The question from a parent in my Facebook group:

“My student is struggling with anxiety and their doctor wrote a note saying they should receive study guides, be allowed to backtrack on computerized tests, and get the opportunity to retake tests when they’ve done poorly. The college said they can’t have those accommodations. Can the college do that, given the doctor recommended this all in a note?”

First - the caveats

As always - nothing I say here is legal or medical advice. But I’ve been working in college disability offices for 20+ years and stay active in my professional community - I write these posts to help folks understand how things work at the college level. But the laws are complex and our work is also informed by decisions from the Office for Civil Rights, so these posts are for educational purposes only.*

Additionally, there are more than 4000 colleges in this country. What I share here is the gist of responses I see from colleagues in my professional community. What I can’t be sure of is how many of my colleagues approve things that many others say they don’t, or how they make decisions.

Can the college say that students “can’t have” a certain accommodation?”

In this case, the student was already receiving accommodations, so it didn’t seem that their eligibility for any accommodations was the issue. (This would have been my first question.)

And from the full text of the parent’s question (I’ve summarized it for this post), it appeared that the issue was that the DS staffer said, essentially, “We don’t approve those specific accommodations.”

Neither Section 504 nor the ADA (the relevant laws) state this explicitly, but in community discussions, many of my colleagues say that they aren’t supposed to pre-emptively decide that there are some accommodations they don’t even have to consider. However, an attorney active in that community notes that there are limits to this. As an example, they say that a DS office wouldn’t have to conduct a review if a student requested an accommodation where they were given the answers to their tests.

But even if DS reviews an accommodation, they still don’t have to approve what’s requested. And there are specifics about the accommodations requested here that I think mean the college isn’t required to provide them. The DS staffer may have misspoken when communicating with the student (by saying, essentially, “we don’t do that”). But even if they did review the requests, I don’t think they’d decide to approve them.

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What is the purpose of accommodations?

Let’s start with how disability services offices make decisions about accommodations. Our mandate is to provide access to our programs by removing barriers in our environment, not guarantee students’ success.

In fact, Section 504 (of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) says at 104.4(b)(2), “For purposes of this part, aids, benefits, and services, to be equally effective, are not required to produce the identical result or level of achievement for handicapped and nonhandicapped persons, but must afford handicapped persons equal opportunity to obtain the same result, to gain the same benefit, or to reach the same level of achievement, in the most integrated setting appropriate to the person’s needs” (emphasis added).

When students request accommodations, the decision-making process will likely consider the experience of their non-disabled peers and whether what the student is requesting goes beyond providing that equal opportunity. For instance, a parent in my group once asked whether their student’s college had to approve an accommodation for a professor to provide typed feedback on their work since the professor’s handwriting was illegible. The DS directors I consulted about this agreed with me that the professor’s handwriting affected all students, and the student in question didn’t have a visual disability that might have made the professor’s handwriting a relevant issue, so they didn’t see a need for an accommodation.* To learn more and see what they suggested (and why), read this post.

And a note here - I’ve heard from colleagues that some students’ high school IEP states that teachers can’t give them a failing grade, no matter how they perform in their class. This isn’t something colleges do.* (Also, neither IEPs nor 504 plans are valid at college.)

The specific requests

A study guide

The student presumably expected a professor or someone at DS to create the study guides for them. While I usually try to cite the parts of the law that tell colleges what they have to do (or don’t), I don’t think this directly falls under any of the exceptions the laws provide. (Read about these in Step 1 of my book.) Or it could be ruled out by the equal opportunity idea I just discussed.

But there’s something else to consider - the expectations colleges have for all students.

Section 504 says that colleges can’t discriminate against a “qualified handicapped person.” Down at §104.3 (l)(3), it further clarifies that the definition of this term means “[w]ith respect to postsecondary and vocational education services, a handicapped person who meets the academic and technical standards requisite to admission or participation in the recipient’s education program or activity.”

It is reasonable for colleges expect students to know how to prepare for tests, including making their own study guides, even if they have a disability. In my view, this would fall under the academic standards mentioned above in that definition of a qualified student.* This said, colleges may have tutors or academic coaches that help students make their own guides, though they’re not required to do so, or to provide any specialized help for that, such as someone who knows the content of the student’s specific class.

I understand that many students with disabilities have difficulty knowing what to study – their classmates without disabilities do, too. There is research showing that both groups of students report the same academic difficulties at college. In my opinion, a DS office’s analysis of a request like this would likely consider this first, and then stop.*

Instead, a DS office would likely suggest that the student do what this one had already done – meet with the professor and tutors. It appears that the student still wasn’t doing well. They might not fit that definition of “qualified,” and accommodations aren’t provided to change that.*

When questions like this come up in my professional community, all of the responses I see say they don’t approve such a request. (Remember the caveats above.) This isn’t an accommodation I’ve seen covered in the research, so I don’t have statistics to share showing how often this is approved (if ever).

Back-tracking on a test

If you’re not aware, at some colleges and in some programs, there are computerized exams where—once a student answers a question or skips it—they can’t track back to answer it or change the answer they already gave/chose.

While we’d like for students to use test-taking strategies they’ve learned (such as answering the questions they’re confident about first), this is something that would benefit all students. And again, when this has come up in my community, the responses I’ve seen say they don’t approve this. (Please see the caveats above again.) My colleagues who respond say they view this as a success-oriented accommodation rather than one that addresses a barrier that only affects students with disabilities. This student had extended test time, so they had the chance to use that to think about questions a bit longer before moving on.

Retaking tests

Hoping they would be approved for these additional accommodations, the student then wanted to re-take exams they’d taken without them. The laws don’t say this explicitly, but the way things work, accommodations don’t apply retroactively, meaning students don’t get do-overs if they’re approved for new, additional accommodations after completing an exam. Again, there’s no data on this, but I’ve never seen a colleague say they’ve approved this. Instead, they all say that accommodations apply only once they’ve been approved.

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But a doctor put these recommendations in a letter…

Be aware that colleges aren’t required to do anything that doctors, neuropsychologists, or psychologists recommend. This is true whether recommendations are made in a letter or a lengthy report. And there are some other points to discuss here.

First – students have to follow DS’s process to formally request any accommodation they want. If they’ve already registered and been approved, they still may have to complete a form and even meet with their coordinator in order for the request to be reviewed.

