Learning Disability Resourses for College Students :: Disabilities Education School Essays

Learning Disability Resourses for College Students Trying to decide which college or university best suits them is challenging enough for the average student when applying to colleges. It is even more difficult for students with learning disabilities such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) due to their specialized concerns. Students with learning disabilities have to search for a school that has the usual opportunities and amenities that fit their personality while also providing the services required by their learning disability and style. The student also needs to find a school where the people providing these services will be dedicated to helping them and fighting for the student’s rights under the American Disabilities Act. Departments such as the Disabilities Recourse Center (DRC) at Northeastern University are set up to provide these types of services to the school’s student population with disabilities. The DRC provides services to students with physical disabilities like hearing and sight impairment as well as neurological learning disabilities. The DRC is a cooperative entity that helps both the students and their professors in ensuring that the student receives the accommodations they require. It takes dedicated professionals to provide these services. One of the most dedicated staffers of the DRC is Dean Ruth Bork, the director of the DRC. â€Å"I have been working with disabled students since 1974. Since much of my time is involved in resolving challenges that are difficult and plentiful, I usually don’t have much time to think about the satisfaction and rewards of the job,† said Dean Bork. As a Northeastern student with a documented case of ADHD who had not worked closely with the DRC, which has been providing services since 1978, I was interested in investigating what services the center provided and how they worked while also taking a look at some of the services provided by our cross-town rivals Boston University for students with learning disabilities such as mine. The American heritage Dictionary defines Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as, â€Å"an attention deficit disorder in which hyperactivity is present.† Attention Deficit Disorder is defined as, â€Å"A syndrome, usually diagnosed in childhood, characterized by a persistent pattern of impulsiveness, a short attention span, and often hyperactivity, and interfering especially with academic, occupational, and social performance.† ADHD is most often diagnosed during childhood and was formerly believed to have lessened and ended as the child matured but recent studies have found that between 35 and 50 % of all cases persist into adulthood.