focus Students with Disabilities: Unique Challenges and Opportunities for Science and Math Programs students with special needs

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1 Students with Disabilities: Unique Challenges and Opportunities for Science and Math Programs pthe Laws: IDEA and ADA Jill M. Manske Associate Professor of Biology University of St. Thomas Picture a small group of non-traditional college or university undergraduates. Many of us will think of students who are older than 22. We may visualize individuals from different racial or cultural backgrounds than most of our students. However, we may not include disabilities in our picture of the non-traditional student. Typically, this is because of limited experiences with students who have special needs. However, within the past 25 years, three major laws have greatly increased access to higher education for students with disabilities. How can we help these students be successful in our programs? This article will offer some insights. The first of the laws we need to understand is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This Act, originally passed in 1975 and reauthorized in 1997, guarantees the right to a free, appropriate K-12 education for all students with disabilities, ages IDEA is considered to be both an educational and a civil rights law, as its goal is to guarantee an opportunity to learn for all students regardless of disability. Before IDEA was implemented, over one million students were simply shut out of schools, and many thousands were denied the services they needed (1). IDEA does not apply directly to higher education, since it governs the provision of special education services in elementary and secondary schools. However, it lays a foundation for laws and policies affecting post-secondary education. Student Caileen Kromhout does research at the University of St. Thomas The second major piece of legislation is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was passed in 1990 and became effective in January of The ADA was landmark federal legislation that opened up services and employment opportunities to the estimated 43 million Americans with disabilities. It is not an affirmative action law; rather it is intended to eliminate illegal discrimination and thereby level the playing field for disabled individuals. A third important federal law that impacts higher education is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which went into effect in It prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in all institutions that receive federal funds; this includes nearly all colleges and universities. Section 504 and the ADA protect the civil rights of people with disabilities and require post-secondary institutions to provide accommodative services to students with disabilities. Due in part to the implementation of IDEA and ADA, the U.S. Department of Education reports that, over the past few years, the number of students ages 6 to 21 with documented disabilities has increased at a higher rate than the general school enrollment (1). Importantly for higher education, over the past 10 years, the number of students ages with disabilities increased 14.7 percent (1). In , nearly 100,000 students with disabilities received a high school diploma. By that number had increased more than 26%, to over 126,000 (1). September 2001 Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 27

2 Where do these students go after graduation from high school? About one in 11 first-time, full-time college students self-report a disability (2). A Fall 1998 study conducted by the American Council on Education indicated that there were 154,520 freshmen with disabilities. Everincreasing numbers of people with learning disabilities are enrolling in two-year and four-year colleges and universities. In fact, since 1985, among first-time, full-time freshmen who reported having any disability, the percentage of those with learning disabilities more than doubled, from 15 percent to 32 percent (2). In general, freshmen with disabilities are most likely to enroll in two-year colleges (2, 3). A 1998 survey found that 45.7% of students with disabilities were attending two-year colleges, while 17.2% were enrolled in universities, and 34.2% were in four-year colleges. Of these students, 2.9% were enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2). How do these students impact science and mathematics departments? At first blush, one might think that students with disabilities would not typically major in math and science fields. However, the percentage of students with disabilities who major in these fields is similar to that of their peers without special needs. Forty percent of firstyear students surveyed in a 1998 study reported that they planned to major in biology, the physical sciences, various pre-professional programs, or the social sciences (Figure 1). In comparison, 36% of the students reporting a disability were planning to major in one of these fields (2). Barriers to Students with Disabilities: Faculty Misconceptions As increasing numbers of students with disabilities move into our programs, many faculty are becoming more comfortable with students who have obvious disabilities, such as physical, hearing, or visual impairment. These disabilities are apparent when one first meets the student, and frequently the necessary accommodations are apparent as well. Providing lab benches that accommodate wheel chairs, taping lectures, or providing sign language interpreters are obvious accommodations. Pursuant to the guidelines set out in the ADA and Section 504, most colleges have already begun to address issues of accessibility for these students. A more difficult group for many faculty members is students who have invisible disabilities. These are students who have developmental or learning disabilities, but who outwardly look normal. There may be no way to know that a student has special needs unless the student reports a disability. Faculty members are frequently uncomfortable with these students, and may be unsure how to effectively address their needs. Unfortunately, discrimination and insensitivity to these students still exists. Therefore, faculty members need to be aware of their own biases and misconceptions and comfort level regarding these students. For example, it is unfair for professors to assume that the growing numbers of students with disabilities adversely affect their classroom success. An additional faculty misconception that can become a barrier to is the belief that if we make accommodations for students with disabilities we somehow, in effect, lower the standards for a course or research project. Students with disabilities CAN learn. They may very well need accommodations to help them learn the material, but this does not change their ability to learn. They do not dumb down the course. In fact, their observations and insights often add great value to the entire class or research project. Another frequent faculty misperception is that students requesting accommodations are simply doing so to get by in a course. A common attitude is that it wouldn t be fair to the rest of the class if a student were provided special accommodations. In response to this concern, most students who come to professors requesting accommodations already have a documented disability, assessed by specialists in the field. Campuses typically have a policy about the need for documentation of a disability before accommodations are required of faculty. There is a myth that it is easy to get a learning disability diagnosis, and that this is an easy out for students who are just trying to get a break. On the contrary, the assessment, usually performed by a team of professionals who have a wealth of experience with various developmental and learning disabilities, is not an easy or inexpensive process. It would be a very rare student indeed who would go through it in the hopes of having an easier time in college. Therefore, when a student comes to a professor with a request for accommodations, it is an important request that merits serious attention. No doubt a professor would never ask a student who wears glasses an accommodation, after all to leave the glasses at home to take an exam. Refusing accommodations for a 28 Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly September 2001