Second - when they complete that form that asks what accommodations they are requesting, saying “please see my doctor’s letter” instead of specifying their requests is likely to result in delays. Many DS offices will send the form back to them and ask them to explicitly state what they want. Learn more here.

Also - doctors can’t request accommodations on students’ behalf. Putting them in a signed document on their letterhead doesn’t change that.

Keep in mind, too, that doctors’ mandate is to do/suggest what they think is best for their patient.* But there’s a good chance they don’t know what colleges are and aren’t required to do for students. (It seems the one in question didn’t, given the recommendations they made.) I’ve seen many psychologists and neuropsychologists recommend accommodations colleges aren’t required to provide, and their recommendation doesn’t change that.

Additionally (because this has been coming up recently in my community, especially around requests for single rooms and other accommodations) – accommodations don’t have to be approved just because they’re written into a student’s therapy plan.* That’s not part of this member’s question, but I wanted to mention it.

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A message for those working with and/or parenting high school students

Having an adult provide study guides to high school students with disabilities is an example of where well-intentioned high school accommodations can leave students ill-prepared for college. While not every student plans to go to college, for those who do, high schools should teach them how to make their own guides and eventually fade out the adult-supplied one.

If your student will be a high school senior next year, it’s urgent that you address this with their case manager. If they’re younger, you have time, but don’t neglect to address this. Make sure there’s a plan for skill-building.

I’ve heard of K12 districts requiring teachers to provide study guides for all students, regardless of disability status. This means they’re poorly preparing their entire student body for college. (If this is happening where you work, you may want to speak to your administrators.)

Final thoughts

I know the thoroughness of the response here may make it seem like I’m being harsh. I am truly sorry to hear that the student is struggling. But I wanted to explain these issues fully, because it’s important for students, parents, and professionals to understand the purpose of accommodations and I wanted to provide some insight into how decisions get made.

I want to be clear – you won’t hear me say that students shouldn’t request a particular accommodation, and you shouldn’t interpret anything I’m saying as implying this. There are over 4000 colleges in the country – I don’t know what happens at each of them, obviously. I take my responsibility seriously in writing about these issues - hence the caveats I’ve laid out here.

My role here is to provide you with information to help you understand the possibilities and probabilities so you can use this knowledge to make sure your student(s) gets the best possible preparation for college. Too often, professionals and families assume what will happen there, resulting in students not being appropriately prepared for the changes there. I host my free Facebook group and spend my time responding to questions there and here to try to keep this from happening.

The best way to learn more about all of these issues is to read my book and/or watch my webinar that goes into detail about what accommodations are and aren’t commonly available is available on-demand. Once you pay, you can watch any time.

Have a question about what you’ve read? Comment below, join my group (where you can ask questions anonymously), or send me an email.

*Again - this post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or medical advice and should not be construed as such. Please seek a qualified professional if you need such advice.

You can find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on my main blog and YouTube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read my concise 6-page guide, or hire me to speak to your school, group, or district.

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The questions that come up every year in parent groups

Each year in late spring, parents in online groups start asking what accommodations they should make sure are included in their student’s final high school IEP (individualized education plan) or 504 plan. Some ask others for any specific wording that they think needs to be included in their student’s plan to make sure colleges will have to provide whatever accommodations are written into this plan.

These questions speak to people’s mistaken beliefs about what happens at college.

What people are getting wrong

First—to be clear—neither 504 plans nor IEPs are valid once students graduate from high school.

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) doesn’t apply to colleges, which means IEPs have no legal bearing at college. Colleges aren’t required to provide any accommodation just because it was written into a student’s IEP. And approval for accommodations isn’t guaranteed just because a student had one. Colleges get to decide who is eligible for accommodations.

For the same reason, there are no “teeth” anyone can put into an IEP that creates an obligation for a college to provide the same accommodations written into the high school plan; those plans simply don’t create legal mandates for colleges. Again, colleges get to decide for themselves who is eligible for accommodations and what accommodations those students are eligible for.

Some readers have seen/heard people say that 504 plans “transfer to” or “travel” to or are simply valid at college because Section 504 (of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) covers both K12 and colleges. But K12 schools are subject to Subpart D and colleges are subject to Subpart E, so these plans aren’t valid after high school, either. Therefore—just as with IEPs—packing 504 plans with accommodations doesn’t work as a way of guaranteeing students will get them at college, and there’s no language that can create such an obligation for college.

You can learn more by reading this post or watching this video. And see my responses to a number of myths about 504 plans, IEPs, and college accommodations that I hear.

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Is there any role for an IEP or 504 plan at college?

Some colleges will accept these high school plans as standalone documentation (paperwork showing the student has been identified as a person with a disability) for students who register for accommodations at their college’s disability services office. Others may take it as supplement to the testing they require. (Want to know how students register? Read this post, watch this video, or read Step 2 of my book for much more detail.)

Some schools won’t even ask to see those high school plans. There’s nothing preventing students from including their IEP or 504 plan when they register, but if it’s not part of the required documentation, the staff in disability services (DS) that reviews their requests may not even look at it.

A few years ago, researchers looked at the websites of nearly 300 DS offices to see what they said about high school plans. They found that:

· 14% (42) specifically said an IEP or 504 plan weren’t acceptable

· 34% (101) said IEPs and 504 plans were useful but not sufficient

· 10% (29) said it was sufficient

I asked some colleagues who help me with my free Facebook group about this. None takes an IEP or 504 by itself. Some said they might look at it, but much of what’s in an IEP (especially) isn’t relevant to their work. (Think about what’s in the dozens of pages of an IEP—colleges don’t do things K12 schools do, such as set or measure progress toward goals, provide transportation or summer programming, etc.) And all wanted to make sure I emphasized that they don’t follow IEPs or 504 plans.

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“I was told my student had to have an IEP or 504 plan in high school if they wanted to be eligible for accommodations at college. Are you saying that’s not true?”

Again, colleges get to decide who is eligible for accommodations. Since students who attend a private school or homeschool won’t have either kind of plan, requiring they provide one in their documentation would exclude those students from eligibility. It is my opinion* that a college that had such a requirement would get in trouble for discriminating against students who fell into either of those categories. I wrote a post about this topic and made a brief video about what happens for private and homeschool kids who want to register with their college’s disability services office.

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Will the RISE Act change all of this?

If you’ve not heard of it, one prong of the proposed RISE Act (as I understand it) would require colleges to accept an IEP or 504 plan as stand-alone documentation.* This would be a federal law affecting all colleges that accept any kind of federal funds (which means nearly all of them).

