Law School Academic Support Blog

Accommodations for ADD/ADHD and LD Students

Most of us work with multiple students who have been diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, or learning disabilities of some type.  In fact, with each new 1L class, our Student Disability Services usually sends letters of accommodations for at least 5 or 10 students. 

Those numbers reflect the students that we know about first semester.  The numbers increase the second semester as grades come out, and additional students come forward.  A few more students come forward at the end of the first year when further probations and academic dismissals are announced.  I suspect even then that we have seen the tip of the iceberg, and some other students may hover just above our academic minimums without being identified.

I am always glad to see accommodations letters from Student Disability Services before fall semester begins or during that semester in time for at least exam accommodations if not classroom accommodations.  It means that those students have a level playing field in place.  The Associate Dean for Students and Diversity meets with them, and many students will follow up for discussions with me. 

It is the students who go through the procedures to gain a level playing field after bad grades that concern me greatly.  The damage to their self-esteem, the stress of probation, and the academic hole from which they have to dig out exacerbate their situations.  With new accommodations and hard work, we see them succeed at new levels.  But some are unable to turn it around because of the extremely low grades before they received accommodations. 

Occasionally a new diagnosis is made for students who surface after bad grades.  The problem never showed up in prior education because the student could compensate and do very well.  Let's face it, the national statistics tell us that high schools, colleges, and universities often have grade inflation and require little work for bright students to excel.  When undiagnosed students start law school they suddenly come up against an overwhelming amount of reading, the need to stay focused for longer periods of time, course grades based on one exam, exams with strict time mangement requirements, and competition from the best and the brightest.  It is no wonder that they get surprised by bad grades.

However, I have found more and more that the students were previously diagnosed with one of these disabilities and had prior accommodations, but decided not to ask for assistance as law students.  Some students (with their doctors agreement) decided to discontinue medication before law school to be "like everyone else."  Other students decided to forego accommodations because they did not want anyone to know.  Some students decided that dropping prior accommodations would create a level playing field because it would be unfair to other students if they had accommodations.

I can understand these students wanting to be like everyone else and not wanting anyone to know.  However, the potential damage to their academics makes these desires high-risk for some of them.  Because they do not realize the many ways in which law school will be a different academic experience, they make their decisions on insufficient information.  There is a summer communication to all students about accommodation requests.  In orientation, an announcement is made to all students to encourage disabled students to apply through Student Disability Services for accommodations if they have not already done so. 

Some undiagnosed students or students who had initially decided against accommodations will be identified during the first semester.  Our Legal Practice professors often recognize problems because of the intensive writing assignments and the small class sizes.   Others are identified by doctrinal faculty or administrators.  Timing is important if accommodation requests are to be processed before the semester ends (especially for undiagnosed students who must also undergo testing) .

A new twist has developed regarding identified students who have acommodations for laptops in the classroom.  Several students have told me that even though a laptop helps their learning they will not use this accommodation if a professor has banned laptops.  Other students will realize that they must be disabled if they are allowed to have a laptop when everyone else cannot.  It is very sad that students who need this legitimate accommodation have to make this decision.  The banning of laptops is vogue right now, but the consequences for students with disabilities (and different learning styles for that matter) are not always recognized.                

As an academic support professional, I can refer students for accommodations, work with students on strategies to improve their learning, and advocate for them.  Hopefully, more students will self-identify or be discovered before the semester results in bad grades.  (Amy Jarmon)   

More from the Learning Differences Conference

The Learning Differences Conference at Harvard was great. Although it was designed for Pre-K-12, there were a number of excited ideas and trends in teaching all students presented at the conference.

1) Most studies on ADHD have not been on all children; they have been on boys. We know very little about the science of ADHD on girls, and what we do know is the brain develops in different ways and in different developmental stages in girls.   This will have ramifications on the accommodations and modifications for girls (and women) with ADHD.  As women cross the 50% mark at most law schools, we need to learn more about ADHD in female law students. 

2) The mind and body are connected.  Some people need to move in order to activate the brain to think. This is not isolated to children.  We need to think of ways to teach that includes movement--even if it is just switching seats--to truly use the learning moment in class.

3) We need research on the needs of professional and graduate students with learning differences.  I avoid saying "more" research because there is virtually nothing out there on students over 25 with learning differences. If we want to provide the best legal education, we need to know how to teach all students, not just the best and the brightest, who may  be the most easily adaptable, but not really the brightest.

My next update will be from the SALT Conference in Berkeley. This has been my crazy conference week (3 conferences in 10 days in 3 cities, on 2 coasts) and I will be back posting 2-3 times a week when I am home in Vermont. 

(Rebecca Flanagan)

Using the Star Strategy to Case Brief

I am reporting from the Learning Differences Conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Lynn Melzer, PhD, of the The Research Institute for Learning and Development, developed a strategy for students with strong visual preferences to map information. Called the “Star Strategy”, this strategy would be wonderful for our visual learners to use as a case briefing method.