3 Caileen Kromhout experienced a closed-head injury the summer following her freshman year of college. After a year of therapy, she returned to college where she had access to many of the adaptations described in this article. She developed an interest in neuroscience, based in part on her own experiences. She has performed investigative research in the Neuroscience course at St. Thomas, completed an independent study on the neurobiology of her injury and therapy, and completed a summer internship studying neuroimaging in a laboratory at the Veteran s Administration Hospital. This work was presented at the University of Minnesota Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program s Poster Symposium. student with a disability is the same as denying glasses to that far-sighted student in class. Frankly, in my short history working with students with disabilities, I have found that many of them work very hard and frequently don t even ask for the accommodations to which they are entitled; they just want me to be aware of their issues. A second concern is fairness. Most of us believe that college is about learning. We strive to help all of our students learn the material, regardless of their learning styles. To accomplish this, we need to be flexible and provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge of course material. This benefits all students and invites students to realize that they all can and do learn in different ways. Simple strategies can help to remove the culture of competitiveness in the class, such as grading on percentage scores rather than on a curve. We also need to give students credit for their maturity and compassion with regard to their peers who have learning disabilities. K-12 education has changed dramatically since the ADA was implemented. Most of today s faculty, myself included, seldom saw a person with any kind of disability in our K-12 classrooms. Today, students who attend public schools have multiple and varied contacts with people who have all types of disabilities. They learn side-by-side with students who need accommodations. Usually, students who have been exposed to classmates who have learning disabilities become quite comfortable with peers having disabilities. On many occasions I have had the privilege of watching my students working together and helping one another. Particularly with respect to differences in abilities, students are frequently much better at helping one another than we are as professors. Another concern is that students don t tell the professor that they have a learning disability until late in the semester when it is difficult to save a student from failing. This is a difficult problem. While we may not be able to solve it completely, some basic steps can be taken to encourage students to talk with professors about their learning problems at the outset. First and foremost, students must perceive that their professors are approachable (and, obviously, the professor must truly be approachable ). Students with learning disabilities may be embarrassed or ashamed of their disability. If the instructor is unapproachable or makes off-hand comments about students being lazy or unprepared, then very few students, disabled or not, will approach that professor for help. Instructors can easily include a statement on the course syllabus inviting students who have issues of any type that may affect their performance to discuss their situation early in the course. I have found that this statement must be reinforced by a verbal invitation as part of the introduction to the course. When I merely wrote it on the syllabus, very few students would approach me to discuss their disability. However, since I began to talk about my philosophy regarding, I consistently have had students come forward to talk with me about their learning difficulties. We then work together to accommodate their various needs. Once we get past our misconceptions, how might we teach these students? As in all teaching and research, meaningful facultystudent interaction is very important for student success. In interviews with college students with disabilities, the September 2001 Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 29

