Students with Learning Disabilities in College

Abstract

The successful inclusion of students with learning disabilities in postsecondary educational institutions is far from assured today. This has been largely because the service delivery systems in many colleges have not worked well enough to attract and keep students with learning disabilities and then send them into the workplace with jobs commensurate with their abilities. If this system is to improve, colleges need to expand their responsibility toward students with learning disabilities as they enter and exit college, as well as while they are in college. This paper describes the Three-Stage Transition Model (TSTM) of service delivery. The three transitions described in this model that constitute a student's postsecondary career are as follows: (a) entering college; (b) managing the academic and social changes during college; and (c) exiting college to enter employment. These transitions are discussed in terms of the specific activities that colleges could implement if students with learning disabilities are to achieve success in a postsecondary environment and employment. Colleges that actively implement the components of the TSTM should realize many benefits: first, an increase in the number of students with learning disabilities who select college as an option; second, an increase in the number of students with learning disabilities who successfully complete college; and third, an increase in the number of students with learning disabilities employed after graduation.