Arizona has enacted its own version of this, but as I understand it,* it only applies to their state schools. And my colleague who works at one of these institutions is careful to note that—again—it doesn’t guarantee that students will be found eligible, and it doesn’t create an obligation for colleges to provide all or even any of the accommodations written into a plan. And that colleague also said that depending upon the situation, some students may need to provide additional documentation to support their requests.*

What if I get my student privately tested? Do the recommendations in the report count?

In short—no. Colleges aren’t required to provide any accommodation simply because they were recommended by a professional. And in my experience (and my colleagues mentioned this), many people writing reports recommend accommodations not offered at the college level.

This is why you should be very careful about what anybody offering testing tells you about how many students they’ve evaluated who got all of their requested accommodations. I have seen some clinicians make claims that are unethical or at least very dubious. (Watch this video explaining why people should doubt what some clinicians say.)

Any advice for what to put in a final IEP or 504 plan, then?

I want to be clear that I’m not suggesting taking away accommodations simply because they won’t be available at college. K12 schools and colleges have much different mandates, and high schools need to honor theirs. (Learn more about the differences, which are rooted in the laws, in Step 1 of my book.)

Rather than focus on accommodations, plans should focus on what skills students still need to develop before they start college. It’s my hope that these discussions start long before students’ senior year. (Eighth grade is a great time, when the student’s IEP or 504 for their freshman year of high school is being developed. Some of my colleagues suggest starting earlier.) If students start high school with a lot of very-supportive accommodations that won’t be available at the college level (ex. no one at a college has to create a study guide for a student), each year’s plan should focus on how to build the skills students will need to manage the demands of the college environment in the absence of such supports. And those supports should be faded out if and when possible. I strongly recommend you subscribe to the Substack of my collaboration partner Kelley Challen, a transition specialist working on high school side. She offers lots of helpful advice and tips for what should be happening during students’ high school years.

This means that both professionals and parents need to learn about what’s approved at college and what isn’t. This list from Rutgers University’s DS office provides a helpful list. It doesn’t include every possible accommodation, but it definitely covers those I see my colleagues discussing frequently. BUT students shouldn’t assume that they will be eligible for every accommodation they see in that list. (A parent once insisted to me that their student should be able to have a memory aid on tests because they saw it on two schools’ websites. I wrote about why their student probably wouldn’t get that accommodation.)

Want to learn more?

If you want to understand what accommodations students might or not get and why read Step 7 of my book, where I go through a list similar to the one from Rutgers and explain what is and isn’t commonly approved (and why), using information gleaned from my 20+ years of experience in the field and from the interviews I conducted with experienced college DS directors.

Prefer watching to reading? I have a webinar on this that you can watch on-demand. Once you purchase, you can view it at any time.

*This post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or medical advice and should not be construed as such. Please seek a qualified professional if you need such advice.

You can find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on my main blog and Youtube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read my concise 6-page guide, or hire me to speak to your school, group, or district.

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Two experts writing from two sides of the bridge: Kelley from the world of high school IEPs and 504s, and Elizabeth from college disability services.

“Not all modifications modify the curriculum.” Hmmmm…

Kelley: I was in a Facebook group where somebody made this statement in a thread. Whether you’re a parent or a professional, if you participate in online groups, you know what happened next—some people confidently insisted that a support is only a modification if it changes the curriculum.

The definitional chaos continued. One group member raised the example of a student only being required to complete 50% of the problems on a homework assignment and receiving the same amount of credit as peers who completed the whole thing. Some educators and advocates jumped in to say, “That’s an accommodation.” Others said, “No, that’s a modification.” In the end, people talked past one another while using the same words and missing the nuances and facts that actually matter for students and families.

This is a nuanced discussion for a reason. The terms “accommodation” and “modification” get used constantly in K–12 schools, but they are not explicitly or neatly defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004), which applies to special education in public schools for students ages 3–21. They are also used interchangeably in the laws that apply at the college level (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, or Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA).

I shared this story with my friend and colleague Elizabeth Hamblet, and she suggested we co-write this article because she has spent decades on the college side of this transition. Elizabeth is the author of Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities and has worked in college disability services for more than 20 years. In our recent joint Substack Live, one theme kept arising—students can appear “successful” in high school for many different reasons, but that success does not always translate once they arrive at college. (Watch it here.) Having work expectations modified is one of those reasons, and reducing the number of problems a student completes is an example of such a modification.

This article is our attempt to make the distinction clearer, explain why the debate keeps happening, and outline what students should understand and practice before they arrive on campus.

Authors’ Note

This post is for educational purposes only. It doesn’t provide legal or medical advice and shouldn’t be construed as providing either of these. (Please see a qualified professional for such advice.) However, we’ve linked to the relevant parts of the laws.

Why the words get confusing

Kelley: In K–12, we often use the terms “accommodation” or “modification” as if they are formal legal categories with crisp, agreed-upon definitions. Again, IDEA does not define the terms in a clear way or provide useful distinctions between them. Some clarity is provided by the National Center on Educational Outcomes, which defines accommodations as adjustments that do not alter what the assessment measures, distinguishing them from modifications that do change expectations. Even when schools do not use this precise language, the distinction itself is critical.

A practical way to think about the distinction is this:

· Accommodations provide access to the educational program, instruction, or assignment without changing what is being taught or what the student is expected to know and do. An example of this that is granted at both the high school and college level is providing text in an accessible format so that it can be read by a speech-to-text program for students with reading or visual disabilities.

· Modifications change expectations by altering what a student is required to learn or demonstrate. They may lower, replace, or fundamentally alter the learning target, the performance standard, or what is being measured. Because of that, they are closely tied to specially designed instruction, where something about the content, method, or expectations needs to be fundamentally altered to meet the student’s individualized needs and support meaningful progress. An example that might be approved at the high school level but would not be in college would be allowing the student to read a version of a book where the content was changed or grade level was reduced, or allowing the student to read an entirely different book than their classmates.

Elizabeth: As already noted above, the relevant laws (Section 504 and the ADA) use the terms “modification” and “accommodation” interchangeably.