 In contrast to the traditional case briefing system that is very linear for a visual leaner, the Star Method conceptualizes law as a dynamic system. Each case is an interaction between facts, parties, procedure, and systemic restraints. Shift one part of the star, and other sides shift as well.

(I can't add the visual of the Star Strategy, but it is a Star of David or interlocking triangle design, where each open point is space to write. The center of star is the rule, and each point would be labeled

1) Procedural History--Time
2) Procedural History--Place/Jurisdiction
3) Facts
4) Parties
5) Rationale
6) Thoughts)

* For those interested in the visual for the Star Strategy, please email me and I will send a template--rflanagan@vermontlaw.edu)

For more information on the Star System in general, see Strategies for Success: Classroom Teaching Techniques for Students with Learning Differences, 2^nd ed., Melzer, Roditti, Steinberg, Biddle, Taber, Caron, Pro-Ed Publishers

(Rebecca Flanagan)

Nature vs. Nurture

My younger daughter has epilepsy and takes anticonvulsants every day. This is a medical condition and I know that she has no conscious decision-making capabilities when it comes to having a seizure or not. I know what she would choose if she could. So despite any misgivings about putting potent chemicals into her body every day for the last three years, we do it. We also educate her teachers and friends about this and make sure to avoid the pitfalls like overtiredness and the flu as best we can. Why do we do this? Because she is seven and we are her parents. But, as maternal as my ASP style has been noted to be, I am not the parent of anyone in this building; and the most I can hope for (and would be appropriate) is a nurturing role.

I went to a lecture yesterday about ADHD and ADD in high IQ students and how that all relates to Executive Function. The gist of the lecture was that ADD and ADHD are chemical problems that have a chemical solution. And while I understand that this is a medical condition that cannot be consciously willed away, I was frustrated by the lecture because I was hoping to gather more insight on how to work with these students in an ASP setting. Without a prescription pad, I am, evidently, at a loss. The only advice that was applicable to my position was that we need to help provide some outside structure to keep these students on track: advice on time management but really more on how to stick to your medicine schedule while away from your real parents.

The lecture was attended by Academic Support type folks from graduate and undergraduate institutions, disabilities coordinators from a bunch of school (Deans of Students and the like) as well as at least one person from a university health services office. But, again, without being a licensed psychologist or having medical authority, I didn’t see the role ASP would play in this area. And yet, we probably see students with these issues (as well as, as our lecturer put it, other comorbidities like depression and anxiety) more than anyone. It was both helpful and then again completely unhelpful to learn that these students are not lazy (I knew that), or lacking willpower (I am pretty sure I knew that too). Why? Well, the skills I can teach a student only work if the student learns and applies them, which may not happen despite however motivated the student may be.

I cannot help a student’s brain chemistry right itself-nor can I force a student to get out of bed and take medication each day. I can cajole students and nag and sometimes even place a well timed phone call to make sure they get to class, but not much more. I have told students that the coping behaviors they engage in to accommodate themselves is far more draining than asking for help at the law school. I tell them that this energy could be better spent reading, outlining or even sleeping. But I cannot, and would not, even if I could, force students to stick to a medicine regime. Not because I don’t believe it would help, I really do think that the medication is a wonderful thing, but more because my students are adults and I need to treat them that way.

Now, let’s see if I can remember that when my children go off to college. (ezs)

 

ADD, ADHD, and the Law School Experience

A reader suggested to me today that this blog devote some discussion to the difficulties faced by law students with ADHD.  I think the suggestion is a good one.  Let me begin, at least, with a recommended article.  Professor Robin A. Boyle recently published "Law Students with Attention Deficit Disorder:  How to Reach Them, How to Teach Them," 39 J. Marshall L. R. 349 (2006).

Among other things, the article gives a helpful overview of empirical research concerning ADD and ADHD, as well as the implications of that research for law school pedagogy.  Included in those implications are twenty-five insightful, practical suggestions for more effectively addressing the needs of law students with ADD and ADHD. (dbw)

Lawyers with Disabilites

The most recent (March 2006) issue of the ABA publication Student Lawyer includes (see page 34) a conference notice of interest.  Quoting from the magazine ...

"The ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law ... in conjunction with ABA president Michael Greco and the EEOC, is sponsoring a National Conference on Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities.  Participants will discuss ways to further the employment opportunities for and promote the hiring of recent law graduates and young lawyers with disabilities."

The conference is on May 22 and May 23.  "The conference," the notice continues, "encourages law students to attend the conference.  To support student participation, the commission will offer a reduced registration fee as well as scholarships to students demonstrating need."

