in mind, but I knew biology wasn't wasn't a direction. Second half of junior year, create a list of colleges. Uh if take standardized tests like the SATs or ACT, set those up.
window that you have to apply for accommodations and take them. Um, take them more than once. If you take them, you don't have to submit them, but you get to get an idea of uh where the student stands. Uh, consider taking a
college course. Urban your local community college. They offer online evening weekends. Take a college course. Area of interest, not Not anything student would expect to be
difficult. But yeah, um review document uh disability documentation. Is it complete? Is it ready to go off for uh college? Summer between junior and senior year. Uh consider completing a summer program.
Uh there are summer programs scattered around. Uh Fairley Dickinson has a summer program for students with learning disabilities. Uh for myself, when I went off to uh Curry for their summer program, those their summer
program was for uh people going into their first semester at Curry. Uh it was wonderful. It was the first time I met there was hundred other uh students planning on attending college in the fall.
I it was very eye opening compared to the the students I knew for the last 12 plus years back in my school district. It was very refreshing and meeting other people who were aspiring for similar
things that I was um job or internship related area maybe particular area of interest. Once again job jobs job getting getting a paycheck getting yelled at um So I do remember in college I worked
construction to uh summers and I worked directly with the owner of the company. He wasn't a man of many words but remember standing there one day wasn't I
didn't think there was much to do and so forth but he said Dave do something. I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to do something, Tommy." Stacking woo so forth. But yep, when you work for the owner, they don't like you standing
around. So, um, first year of senior year, update evaluations if need be. Visit college campuses. Uh, weekday visits are great, but I really recommend open houses. uh weekday visits, you get a an overview of the college, but you
aren't really talking with particular offices and stuff like that. You come to an open house, offices like mine are there. They can share information. You can learn about a variety of different offices. Uh and it it's a festive uh
time. Um send out the applications, maybe take a college course. second half decided on a college to attend and Sarah my counselor's daughter drawing it out
drawing it out um but there are sometimes there good reasons to decide earlier than later uh for my son it allowed him to begin the housing process uh if he had waited you would still have gotten housing, but you may have been in a room with four
other people versus one other person and so forth. Um, complete college placement tests. So, if students coming to Ramapo and they've decided they deposit, they can start taking the placement test now uh as uh
we will be doing summer schedules in late May, beginning in June. So, if they take that place if they need it, that information will be available to the advisors to set up the schedule and so
forth. Uh when fall registration occurs for firsttime students will vary. Uh so at Ramipo we do it we set students up with their first schedule and it can be modified if the student needs it
modified but we set that up for them. Um there was one hearing about school who does it real oldfashioned. They don't set up the fall schedule until the first time students show up in late August. That's when they actually the student
creates their schedule. So, um but you need to know what the particular school's method is between high school and college. Definitely complete the placement exams if you need to register for the fall classes.
participate in summer orientations. Parents, I recommend that you attend. Usually schools have a parallel program, students program, parent program. I college administrator, I went to both of my kids orientations. I need to know how
those schools operated. Uh college uh take college preparatory classes. Um so maybe a study strategies class over the summer at local community college or if based on the placement
test you have to do uh developmental remedial type courses maybe doing those over the summer. uh if particularly not staying local for their comm for their fall college experience, completing that at Bergen at Bergen prices versus paying
whatever their college or going to prices uh is a possibility when a student is looking to register for that first semester. They should limit their credit load just Because you can take 18 credits
doesn't mean you should take 18 credits. Um uh I generally suggest the students doing only four classes. At Rambo that works fine because our classes are typically four credits. So that's 16 in total. At most schools typical courses
are three credits. So they only doing 12 that first semester. Uh the challenge there is if you're only doing 12 credits, you need to pick up some credits along the way. But I've never met a student who said that they started too slow. I've met many students who
said, "I really should have started more cautiously and built up. Watch the classes in a row. Students coming from high school, they're like, "Ah, three classes in a row. What's the big deal?" Well, it's a lot of college courses in a row. The other is you get
extended time for tests that middle class becomes difficult to arrange for the extended time. Not impossible but every professor thinks their class is the most important class. All right. Uh look for a mix of classes uh reading
um science you know don't want uh four or five classes that all have multiple uh uh lengthy reading assignments every week and so forth. expect to potentially take some remedial
courses, developmental courses. Students and families really cringe when they find themselves having to do that. Uh, however, gives the foundation for the next course. Uh, myself, I had to take developmental writing class. Uh, and it
was actually the first English course I ever had that gave me a formula to approach writing. And while it didn't make me a great writer, it made me an efficient writer. And uh definitely was something that uh I needed a lot of
support and it was my developmental class that uh that gave it to me throughout high school and so forth. So, but it was my developmental English class that really helped. Consider taking the study strategies course. Some
some colleges have that as part of their first year seminar class or first year experience class. Uh others have it as an option. Uh but can cover things like time management, test taking strategies, uh life, college life skills, things
that freshman uh fall semester students should set up study time. biggest thing they're first going to realize, I'm only in class for 15 hours. I have free time. Well, you have
unorganized time. And setting up a study uh schedule is should be the first thing. Also, the students should start estimating how long does it take me to read a chapter. I I learned that I I move through a
college textbook about 10 pages an hour and then when I was working with students, they Oh, I read so slow. It takes me an hour to get through 20 pages. And I'm like, that's not long. That's normal. And so forth. Setting up study time. Utilize accommodations.