However, at the college level, disability services (DS) offices use these as terms of art to try to differentiate between them. This usage isn’t specified in the laws, but the categorization is based on the exceptions written into the relevant laws.*

As I note in Step 1 of my book, Section 504 says (at §104.44 [a]), “Academic requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential to the instruction being pursued by such student or to any directly related licensing requirement will not be regarded as discriminatory…” And the ADA says (at § 12182 [b][2][A][ii]) that colleges and other entities don’t have to make modifications in “policies, practices, or procedures” that would “fundamentally alter” any part of their programs.

Because of these exemptions, DS offices generally don’t approve accommodations that they believe would fundamentally alter assignments, tests, etc. because they defer to professors’ judgment on what is “essential to the instruction” provided in classes. Often, they refer to these adjustments as “modifications,” as they modify the expectations for what students will do in their classes.*

An example of what offices often see as an accommodation is permission to record lectures for a student who has a disability affecting their notetaking skills. In this scenario, the student is still taking their own notes and just using the recording to help them go back and catch anything they missed, so the expectations for them align with what their classmates are expected to do.

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The debate that keeps coming up

Kelley: In that Facebook thread, a newer layer emerged, raised by a colleague who is trained as both a special educator and an advocate: “If the assignment includes multiple items assessing the same skill, and you remove only the redundant items, that can be an accommodation. But randomly shortening an assignment, especially when it removes standards, is a modification.”

The problem is that—no matter what the rationale for reducing the number of problems is—doing so and grading the student on the basis of that reduced work, as though they’d completed the whole assignment, is modifying the performance expectations for that student. And there is an assumption that the teacher’s assignment for students to demonstrate mastery over multiple attempts is not an appropriate or reasoned standard.

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The realities of the college environment

Elizabeth: No matter what kind of nuance might be applied to this kind of decision at the high school level, at the college level, it’s unlikely that there would be a discussion about how many problems could be eliminated in an assignment because a request to reduce the amount of work a student completes would probably not be approved. Professors get to set the evaluation standards for their classes, including what and how much work students have to do. While DS offices always have to consider students’ requests, this doesn’t mean they have to approve them.

In my long experience as a member of a professional association of other DS professionals, I don’t remember anyone ever saying they approve assignment modifications that reduce the amount of work students have to do. (To be clear—this represents what is said by those who respond to queries about this; there may be colleagues who do offer such approvals but don’t say so in that forum or who don’t even belong to our association.)

But to go beyond that anecdotal information, here’s the data from a large longitudinal transition study showing the rate of receipt of certain modifications at the high school v. college level.**

• Modified or alternative tests: 37% received this in high school v. <1% in college

• Shorter or different assignments: 30% received this in high school v. 3% in college

• Modified grading standards: 29% received this in high school v. 1% in college

As you can see, shorter assignments were rarely approved for the students in that study. And it’s not only adjustments to length that were rarely approved — students also didn’t get approved to do different kinds of assignments than their peers.

For example, I’ve heard colleagues mention that when a professor assigns students to give a presentation to the class, DS won’t typically tell the professor they have to let a student with a severe anxiety disorder write a paper or submit a creative project instead. (There’s no data on the approval rate for this, so I am just providing anecdotal information here.) They may speak to the professor to see whether the student could give the presentation to a smaller group, or present just to the professor. But the student likely will have to give the speech, and it likely will have to be done live, rather than be recorded and submitted later, as part of the assignment is likely to include managing oneself in front of an audience, and maybe responding to attendees’ questions.

What obligations do colleges have when students have received modifications like the kind we’re describing while they were in high school?

Elizabeth: This is a good time to be clear about a very important point.

Whether students have a high school IEP or 504 plan, neither kind of plan “transfers” or “travels” to college. It’s not that colleges don’t have to provide accommodations—they do. But IDEA (under which students in public schools receive IEPs) doesn’t apply to colleges, so the plans don’t either.

And while Section 504 applies to all educational settings, K-12 schools are subject to Subpart D and colleges are subject to Subpart E. Therefore, 504 plans also don’t create any obligations for colleges. Both IEPs and 504 plans can be said to essentially “expire” once students graduate from high school or age out of the system.

So, to go back to our much earlier example, even if a student’s IEP or 504 provided an “accommodation” exempting them from completing “redundant” problems, that plan would hold no legal obligation for their college to approve the same thing. And, as you can see from the comparison data, they rarely do.

Why this matters

Kelley & Elizabeth: There is a reason we chose to write this Substack. This is not just a debate about language (even though we have talked a lot about semantics). The difference between accommodations and modifications—and a student’s clear understanding of which they need—has real consequences once students leave K–12 education.

If a student is consistently completing less work than peers, demonstrating fewer skills, or being assessed on a reduced set of expectations, the student needs to be aware that this is happening (and why). They also need to understand that this kind of modification is unlikely to be approved in college. This doesn’t mean they should stop receiving modifications in high school. It does mean they need clear self-awareness about what skills they have developed, what skills still need strengthening, and what supports will realistically be available after graduation.

Preparing students for college does not mean simply removing support. It means being intentional about which supports are in place, gradually reducing unnecessary ones, and being honest about what will and will not exist after K–12. Most importantly, it means helping students build the skills to function with the supports that are actually available. That includes understanding their disability, explaining what helps in plain language, managing forms and deadlines, and recognizing when expectations have changed.

This is where self-determination becomes critical. Students should be informed that reduced workload or altered academic standards are unlikely to be approved in college and be invited into a real conversation: Do they want to continue doing modified work now, or use available supports to work toward meeting the same standards as their peers? Planning teams should consider what direct instruction is needed to help them manage full assignments. While grades may initially dip when expectations increase, the long-term benefit is stronger preparation for postsecondary demands.

Transition Planning Implications

If a student’s high school success depends heavily on modifications, students and families need to pause and think carefully about what comes next. That may include whether a particular college path is the right fit right now, what skills still need to be built before launch, what supports they can realistically access in higher education, and whether a bridge step such as community college, a lighter course load, or a structured transition program, might better support readiness in the immediate future.

We encourage students to request any accommodation they think they need once they enroll at a college. (We never want to be responsible for dissuading students from requesting something that may get approved.) We just want to make sure they have a realistic view of the shifting expectations long before they get to college so they can make informed choices about how they want to prepare while they’re still in high school.

We know some readers will be disappointed to learn about the kinds of supports and adjustments colleges don’t have to provide. (See Step 7 of Elizabeth’s book for a detailed discussion of these or watch her on-demand webinar on this topic.) Remember, K-12 education is mandatory, and college is optional. Colleges are allowed to set the standards students will meet. For instance, they’re not required to alter their admission requirements for students with disabilities.* And once they’re admitted, colleges don’t have to alter their graduation requirements. (Learn more from posts and videos linked to on this page.)