Encouraging news: "With proper accommodations and open lines of communication, lawyers with disabilities have proven themselves to be as successful as their peers without disabilities."

In the academic support field, most of us work with students manifesting a variety of disabilities (visible and invisible); and many of us contend with comments by students, faculty and lawyers along these lines, "Why is she even going to law school?  Who is going to hire a lawyer with (fill in the blank)?"  Oh, that gets to me.  Between your school's Career Services office and its Academic Support office ... somewhere ... we need to be able to provide accurate, up-to-date answers to these inquiries ... not only for those who ask the questions above, but, more importantly, for those who ask this question: "Will I ever get a job if they find out about my _________?"

For detailed conference information, visit the commission's web page. (djt)

Disabilities as Assets?

I highly recommend Professor Jennifer Jolly-Ryan's recent article, "Disabilities to Exceptional Abilities:  Law Students with Disabilities, Nontraditional Learners, and the Law Teacher as a Learner," 6 Nev. L.J. 116 (2005).  A professor at Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Jolly-Ryan has put together an insightful, practical, and inspiring article that may change the way you think about students with disabilities.

Beginning with a brief overview of disabilities law and its relationship to law schools, she demonstrates the increasing presence in law schools of persons with a variety of disabilities and the implications for law teachers.  She then explores the dynamics of disabilities in the law school setting and the obstacles disabled students face in school and later in the profession. 

But then she turns the discussion on its head.  She postulates that disabilities, when properly understood, can actually be assets, both in law school and in the profession.  She challenges professors to stop focusing merely on the disabled student's difficulties and start focusing on the strengths such students bring to the field of law.  She includes an inspiring section on people with disabilities who have excelled in the law and explains that, in reality, disabilities foster skills and attitudes that are essential to success in our profession.

In addition, she points out, the increasing presence of students with disabilities in our law schools will change legal education for the better if we simply pay attention to what we can learn as a result of their being in our classrooms.  Offering a host of practical strategies for accommodating the needs of disabled students as well as study strategies students can implement for themselves,  she convincingly argues that incorporating those strategies will result in improving the learning of all law students.

Take a few minutes to read her article, and consider passing it along to your colleagues on the faculty and to your students who may be struggling with obstacles to effective learning.  I think both you and they will see the world a little differently. (dbw)

This is no time to be a Cowboy

I spent two days over the break reading exams (construction law, no less!) to a blind colleague.  He did not hesitate to ask me for help when he needed it.  The stories he told me about going to law school and taking the bar while losing his sight were inspiring.  He is a neat guy.  When he took the bar he needed a reader and had to fashion his own accommodations at times to get through it. He passed the first time.  Granted, he is a very intelligent person, but perhaps his greatest gift was to know when to ask for help.   This is a gift I wish to bestow on my students.

Now that the grades are in, I will soon be seeing a new crop of students who performed poorly on their midterms/final.  I have a mini-diagnostic sheet I ask them to fill out when they come to see me asking about study habits (did you outline?) and life changes (did you end any relationships just before exams?).  At our preliminary meeting, I always ask the students if they have ever had ADA accommodations at school before.  A surprising number of them will say yes, but that they did not seek such accommodations in law school.  Why?  They are afraid of being stigmatized or labeled.  They fear that their professors will know that they had extra time and will grade them accordingly.

I always assure them that such accommodations are between them and the Dean of Students.  Their professors will never know.  Their colleagues will never know either (the hand-writers will assume they are typing and the typers vice versa).  Also, the exam answer given to the professor will have only their exam number on it, no indication of any accommodations and will be included in the pile with all the other exams.  Still, I find resistance.

So, then I beg students to get the accommodations they need.  I tell them they should set a "precedent" for bar accommodations now (although there is no guarantee of accommodations on the bar, it helps to have had them in law school).  I try to persuade them that this is no time to be a cowboy about exams.  I even stock the forms necessary and pass them out to students who might need them.  I have a list of people at student health services and the learning center they can see if their documentation needs updating.  Still, some students will not do it.

Eventually, when the students are seeing me because they are on academic warning, I might be able to persuade them to file the forms and get their paperwork to the Dean. It is one of the most frustrating circumstances I encounter in Academic Support when the" academic warning" designation, which will be noted on their transcript, could have been avoided.  In the end, the negative label the student feared happened by not taking steps to seek accommodations which would have been confidential.

So, as I am gearing up for my "no cowboy" speeches this semester, I will have more stories in my arsenal about my colleague (and more dog hair on my coat), but hopefully I will also have a little more success in getting students to get help when they need it. (ezs)

Ellen on Proofreading

Ellen Swain, Academic Success Program Director at Vermont Law School, recently responded to a list-serve inquiry.  I am reprinting much of her superb response here in case some of you missed it.

