Preparing for College
- Help your student understand their disability and how it impacts their learning, daily life, and academic experience.
- Involve your student early and often in conversations about accommodations and the accommodation process. Encourage them to attend and actively participate in their IEP or 504 meetings.
- Allow your student to develop their own voice. Building self-advocacy skills and a sense of personal responsibility early will benefit them throughout college and beyond.
- Encourage your student to challenge themselves academically while in high school by taking appropriately rigorous courses.
- Foster independence by encouraging your student to seek academic support, communicate with teachers, and solve problems independently while still in high school.
- Encourage your student to develop effective study habits, memorization techniques, test-taking strategies, and learning approaches that align with their individual learning style and needs.
- Support the development of strong time-management skills through tools such as smartphone calendars, planners, whiteboards, wall calendars, reminders, and timers.
- Encourage self-regulation skills and help your student learn to independently manage routines, including waking up and preparing for school on their own.
- Request updated documentation during your student’s junior or senior year of high school to support a smoother transition to college accommodations.
- Help your student understand the differences between high school and college expectations. (Please refer to “Differences Between High School and UMass Dartmouth.”)
- Encourage your student to take ownership of their college experience by making informed decisions and actively participating in their own growth and success.