Final Thoughts

If families remember one thing, let it be this: the goal can’t be guaranteed success. The goal has to be preparing students to succeed with supports they can realistically access. Sometimes that means adjusting the plan or the timing of students’ start to college. That is not failure. It is thoughtful, responsible transition planning.

*This information is provided for educational purposes only. It is not and should not be construed as legal or medical advice. Please see a qualified professional if you require such advice.

**Newman, L. A., & Madaus, J. W. (2014). Reported Accommodations and Supports Provided to Secondary and Postsecondary Students With Disabilities: National Perspective. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, 38(3), 173-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165143413518235

Get more information

Learn practical strategies for making sure students with disabilities develop the skills they’ll need for college success. Explore Kelley’s Substack and be sure to subscribe for future posts. Also explore her website, where you can inquire about her services for families and book a presentation.

Learn more about the changes students with disabilities will find in the college environment.

Find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on Elizabeth’s main blog and Youtube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read her concise 6-page guide, or hire her to speak to your school, group, or district.

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Introduction

At the start of each college term, students with disabilities who registered with their college’s disability services (DS) office last term (or have been registered in previous years) will receive a reminder from DS that if they want to use their accommodations, they need to follow the college’s process to receive those.

[For readers not familiar with the college disability services system – students only receive accommodations at college if they follow whatever process their college uses. Their high school special education case manager can’t set up the accommodations for them when they graduate, and in most cases, parents can’t do this for them, either. Read this post on my main blog or watch this video to learn about the process.]

Why don’t colleges automatically notify professors that students are approved for accommodations?

Unlike in K12, college DS offices don’t assume students want to use their accommodations again and don’t automatically send accommodation notifications to professors at the start of each term. Also, a college could get in trouble for sending notifications to professors without a student’s permission.

If you’ve not heard of the Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA), it’s the law that prevents K12 schools and colleges from sharing students’ educational records without permission (with some exceptions). Parents have the right to give approval until students turn 18, and then students assume these rights. This means that colleges won’t share students’ approval for accommodations with professors (or anyone else) without students’ permission. (Contrary to what some people believe, colleges don’t issue a list to faculty and staff each year listing all the students registered with DS.)

Do students have to renew their accommodations?

No - students have a right not to use their approved accommodations even if they used them previously. They don’t have to send DS a message to say that they won’t. They just don’t indicate their preference by not completing the process for renewal.

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Can students who didn’t use their accommodations last semester change their mind?

Yes - students also have a right to renew their accommodations even if they:

· didn’t request them in a previous semester but want to do that now

· requested accommodations in a previous semester and didn’t use them

But if they choose to do so, they have to do what the college requires.

How do students renew accommodations?

Processes vary across schools. At some colleges, students log into a system and indicate which professors they want notified and which approved accommodations they want DS to include in those notifications. (Not all colleges may provide students the option to omit certain accommodations.) You can see what the process may look like in this video.

At others, DS sends students a letter that they have to share with their professors. Again, DS may not allow them to customize what accommodations are mentioned, but students have the right to share those letters with all, some, or none of their professors even if they’ve requested them.

If they read the reminder from DS but don’t know what they’re supposed to do, students should contact their DS coordinator right away. It’s important for them to remember that accommodations aren’t retroactive, meaning if they wait, no one has to provide them with test make-ups, adjust their grades, etc. for anything that occurred before they took whatever action was necessary to activate their accommodations.

If they want to wait to see how things go in this new term, that’s their right. But again, no one has to make allowances for what happens if they’re not happy with the results of their choice.

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Are colleges requiring students to re-register with DS?

No – this process is not “re-registering,” as some people falsely claim. Students are just activating what’s already approved. They aren’t going through the same process they did to initially register with DS. And for most kinds of disabilities, they don’t have to provide new/different paperwork. (While there’s no standard term for what students have to do each term, if it’s helpful, consider it “renewing” their accommodations, just as you renew a library book you’re still interested in reading.)

However, if students were given temporary accommodations at the time they registered because DS required more or different documentation, they’ll have to provide that in order to continue receiving accommodations. And for some conditions that change over time, students may be required to provide updated documentation.

A part of the process students shouldn’t ignore

Whether they’ve just registered or are renewing accommodations, DS typically recommends that students not only share their accommodation notification but also speak to their professors as part of this process. Students are often reluctant to do this, but it’s important – this is their chance to find out how accommodations will work.

And while it would be nice if professors could be required to tell DS if they have an objection to an approved accommodation, students shouldn’t assume they will. Such a conversation should prompt professors to tell students if they have an objection, and then the student can contact their DS coordinator, who should initiate the college’s process for reviewing that objection. (Learn about professor objections in this post or this video.)

Many students don’t have any experience speaking to instructors about their accommodations. (This is why involving students with their accommodations in K12 is critical. Read my book to learn more.) They may be anxious about it and/or struggle with knowing what they should say and what they can keep private.

Fairmont State University’s DS site offers a page with suggestions for students about how to arrange and conduct these conversations and suggests what students should do afterward. West Virigina University’s DS site offers conversation starters and an example role-playing scenario. For those who prefer watching to reading, both Carnegie Mellon University’s and Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s DS offices offer videos to help students with these conversations.

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What if a student didn’t register with DS when they started at college or transferred to a new one?

It’s not too late for a student who has been at college for a time to register with DS now, whether they’re a freshman or a transfer student. They can start the process today. Again, if they’re found eligible, their accommodations apply from that point forward; they’re not retroactive.

Surprised about what you’ve learned here?

I realize this information about the college disability services process and the expectations colleges have for students with disabilities may not be what readers expected. Read more posts here on my Substack and reference the other resources in the footer of this post.

*This post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or medical advice and should not be construed as such. Please seek a qualified professional if you need such advice.

You can find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on my main blog and Youtube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read my concise 6-page guide, or hire me to speak to your school, group, or district.

The issue

In late November in my free Facebook group, a parent asked what her college senior should submit to support their previously-rejected request for use of a laptop for notetaking and exams. Here are the facts relevant to this discussion:

• When the student registered with their college’s disability services office as a freshman, they were approved for copies of professors’ notes but not approved to use a laptop for notetaking and for tests.