Whether you have to make decisions on granting accommodations or whether you support students with disabilities, the question is whether proofreading a student's work fundamentally alters the academic requirements of law school, and in the workforce, whether a qualified lawyer must be capable of writing grammatically perfect prose without assistance.

I'll throw out some thoughts.  I worked as a professional writer before attending law school. 

No publication ever published my work without scouring it for grammatical mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and, in some instances, fact-checking.  Following the initial checks, another editor did a final proof before publication. Was this done as an accommodation?  No, it's just the common sense view that no writer can catch his or her own mistakes.  Simply put, it takes a newsroom to write a grammatically correct newspaper article.

When I worked as a judicial law clerk, none of us ever passed along a draft to our judges without having another set of eyes look over the text.  The judges would regularly ask me to review their writing for any possible mistakes.

As a practicing attorney in a busy PD's office, I regularly asked colleagues to read through a filing for any grammatical mistakes or to check the logic of my arguments.  My colleagues did the same.

Ultimately, helping students to come up with good strategies for proofing their own work - such as running it through a screen reader, which will read back the text in audio form, using the free software, "readplease," or through Kurzweil - is a responsible way to assist students at a level below making a finding of entitlement to an accommodation. 

You might also suggest that students print out their papers on a different color paper to do the final edits; it helps to find those mistakes.  Now editorless, I use that method myself.

Just some thoughts,
Ellen

(djt)

ASP and Disabled Students: a moral question?

Attending this past week's AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability) conference in Milwaukee, I wondered about the question of the legal obligation to provide accommodations for students with disabilities – and the limitations inherent in rules associated with the legal obligation – versus the moral obligation, if any, to provide accommodations.

After "googling" for a while, I found Professor Vernellia Randall's page entitled, "A Proactive and Holistic Approach." The page contains excerpts from Professor Kevin Smith's article, "Disability, Law  Schools, and Law Students: a Proactive and Holistic Approach," which appeared in the 1999 edition of Akron Law Review (pages 1-106).

"In most disability matters," Professor Smith writes, "the law school reacts to a student's request for accommodation rather than acting proactively. After self-identifying and documenting her disability, the student will request one or more ... accommodations .... The law school normally grants the request and that ends the matter. Few people would disagree with placing the responsibility on the student to initiate the process .... A student should not be forced to self-identify and thus disclose non-obvious impairments such as AIDS, an LD, or a mental illness. ... The law protects both the disabled student's right to equal opportunity (by permitting the student to self-identify and request accommodations) and her right to privacy and self-determination (by permitting her to not self-identify or to not have 'accommodations' forced upon her by the law school). But can and should law schools do more than they are currently doing to accommodate disabled law students? Even if not required by the Rehabilitation Act or the ADA, does the status as an educational institution place a moral obligation upon the law school to take a more proactive position with respect to disabled students?" (emphasis added by djt)

Professor Smith's article espouses the proactive position and proposes a model program for assisting disabled law students.

Leaping beyond the legal requirements, Professor Smith outlines "...a model program for working with disabled law students. The nucleus of the program is a written Individualized Accommodation Plan (IAP) for each disabled law student."

The IAPs, he asserts, should not be limited to those students who arrive in law schools with diagnosed disabilities.  Rather, Professor Smith maintains, "The law school should maintain a formal, but non-intrusive screening program for students with undiagnosed learning disabilities [because] ... the student body may contain individuals with undiagnosed learning disabilities. An active part of the law school's disability program will be to screen for these students. Identifying a learning disability in the first semester of law school may prevent the student from ending up in academic difficulty."

After diagnosis, development of an IAP, and development of a supportive network (including support for "practical matters" ... paying bills ... assisting in the maintenance of a sense of perspective), for each student, a program of support should be designed by the Academic Support professional at the school, Professor Smith suggests. "Though legal educators must be careful not to create the double stigma of disability and participation in an ASP, the school's ASP should be made available to students with relevant disabilities. The ASP's administrator, in conjunction with on-campus learning-disability specialists, should modify the ASP curriculum to fit the needs of disabled students, particularly those with LDs, ADD, and ADHD."

Does Professor Smith go too far, or not far enough? 

Your thoughts?  (djt)

In Milwaukee

This week I am in Milwaukee at the AHEAD (Association of Higher Education and Disability) annual summer conference.

Watch for posts in the coming days about issues we all face ... helping students with visible and invisible disabilities cope with the rigors of the law school curriculum.  The conference includes presentations by attorney disability specialists from the Office of Civil Rights and private firms, as well as a plethora of presentations and workshops hosted by Disability Support Specialists (example: Dr. Jane Thierfeld Brown from University of Connecticut School of Law) bringing us up to date on the latest law, technology and trends in providing academic support for this segment of our diverse students.

In the coming posts, I will acquaint you with some of the lessons I have learned, and provide direction about where to turn when you run into a difficulty in handling situations in this area.  (djt)