[IEP_guide] Colleges meet special needs

[Guest guest]

Colleges meet special needs Conference urges

more possibilities November 6, 2007

BY LORI HIGGINS

FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

Kollman is proof that having an intellectual disability doesn't mean

you have to write off a college experience. She's taking classes five days a

week at Oakland University, volunteers regularly and enjoys meeting new people.

" I've changed my future, " said Kollman, 24, of West Bloomfield.

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Her experience is the kind that organizers of a statewide conference held

Monday in Dearborn want to see more of for students with significant learning,

cognitive and other disabilities. Oakland University in Auburn Hills is one of

several higher education institutions in Michigan that have created programs

that allow such students to take college courses, though in some cases they

don't receive credit for the classes. Similar programs exist at Calvin College,

Hope College and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

The students take classes on campus, with extra support and often with peer

mentors. There are more than 120 postsecondary education programs for students

with intellectual disabilities across 28 states, according to www.thinkcollege.net.

" There's a great demand for this kind of idea, " said Barbara LeRoy, director

of the Developmental Disabilities Institute at Wayne State University.

Too often, the conference's speakers said, the message is that college is out

of reach. The push for programs is not about creating something special or

heartwarming, said Stephan Hamlin-, executive director of the Association

on Higher Education and Disability, an advocacy group based in North Carolina.

" This is looking at equality of opportunity for everybody, " he said.

" What we're talking about is a shift in how we think about postsecondary

education and how open our minds are. "

Minds are clearly opening nationwide. Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of

education, announced last month that the federal education department would

spend $1.5 million to create a center that would help colleges and universities

develop and expand programs for students with intellectual disabilities.

She said K-12 schools have made strong progress in meeting the needs of these

students and that " the next frontier is college. "

Mike Flanagan, Michigan's superintendent of schools, told the audience the

problem is that many don't buy into the notion that all children can learn. And

although many of the speakers cautioned that not all students would benefit

from programs like the one at OU, they said it's important to change the

perception that no child with an intellectual disability would thrive. If we

can change those beliefs, Flanagan said, " we're going to have a heck of a

state. We're going to have a heck of a country. "

About 275 people -- parents, students, secondary and postsecondary educators --

attended the conference Monday. Janice Fialka, the conference coordinator, said

last week that nearly 100 had to be turned away.

They heard from Meg Grigal, principal investigator and project director of the

Postsecondary Education Research Center in land. She's evaluating programs

in land and Connecticut, and advised anyone interested in creating a

program to make research a key part of the process.

They also heard from other students who've taken advantage of the programs. Tim

Luciani of Lincoln Park is enrolled in a program that is a partnership between

U-M-Dearborn and Wyandotte Public Schools. He was shy about taking classes on a

college campus.

" It took me a while to get used to it, " he said.

He described his college classes, his volunteer work of teaching young children

to read, and his job at the campus bookstore. He said students like him

shouldn't be afraid to give college a try.

" If you're afraid you won't want to come here, " Luciani said.

Perras, 21, of Grand Rapids, who takes classes at Calvin College,

described leaving high school and being ready for a college experience.

" I am doing things that everyone else my age does, " she said.

Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or lhiggins@....

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