• Some professors allow the student to use a laptop even though it wasn’t an accommodation approved by the provost, who made these decisions at the student’s college

• This student was taking a class where the professor hadn’t allowed any use of a laptop and is giving a handwritten exam and said they’d deduct points for incorrect spelling and illegible handwriting

• The student had already taken a previous class with this professor, and in that class and the current one, they reported losing points on those exams for the reasons outlined above

• The student was also going to have to take more classes with this professor before they graduated.

• The same professor refused to provide the class notes that were approved by the provost as an accommodation

I want to address a few parts of this picture so you can get an understanding of the college environment. This is lengthy, but I’ll hope you’ll get to the end because there are a lot of issues you should be aware of, such as students’ responsibilities and rights in the college disability services system and the timelines there. I hope the different facets of this discussion will be helpful to you.

Please understand that what follows here is not meant to criticize the student’s decision to delay taking action, but rather to educate you about how the college disability services system typically operates. ❤️ I am also not taking a position on the denial of the accommodation request. That’s not the point of this discussion.

Who made the decision

I know some people will be surprised to learn that a provost is in charge of disability accommodation decisions at the student’s college. The laws in place at the college level (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act) don’t require whoever is in charge of accommodation decisions to have a background in special education or a related field like they typically have to in the public K12 system. (State laws can add such a requirement. I’m not aware of any examples of this, but they may exist.) I have no idea what this provost’s background is, so this isn’t a comment on them.

Because the provost makes decisions at this college, I’ll substitute in “DS” occasionally to represent the provost in the following discussion, as they are the one in charge of the disability accommodations.

What the student could have done when the laptop accommodation was initially denied

Be aware that students have a right to appeal their college’s decision about their accommodations. They should be able to find the process for this on the DS website. (They can also file with their regional Office of Civil Rights, or OCR, though this process make be lengthy, especially since offices and staff have been cut.) If they can’t, they should contact their DS coordinator to ask how to do this. Students should be sure to pay attention to any timelines that the college has set.

The ideal time for this student to have appealed this decision this would have been at the time of their initial request (and its rejection), back when they started college. Again, this is not meant to sound like a criticism of the student. There is likely a reason they waited—the parent said that other professors allowed them to use a laptop even though DS didn’t approve it.

But then the student took that class with the professor who didn’t allow laptop use (both currently and in a previous term) and says they’ve lost points on exams because of their spelling and handwriting. They’ve also been unable to use a laptop for notetaking in that professor’s class.

I have no idea what the outcome of this appeal will be, but if the provost reverses their initial decision and allows the use of a laptop for either or both these purposes and overrules the professor’s ban (I don’t have an opinion on whether that will happen), it will mean the student could have had the laptop earlier and avoided any challenges the ban has caused them in this professor’s class.

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The role of timing

This question came in over the Thanksgiving weekend—roughly two weeks before the end of the term and (as already noted) the student has already taken one exam in this particular class and in a previous one with the same professor. The timing matters in several ways.

First, DS offices aren’t required to alter their processes or timelines when students have waited to file an appeal. This is also true when students want to register with the office initially. If they wait until right before an exam, that doesn’t obligate DS to rush their review in order to see whether the student is eligible for accommodations for that exam, or to reconsider a request they initially denied. (Read this post or watch this video on students’ responsibilities and rights and read Step 3 of my book to learn even more.)

At this time of year, DS offices are busy arranging final exam accommodations, so even if the student gets approved to use a laptop for exams upon appeal, that decision may not happen until after finals. If it’s approved now, it might be too late to make the arrangements for finals. If the student were to complain about this to OCR, I suspect OCR wouldn’t find the university at fault, given the student waited to take action.*

And remember - despite the approval, it’s possible the professor would still object to laptop use in their class, and then the college’s process for reviewing that would have to happen. This would likely stretch into next term, meaning the student likely wouldn’t get to use the laptop for the final in this current fall semester.

Second, even if it’s approved now and the professor agrees to allow the laptop moving forward, the college won’t do anything about the previous exams the student took without them, e.g., they wouldn’t ask the professor to recalculate the student’s grades, add points to previous tests the student took because accommodations are not retroactive. Instead, they would be effective from the time they are approved onward.

[Let me pause again to say this is not meant to be critical of the student. I’m sorry this has happened and want to make sure you know what you need to in order to advise your own student(s).]

Let’s not miss that this professor also denied an approved accommodation

The provost approved the student to receive copies of professors’ notes and they didn’t receive them from this professor. In a perfect world, the professor would have contacted the provost at the time the student shared their letter/email listing their approved accommodations. But the reality is that it typically falls on students to contact DS to tell them that a professor is refusing an approved accommodation. At that point, it’s the responsibility of whoever is in charge of accommodations to initiate the university’s process for reviewing such objections. (Every college should have a process for this. Again, read this post or watch this video and read Step 3 of my book to learn more.)

In addition to appealing the refusal of a laptop by DS, I recommended that the student document the professor’s denial of the approved accommodation and mention that they have to take more classes with them. The school needs to make sure that student gets the approved accommodation. If the college doesn’t require the professor to provide the approved notes, then they need to find an alternate accommodation for this student—not just for this professor’s class but for any others where a professor won’t provide notes.*

In a situation like this, the alternative might be a human notetaker, or the student may instead be allowed to record lecture audio using their phone or another recording device. Some colleges would also allow students to use their laptop for notetaking, and some might even provide students with notetaking software but they don’t have to. (Read my book to understand why the college isn’t obligated to do this.) And given this professor’s laptop ban, the other two accommodations might be offered instead.

I want to add something else here to help set your expectations. While there are no statistics on this particular accommodation (i.e., copies of professors’ notes), what I can say is that when colleagues discuss this in my professional community, of those who respond when this topic comes up, the majority say they don’t approve this because—to begin with—some professors don’t use notes, and we can’t require them to do so.* So just be aware that a number of students won’t get approved for this. (Learn more about notetaking accommodations in these posts.)

But in this case the student was approved. Again, because they didn’t act sooner, the college won’t do anything about the classes they’ve already taken. (Not that the student is looking for that; I just want to make this clear for others.)

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What if the college now approves a laptop but the professor’s objection in their class is allowed to stand?

