How to Help a Student with Disabilities in Preparing for the Future

How to Help a Student with Disabilities in Preparing for the Future

For high school juniors, summer is time when they are trying to get ready to bid farewell to school they have been studying in. In addition, they are making an attempt to research colleges, visit different campuses, figure out what college would be the most suitable for them.

Planning process is of a great importance now. And it is even more important for those who have a disability.. They ought to help their students a lot.

Since I am a professor as well as researcher in special education, I have the experience of working with lots of students with disabilities who were transitioning to college. In fact, those students who had the most success after high school are the ones who knew how to be a strong self-advocate, how to find necessary services, supports, and how to be independent.

While your child is still in high school, you have to get to know a lot. You should learn how to understand your child’s disability and legal rights, figure out what study habits and types of accommodation would work best for your child.

A great variety of disabilities on a college campus

In accordance with a 2016 report that was prepared by the United States Department of Education, nearly 11% of all undergraduates have a disability. However, not all of them disclose it to a college.

Lots of such students have a chance to receive services of special education during their kindergarten as well as 12 school years.

Several effective suggestions regarding families’ preparation

There are a few things that each family can do in order to prepare for the life, which is waiting their student after high school. Their families ought to:

• Learn as much as possible concerning the disability of their child. Apart from that, it is very important to get to know more about the unique characteristics of the student. When a student leaves high school, he/she is supposed to understand his or her strengths and weaknesses. As a result, this student will be able to protect him-/herself, to take into consideration which learning strategies fit him/her best, and to be independent in making life choices.
•  Find out relevant information regarding accommodation needs. A student should take advantage of time, which he/she spends at high school and get to know how to differentiate useful things from the ones that are not.
• Because of the modifications of the teachings methods, remember to help your student in concentrating on the correct use of these methods and new learning strategies.
• Help your kid to develop proper scheduling habits. Since schedule of the college day is not so structured in comparison with the high school day, students will need to get ready for handling their free time productively.