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Students

Tips for Students:

Getting Organized

  • Give yourself a consistent schedule and stick to it!
  • Keep a calendar, planner, or something else to help you stay on top of due dates.
  • Use reminders: alerts, notifications, etc. Whatever works best for you!
  • Use clear organizers for your things and utilize labels! You can use word labels or picture labels.

Reducing Stress

  1. Set a consistent sleep schedule
  2. Eat regularly and try to eat balanced meals
  3. Move regularly! Walking, stretching, working out, etc.
  4. Make time for hobbies and interests
  5. Don't overcommit yourself; to school, to friends, etc. Leave yourself downtime!
  6. Don't rely on alcohol or recreational drugs to unwind
  7. Get emotional support, talk to someone! A friend, a counselor, someone you trust.

How To:  Stop procrastinating

  1. Create a to-do list
  2. Figure out your personal attention and concentration limits and work within them, not against them!
  3. Use a focus app to help minimize phone distractions
  4. Chunk your tasks so they're more manageable and less intimidating
  5. Figure out what contributes to you procrastinating. Overwhelmed? Stressed? Anxious?
  6. Make sure to give yourself time for breaks. It can help assignments feel less endless!

Aren't breaks a waste of time?

  • No! Breaks help you refresh your brain!
  • Bored? Breaks can help with making boring tasks easier to get through.
  • Difficult material? Taking a break can help you from burning out.
  • Do you procrastinate? Use breaks to reward yourself for studying. Breaks let you make time for things you'd rather do.

Grounding techniques

5-4-3-2-1

  • 5 things you can hear
  • 4 things you can see
  • 3 things you can touch
  • 2 things you can smell
  • 1 thing you can taste

Move!

  • Jumping jacks
  • Stretching
  • Running in place
  • Pacing

Breathing

  • In for 5
  • Hold for 2
  • Out for 5

Water

  • Put your hands in cold water
  • Splash water on your face
  • Take sips of water

Describe

  • Something around you
  • Something you know how to do
  • Something you learned recently

Anchoring statements

"My name is NAME, I live in CITY, today is DATE, it is TIME"

How to be successful

Note taking

  • Taking Notes: Crash Course Study Skills: The first step in honing your new study skills is to take better notes. This week Thomas will tell you everything you need to know to come to class prepared and find a note-taking system that will help you retain and review like a champ.
  • How to Take Notes in Class: The 5 Best Methods: What's the best way to take lecture notes? In this video, I'll go over five of the best note-taking systems out there.

Concentration and focus

Test anxiety and tips to help your performance on exams

 

Text to Speech

There are many free options to have your digital course materials read aloud

Microsoft Word 365 "Read Aloud": Read Microsoft documents aloud.

Voice Dictation

Voice dictation can be a helpful tool when trying to work on ideas for a paper. It can be enabled in Word, Google Docs, and other programs for free.

LivePen Smart Pen

It is the philosophy of the Office of Student Accessibility Services (OSAS) that our students act as independently as possible and develop knowledge and skills that will assist them after graduation. We will have a limited number of LIvePens for loan to our students.

What is a LivePen? Please view this video for your answer!

What It Does:

Live-Streaming Notes

Messy Writer? It’ll still turn your handwriting into clean, editable text.

Record While You Write. Later, tap any word you wrote to replay what was being said at that exact moment.

Easy Search & Organization

Automatic Backups

Access from Anywhere

Share & Export - Share your notes, text, images, and audio with classmates, or send to apps like Google Docs or OneNote.

Long batter life.

Holds 20+ page of notes.

 

 

What can I expect at my intake appointment?

When you make an intake appointment for accommodations with our office, there are a few things you can expect to happen.

  • The director will review your documentation. Documentation guidelines can be found here.
  • Together, you'll discuss what accommodations will be most helpful and appropriate for you and your courses this semester. 
  • You'll be asked to read and sign our Student Responsibility Agreement. This agreement outlines the policies of our office. If you're going to be using our testing room, we have a longer agreement that includes our testing policies.
  • You have the opportunity to ask questions at this point. Don't hesitate to ask about anything you're unsure about or need more clarification on. This is the perfect time!
  • If time management is something you struggle with especially, you can ask to meet with the graduate assistant who helps students with these concerns. 
  • If you already have your syllabi and know what courses you have exams in and when, this is a great time to sign up for your exams over the semester.