Always tell students, my advice, use all the accommodations you're eligible for. If you don't need them, back away, >> but put them in place. Utilize them. For myself, I learned that extended time was essential for me. uh if there was essay
questions on the test. If it was straight multiple choice, I didn't need to set it up. But I learned that through my first year of college. I didn't start college knowing that. Um that's not to have a job. Uh
it's, you know, I've been talking jobs all the time up to this point, but the challenge is students will say yes to their supervisor when they should have been saying no and studying because when your supervisor says, "Can you work
Saturday?" Okay. Well, and and your textbooks never ask you to open them. All right? So it's best to to be c very cautious about that. Um and even a campus job uh should
be cautious about that using campus resources whether disability support office tutoring counseling services uh uh utilize that and you have to register register for spring classes may seem
obvious but it doesn't happen at Ramico but when I was at the community college level students regularly didn't realize that their classes ended at Christmas and then it was a new semester in January. Uh,
and you register for the classes in November for the spring semester and so forth. There's stuff that gets publicized and so forth, but if you're not reading your email, if you're not returning uh well, we use text messaging because no
one reads their email, but if you're if you want to tune out, you you'll miss these kind kinds of things. Um and uh you yeah if you don't register when you can you could find yourself not having the classes that would be the most
appropriate for you to have for your next semester. All right. We talked about the differences regarding the laws talked about the disclosure process part as admissions and then also to faculty. talked about documentation need to be
recent uh even if the college accepts it. There may be other reasons why it should be more recent than what the college accepts. Talked about the college search process and the transition step. Nationwide students who go off to
colleges with disabilities graduate at half the rate of the general population. That's nationwide statistics. I've worked at three colleges. I've only worked at colleges with robust disability support programs. Ramapo is
actually the first one where my numbers are only the same. At County College Morris and at Mammoth, our graduation rates for students with disabilities were higher than the general population. Now, at County College Morris, got to
point out that many people just don't graduate from CCM. they they they move on before they complete their degree. But with that said, our graduation rate was twice what what the general population was at CCNA.
I consider that great news. Colleges that actually put effort into supporting students with disabilities, students with disabilities can flourish. But that's not on every campus. and and finding schools that take it seriously
make makes a difference. One of the little things about our office, we are as centrally located as possible at Ramapo. We are literally ground zero for the campus. Our office
is are on the second floor which at Ramipo is very significant because the academic buildings are all interconnected on the second floor. People go by our offices all the time. We are not hidden in some far off land
in some basement some something. We are right along the main hallway. For some students they don't like that. We like it because we spot our students walking by. Um and also faculty are able to stop in talk with us and so forth. But that
grammar code takes takes disability support seriously. Many colleges take it seriously. Uh what in this day and age the idea of diversity has been you know some chilling uh
things about that. But disabilities is a important diverse element to a college campus. Uh we often think about people as having a disability as a static type of thing, but the reality is if you don't have a disability today, you're
likely going to have one before you die. Not to scare you. All right? But it's something that it's not a fixed thing. And uh you know Uh it's and many a
physically accessible environment is accessible to all. Uh you know many people on our campus love our many automatic doors, our elevators that literally just go up one story because they designed it all to be accessible
and so forth. So So that's everything I have for my slides. Questions you have. Can you go over the difference between um the enhance program and the TRIO program at Ramo. I know the enhance is geared more towards the autistic
children. >> Yes. So the TRIO program is a federally funded program that allows us to provide additional support services up to 185 students. Uh we fill those spots on a first come first- serve basis. So 185 is
in total. Um so so we say we'll have at least 30 spots available for incoming students. is usually closer to 50 to 60 spots, but we say we'll have at least 30 spots for incoming students. The TRIO program allows us to provide additional
academic advising doesn't replace what they get through the regular advising system. It's in addition. So the I while the professional advisors are wonderful, they don't necessarily have any disability background and so forth. Um
we're able to provide additional tutoring supports. There is a reading and writing center as well as a STEM center uh where tutoring takes place, but if you need tutoring in psychology, there's no center you can go to. If you're part of TRIO, we can hire a peer
tutor to work with you on a weekly basis in that subject or any other subject that not generally available and you need a tutor for it. We're also able um uh to provide
additional career counseling. Most of our students are perfectly fine utilizing the the general career center on campus. Um but particularly our students on the spectrum really need a lot of additional support with the interviewing skills,
job searching, uh even um if their major requires an internship assistance with that and so forth. We're able to provide that. In addition, uh one of the things that we used to offer can't because we don't have funds is we used to do a peer mentor for the