Some professors have no-laptop policies when it comes to in-class notetaking. The job of the disability services (DS) offices is to make sure students have access to the class content and remove barriers. We generally don’t challenge professors’ class policies unless they’re blatantly discriminatory. As I’ve said, if the provost approves the laptop accommodation when the student appeals but the professor’s policy is allow to stand, the college should then find alternative notetaking accommodations as I’ve outlined above. *

Regarding exams, if the laptop ban stands, DS might provide the student with a hand-held spellchecker. (The professor still might object, saying it would fundamentally alter what they’re measuring - read Steps 1 and 7 of my book to understand this.) If their handwriting is deemed illegible, DS would probably have someone scribe the student’s exam responses. (It’s not likely that the student would get to provide their answers to the professor orally, though that might be possible.)

What should the student submit to support this appeal?

The parent has asked what the student should submit in order to support his appeal of DS’s rejection of his laptop accommodation. No one can answer that but whoever reviews the appeal. I’m hoping that at the time they denied those requests, the provost stated why they did so. I advised the parent that the student should ask now, before they submit anything.

It’s possible that the provost didn’t approve the accommodation because they didn’t think they it was needed based on what they’d already seen in the student’s documentation. If so, additional information may not help. However, I think students should always exercise their right to appeal. It’s possible that any written statement or discussion they have with the decision-maker(s) or other form of support they provide about their experience since starting college may be persuasive.

If anyone’s student wants to an appeal a decision and is told that more information might be helpful, they should ask specifically what DS wants to see. Don’t rely on a psychologist or neuropsychologist to know what is needed (if testing is applicable - generally true for learning disabilities and possibly for ADHD and autism).

And once your student finds whoever will do the testing, I suggest they ask the clinician to send a list of the measures they intend to use and for your student to pass this on to their DS coordinator to ask whether these are the measures they would want to see. DS may be reluctant to be so specific, because if a student gets tested with measures DS said were appropriate and the scores still don’t support the requested accommodation, the student might file a complaint saying that they got the testing DS suggested and still weren’t getting their desired accommodation. (I’m not saying OCR would find the university at fault in this scenario, either, but DS would still not want to be in this position.)

Learn about documentation here on Substack, in these blogposts and videos, and/or in Step 7 of my book.

A complicating factor

I want to note that one thing that might not work in the student’s favor in this specific case is the fact that they’ve gotten through almost their entire college education without pressing for the laptop for exams or notetaking. They’ve also done well enough to stay enrolled (i.e., they didn’t fail any classes because of the absence of a laptop). This doesn’t mean that it disqualifies the student from reconsideration of their request. It just means that the provost (or whoever handles the appeal - processes vary) may consider this fact in their decision-making process.

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What do this mean for your student(s)?

If you are the parent of a current college student with a disability who’s reading this, let this be a prompt to check in with your student to see if they’d had a similar issue and apprise them of their rights and responsibilities, if they have an issue. For more on this topic—again, read this post or watch this video on students’ responsibilities and rights.

If you’re the parent of a current high school student who’s interested in college, let this post serve as a prompt to make sure that as your student moves toward graduation, you are working on their self-advocacy skills. I strongly recommend following Kelley Challen, a transition coordinator who works the high school end of this journey. She’s an incredibly valuable resource.

I also recommend you read my book (Seven Steps to Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, Bloomsbury 2023 ) and/or watch my on-demand webinars.

Caveats and further information

*This post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or medical advice and should not be construed as such. Please seek a qualified professional if you need such advice. I’m sharing because I’ve worked in college disability services offices for more than 20 years and I’m active in my professional community.

You can find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on my main blog and Youtube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read my concise 6-page guide, or hire me to speak to your school, group, or district.

Facebook group member question**:

One of my student’s professors has illegible handwriting. My student (who has ADHD and slow processing speed) asked me to read the professor’s comments on a paper and I struggled to do so. My student can read cursive and even writes in it. I tried to help, but even I struggled to read this professor’s writing. Have you heard of anyone providing an accommodation for this?

(**Not a member? Join here.)

Here's my response*:

I consulted colleagues in my field about this question. [They are all directors of different colleges’ disability services (DS) offices.] The consensus was that this isn’t an accommodation. And while I occasionally get a response indicating a colleague at another college has approved something many others haven’t, no one that I asked said that they have written an accommodation for this kind of situation. (But as with anything I share, there’s always a possibility that some colleagues would do so.)

It may be helpful to know how a number of us in the DS field think about accommodations. If something in our (the college’s) environment specifically affects a student due to their disability, we need to accommodate them (within some bounds) to remove that barrier.

If a professor’s handwriting is illegible, it’s not just a problem for students with a disability—but for all students who take this professor’s class—and my colleagues didn’t feel this created a need for a disability accommodation for this student. Instead, they suggested the student attend office hours and ask the professor to clarify their comments verbally. This is why teaching students self-advocacy skills early and giving them plenty of practice in high school is an important part of college preparation. (For good advice on how to do that training, be sure to subscribe to my friend ’s Substack. She works the high school end of the college transition and I read everything she writes! )

Before I got a chance to publish this post, another parent in the group asked about an accommodation because their student’s professor wrote their feedback in cursive, and the student never learned to read cursive. If the student simply didn’t learn something, that’s not a disability-related issue, and many of us also wouldn’t accommodate.

This said, a few folks suggested technological ideas! One said that they use Google Lens to read illegible handwriting and also suggested Microsoft Office Lens. They also provided a link to a page of apps that can read handwriting.

Are there situations where DS might write an accommodation around handwritten feedback?

Neither of these students has a visual disability. If they did, the answer might be different (though not necessarily) but it would be focused on the student’s challenge in accessing their feedback. In other words, a student who can’t read because of their vision would likely get their feedback in typed format so a screenreader could read it aloud to them. This would be a student who would also get other accommodations for their visual disability. If a student had a severe reading disability and also received their other class materials in an accessible format, they might also receive an accommodation like this.

To learn much more about disability accommodations at college, including why colleges don’t have to provide certain ones, and how to prepare for other changes in the college environment, read my book Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities. and/or watch my on-demand webinars.

Have your own question? Comment below and maybe I’ll answer it!

Caveats and further information

*This post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or medical advice and should not be construed as such. Please seek a qualified professional if you need such advice. I’m sharing because I’ve worked in college disability services offices for more than 20 years and I’m active in my professional community.

You can find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on my main blog and Youtube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read my concise 6-page guide, or hire me to speak to your school, group, or district.

A parent in my Facebook group (focused on college transition and disability accommodations) asked, “How can my daughter make sure the notes she's receiving from the notetaker at college are good ones? We were surprised she was approved for a notetaker instead of a tech solution. What is the norm? (Join the group here.)