4 How can faculty find appropriate accommodations for students? Faculty members can take advantage of supportive services that already exist on their campuses or in their communities. The resources available often include human resources such as interpreters, special test proctors, or other aides. A Faculty Development Center or Student Advising Office may provide names of faculty colleagues who can share ideas based on their own success in teaching students who have disabilities (4). Figure 1. Major field of study reported by first-year students reporting a disability compared to peers not reporting a disability. Data from the HEATH Resource Center, American Council of Education (2). * Includes architecture or urban planning, home economics, health technology, library or archival science, nursing, pharmacy, predental, pre-medical, pre-veterinary, therapy (occupational, physical, speech), and other professional programs. students identified faculty attitudes and actions as being an important factor in either discouraging or encouraging full participation in science and engineering programs (4). Researchers have suggested that particular faculty behaviors that facilitate success for students with disabilities include: 1) Ensuring that information is not only transmitted to students, but also received by them. It is essential that faculty members check to be sure that essential information or laboratory direction has been understood (4); 2) Teaching with sensitivity, in order that each student s individual differences are acknowledged (4); 3) Serving as mentors who lead by example. Although most science faculty members are not disabled, they can and should learn about scientists with disabilities and perhaps encourage a student who has a comparable disability to contact the scientist as a possible mentor (5); and 4) Caring about social responsibility and the opportunities that exist for people who have special needs. Obviously, this type of approach to teaching will benefit all students, and not just those with disabilities. Material resources are also an important component of working with students who have disabilities. A student may need specialized texts or materials that have been prepared for a particular disability. For example, large print, recorded, and Braille texts have been prepared for a variety of science classes. Information about these resources can be obtained from Recording for the Blind in Princeton NJ, or the American Foundation for the Blind (4). Other special materials may be required, such as videos captioned for hearing-impaired students, or lab equipment that is designed for easy use by a person with a physical disability. Information about such materials can often be found through special education professionals at the local public school district. Another source of information is provided in instructional guides such as Science Success for Students with Disabilities, which was prepared by the American Institutes for Research and is available from Addison-Wesley (6). Student with disabilities in the research lab In many undergraduate programs, research is integrated into the curriculum. At the University of St. Thomas, all biology students perform research, either as part of their coursework or in individual research projects with faculty mentors (7). How can research programs be made more accessible to students with disabilities? First, and not to be overlooked, all labs must be physically accessible to all students. Students with physical limitations must not be relegated to temporary lab benches by themselves. Research is indeed a collaborative endeavor and we must work hard not to isolate students who have special needs. Next, lab protocols and instrument instructions should be written in more than one format. Many of us write our laboratory procedures in text only. For many students who have disabilities, the protocols may be more easily understood if they are also presented visually in a flow chart or illustration. As with many adaptations, it is likely that other students in class will also benefit from more than one method of presenting lab procedures. 30 Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly September 2001

5 Similarly, it is always important to allow more than one way for the student to demonstrate mastery of a concept or technique. Some students may not be able to keep a legible lab notebook, but are more than capable of verbally describing their work or writing out their lab notes on a computer outside of lab. When choosing research topics, students who have disabilities may be particularly interested in learning about their own disability. Research advisors can steer students to projects that allow them to explore these issues. This is particularly relevant for research in psychology or neuroscience. For example, one of my students is currently working on an independent research project ing on the neurobiology surrounding her own closed-head injury and subsequent learning difficulties. These research projects can be rich learning experiences for faculty and students alike. It is also vital that internships and field activities be available to students with disabilities. For example, the instructor or research advisor for a field course should ensure that the department has access to a van that will accommodate a student with a disability. In a program that is truly friendly to special needs students, such accommodations should be the responsibility of the instructor, not the student. A Closing Thought Students with disabilities have a great deal to offer our campuses as we begin to see them as a part of our normal student profile. As we expand our teaching and research programs to include students with disabilities, we will inevitably reach many students who do not have disabilities, but who will nonetheless benefit from different, creative approaches to teaching and learning. To borrow from Sheila Tobias (8), they re not dumb, they re different. Jill Manske is an associate professor of biology and Director of the Women s Studies program at the University of St. Thomas. Her research is in the role of neuropeptides in anti-tumor immune responses. She is the mother of three children, including a twelve-year old son who has autism. She is a volunteer for the Twin Cities Autisim Society and is chair of the Special Education Council for the St. Paul Public School District. References 1. Information from HEATH. June HEATH Resource Center, American Council on Education. For more information on working with students with disabilities contact: Your campus student advising office AAAS Collaboration for Equity: //ehrweb.aaas.org/ehr/3_2_3.html Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD): HEATH Resource Center, American Council on Education: Science Success for All Students by R.A. Weisberger. Addison-Wesley Henderson, C College Freshmen with Disabilities Statistical Year American Council on Education Washington, DC. 3. Information from HEATH. December HEATH Resource Center, American Council on Education Weisgerber, R.A. Science and Engineering Students with Disabilities A Rewarding Challenge to the Profession Journal of College Science Teaching. November Stern, V.W., D.E. Lifton, and S.M. Malcolm. Resource Directory of Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities Washington, D.C. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 6. Weisgerber, R.A Science Success for Students with Disabilities. Menlo Park, CA. Addison-Wesley. 7. Manske, J.M. and S. B. Chaplin Integration of Undergraduate Research into the Teaching Curriculum at the University of St. Thomas. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly. September Tobias, S They re not Dumb, They re Different: Stalking the Second Tier. Tucson, AZ. Research Corp. September 2001 Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 31