first semester for new students. Um help get students acclimated during that important transition and so forth. Just unfortunately the funding stayed this way while the expenses this way. Um it's wonderful that we get the funding but we
have to get the funding unfortunately. administration uh has indicated we don't want to fund any TRIO programs. There are eight different types of TRIO program. Ours is a student support services type. Um uh fortunately Congress has had a different perspective
on that. Hopefully that will keep up but that's the downside of being funded. Does that help? Is it exclusive to just certain diagnosis or >> no? For the TRIO program, you simply
need to have a need for the services that are available. Um so uh so from depression through uh mobility impaired
whatever. So, uh, we have students that are part of enhance and also part of TRIO. >> Yeah. Because within Enhance, there's no additional subject tutoring. Uh, the the professional counseling, that's
therapeutic counseling. They don't have a background in course curriculum and stuff like the OSS counselors do for TRIO and stuff like that. So, there is it covers different areas. The the other Um, I'll give the insider
tip. Uh, always ask for early registration whether or not the school provides it. Hey, you can ask for everything. You don't lose points, but early registration, particularly at four-year schools, uh, can be really
important. Registration at four-year schools isn't really a like a competitive activity. Um, and if a school offers that to students with disabilities, that allows them to register at the beginning of what's generally referred to as priority
registration week. Um, I bring it up at this moment because it is an element that we include for all students that are part of TRIO. We wrote that into the grant as a way as help promoting uh graduation by having that preference in
the registration process. Um, community colleges uh I don't know if they generally offer that but community college students are as a group are much more relaxed regarding registering for the next semester. Um I
call many a student I would talk to them around Thanksgiving like have you registered for spring and they'd be like well I'm seeing if I was going to pass my fall classes first. Let's assume you're going to pass them. Let's register now. courses you can pick from
versus in January and so forth. But in in most fourear schools it's so in my day you filled out a thought form thing and turned it in and prayed. Now it's all on the computer and so
forth. Other questions? >> I appreciate you being question. for the placement exams. >> Yes. Y >> um what comes first like going to your office to get accommodations or
>> so with our office as long as you started the process with us we will tell the testing center that you are eligible for accommodations. Um that's going to
vary from school to school but concerned So, um, when signing up for the placement test, it will ask about accommodations on their online form and so forth. So, you say yes and so forth. And then on the back end, they're like, "So and so says they're part of your
office, are they?" And yep, and so forth. There's really not a whole lot of accommodations for the placement test. Um, there's a math portion, use of calculator, questions you can use it for. on the screen. There's no time limit on
that. For the essay, um there is a time limit. We'll support extended time for that, but you're writing it on the computer regardless of it being an accommodation or not. Um
be taking in the test center, which is the center that you would be taking tests with accommodations anyway. So, it's not some gymnasium with 400 people. and so forth. Um, they had people I think they still do offer being able to
do it remotely also and so forth. And the placement test, you know, you want to do what you should do on it. It's not a day to do better than you ever did before. I I've only had one student ever tell me that the
placement test was wrong and they weren't that good. She was right. I I dismissed her at first. She was right. No, she really didn't. She just was lucky that one day. Everyone else is like, "No, no, I'm much better. I'm much
better." But most schools have some type of placement test and that's to get into the right uh first class for English, the right first math class.
>> Other questions? You mentioned the background of the people that work um at the office. What are what's the background of the people who are working as kind of adviserss and tutors and things like that? Well, that covers a variety of offices
just >> well I mean not their regular advisors but let's say the office of specialized services >> right >> so I shared my background um uh one of our counselors
uh special education undergrad LBTC uh certification uh another's school psychologist uh background another's uh counseling psychology background. Uh another communication
disorder uh background um in the regular academic advising office. I really don't know. They're all very nice people and they're all right now they're all very young.
>> So in my office, no one leaves my office. None of my full-time staff in the time I've been there have left the office specialized services for another full-time position. It just doesn't that we've lost some of
our part-time staff who've moved on to full-time positions elsewhere. Um but what that does is we have a very seasoned staff who are happy there. Um and uh
they likely could be directors at any other school that they were at. But uh one of our counselors is previous director at Coldwell Coldwell College. She much prefers to be part of the team because at Coldwell she was a oneperson office.
>> Well, thank you. I appreciate I like getting out. It's Definitely when I'm a able to talk about my work stuff, it just kind of goes and so forth. I'm always then shocked like I get up in church and I'm like, "Oh man, this is really
stressful." >> Well, thank you very much. We really appreciate you coming tonight. It's so informative and letting us live stream and record. So, we'll uh be posting this. It'll be on our YouTube page. So, really appreciate it. Thank you so much. And it's always a pleasure. So,
>> thank you. All right. >> And there is, if nothing else, take