It’s hard to say what the “norm” is here, as the best sample of data we have about any notetaking accommodation comes from a large longitudinal study (the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, or NLTS2) that collected its last wave of data in 2010. In that study, where about 60% of the 12,000 students attended any kind of postsecondary education, 16.8% reported being accommodated with a notetaker. [Learn more about approval rates for different accommodations in Appendix A of my book.]

However, technological advances have exploded since that time. I can only say anecdotally that (pay attention to each caveat):

a) when someone asks about notetaking accommodations in my professional community…

b) of the people who respond, the majority indicate they rarely approve a notetaker, and instead give students permission to record and (sometimes) provide a technology tool for that.** When they approve a notetaker, it’s typically for students with a physical disability that limits their ability to take hand-written notes or type.

At the same time, some colleagues do say they provide human notetakers to a wider swath of students, so who knows what the decision will be for your student.

As to the question about the quality of notes - it’s impossible to answer, as “good” will mean different things to different people. Before I share my thoughts about “good” notes, I want to take this moment to level-set for everyone. [And be sure to read the caveat at the bottom of this post.*]

What you read next may sound like I’m being harsh. That’s not my intent; I just want you to be well-informed about things that may not make you happy. I know that the realities of the college environment can be shocking to some readers, and that context is important here. There are a few things you should know:

First - again based on the responses I see in my community—even when students are approved for this accommodation, their college typically expects them to take their own notes. (The exception would be only for students who physically can’t take notes.) The disability services (DS) colleagues I see responding about this usually state that copies of someone else’s notes are meant to supplement students’ own notes, not replace them.

Second - for those wondering, I have not seen any colleagues mention approving copies of professors’ notes as an accommodation, though that’s not to say it never happens.

Here’s why I suspect that—if it does get approved—this is a rarity. The fact is that not all professors create notes, and we can’t require them to do so. (Hence the approval of the other accommodations we’re discussing.) Sometimes professors create slides/handouts, but sometimes they don’t. Same deal—we can’t require them to do so. And getting slides/handouts in advance is sometimes approved (so students can print them on their own and bring to class to mark up during lecture), but philosophies/policies on that vary. And even when approved, DS won’t print the slides for the student; that’s something they have to do on their own.

Third – maybe some of my colleagues have the time/staffing to vet everyone who wants to be a notetaker, but I don’t get the sense this is common. (Again, this is just anecdotal, so make of it what you will.) One theme in the online discussions about this indicates many schools find it hard to find enough notetakers. (Some colleges don’t pay, others pay a nominal amount or offer a small credit at the bookstore or gift card. Others offer community service credits.) So this is also why they may be very particular about who gets approved for a notetaker, since we have other ways of accommodating students.

An anecdote from a colleague offers another factor that may help to explain why colleges have turned to technological solutions instead of expending a lot of staff time to find human notetakers and coordinate the other parts of this process. This colleague’s office tracked how many students downloaded the notes their noteakers uploaded for them. The rate was pretty low, indicating students weren’t using the notes they’d spent so much effort to coordinate.

Fourth – the purpose of notetaking is not to summarize the lecture for the accommodated student or highlight the most important parts of a lecture. These are things students have to figure out on their own. Again, this is college, so the expectations may be different than what your student is used to.

👆 With this context, you may understand why my definition of “good notes” is simply notes that:

· are legible (if not typed)

· cover what happened in the whole class (e.g., not just the first ten minutes)

· use only understandable abbreviations that are generally known (e.g., using “w/o” for “without” or explain any new ones used)

· are provided in whatever timeline DS deems reasonable

· correctly spell any terms introduced in class (occasional misspelling of unimportant words is unlikely to be sufficient for DS to look for a new notetaker)

It's a really good idea for the student to ask DS what they expect from notetakers. But students should also keep expectations realistic. If notes aren’t organized the way they like, it’s worth asking about this, but they should realize that DS may not have the capacity to ask the notetaker to do things differently (and suggest what this should look like), and they may not think it’s necessary. Again —the accommodation is intended to provide access to the class content that the student had trouble recording in their own notes, not to explain or organize it.

If DS can’t/won’t ask the notetaker to change how they do things, students can contact the notetaker directly to ask for what they want (if they have access to the notetaker – this isn’t always the case, as sometimes everything is arranged through DS and is anonymous). I’d suggest they get some help in drafting an email to make sure it strikes the right tone. While this service is being provided for them, in my opinion,* DS is the entity setting the standard. If DS doesn’t see a problem, i.e., the notes provided meet DS’s standard, the notetaker may not, either.

Also, the notetaker may not be able to take notes the way the student wants them to. The student can ask for a new notetaker; that’s great self-advocacy. But they should be aware that there may not be anyone else willing to take over. That’s why having someone check the email they want to send is a good idea; they may want to avoid making the notetaker feel criticized. And they should be aware that notetakers can quit at any time, and there could be a delay in finding a new one.

Reading all of this, you may now understand the complications of using human notetakers, and why the bar to qualify for this accommodation may be very high at some colleges. I say this not to discourage your students from requesting this as an accommodation, but to help you understand the possibilities and make sure your student has the best possible preparation for the college environment.

Important take-away for parents of students who are still in middle or high school - if your student is physically capable of taking notes but struggles with it and is thereby accommodated with copies of the teachers’ notes, I’d suggest making a change. Have them work with someone on improving their notetaking so that by senior year, they’re taking notes independently. This will be the best preparation for college, even if they do get approved for copies of a peers’ notes.

To understand a lot more about accommodations and why they may or may not be approved, read my book (Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities) and/or watch my on-demand webinar on accommodations.

Have your own question about college accommodations? Comment below and maybe I’ll answer it.

**The accommodation is permission to record, but the tool students use is considered a personal device so colleges don’t have to provide that. Again, you can learn more about this in my book.

Caveats and further information

*This post is for educational purposes only. It is not legal or medical advice and should not be construed as such. Please seek a qualified professional if you need such advice. I’m sharing because I’ve worked in college disability services offices for more than 20 years and I’m active in my professional community.

You can find lots of free content about preparing students with disabilities for college success on my main blog and Youtube channel. To learn much more, read Seven Steps to College Success: A Pathway for Students with Disabilities, watch my on-demand videos, read my concise 6-page guide, or hire me to speak to your school, group, or district.