Transition from High School to College
The transition from high school to college can be challenging to say the least. You will be moving from the more structured, controlled environment of high school (where you go directly from back-to-back classes each day, receive reminders from your teachers and parents of your academic responsibilities, possibly go to after school, extracurricular events/activities, and then home to your family) to the less structured campus environment (where you must learn to manage your own time, sometimes have hours between classes, be responsible for your daily schedule, and living on your own or possibly with a roommate).
As part of that transition, students with disabilities will need to be aware of the policies and procedures of the ACCESS office, as well as their rights and responsibilities while attending SIUE.
Self-Disclosure
In order to self-identify as a student with a disability, students must first contact the office designated by the college that qualifies students to receive accommodations. On most campuses, it is the Disability Student Services (DSS) office, at SIUE that is the ACCESS office. It is the students’ responsibility to provide documentation regarding their disability to the office for review.
Such documentation may include, but is not limited to: Psycho-educational reports, physicians’ reports, medical records, etc. Such reports should be current and contain the diagnosis/diagnoses, functional limitations of the disability, recommended accommodations, etc.
504 and Individualized Education Plans
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which provides students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) does not apply to higher education institutions which are governed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Please note that your documentation, and accommodations from your high school do not "transfer" into college. A college may use these plans as documentation in the decision making and determination of reasonable accommodations in a university setting, but there is no requirement to follow these plans.
If you received a 504 or IEP in high school, and intend to use those documents in pursuit of accommodations in college, please either upload those documents electronically present them along with your online Accommodation Request Form, or bring them in person to the office to be scanned and entered into your file in Accommodate.
Resources
- AUTISM LIVE INTERVIEW: Yale Professor Dr. Jane Thierfeld Brown talks about her program “College Autism Spectrum,” which provides college-level support and training for parents, students, and professionals involved with the Autism community.
- Transition of Students With Disabilities To Postsecondary Education: A Guide for High School Educators | U.S. Department of Education
- Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education | U.S. Department of Education
