Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Does your IEP Graduate with you from High School?

By their senior year in High School a child with an IEP that includes assistive technology should have a fine tuned document (especially if he or she has been part of the process since elementary school).

What should you do to take the fear out of your child transitioning to college - how do you make sure their special needs are still met when they walk on a college campus. The underlying  fact you must consider is a college, unlike a public K-12 school, does not have a legal obligation to provide your child an education; the laws become civil about discrimination.

While this is by no means and exhaustive list of what to consider, it is important to plan and consider these so help create a smooth transition.


  • Relevant laws for college: Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act, and The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
  • Laws make colleges accountable for equal opportunity not identical results per student
  • Colleges are required to provide auxiliary aides, but not required to provide the most sophisticated technology available
  • In higher education the responsibility for documenting a disability falls on the student not the school
  • An example of an accommodation change that students and parents of a college student with a disability could anticipate: student might be given extended time to take test, however college is not obligated to adjust content of exam to make accommodations

Assistive Technology In the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities, Second Edition 2012 by Amy G. Dell, Deborah A. Newton, Jerry G. Petroff,  Pearson
   Chapter 14 pages 324-344

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