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Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility. CART captioning and this realtime file may not be a totally verbatim record of 
the proceedings.
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>> Thank you for joining us for today's episode of episode 71, improving lifelong success:  The Morehouse College approach for academic supports for students with disabilities. You should use this opportunity to check and adjust your volume as needed. If you have any questions, you may submit them at www.adalive.org or call the center at 404-541-9001. Thank you again for joining us.  Our broadcast will begin at 1:00 P.M. Eastern Time.

Thank you again for joining us for today's broadcast, ADA live, episode 71:  Improving lifelong success, the Morehouse College approach to academic support for students with disabilities. Use this opportunity to check and adjust your volume as needed. If you have any questions, you may send them in at www.ADAlive.org or call the center at 404-541-9001. Our broadcast will begin in a few moments. Thank you again for joining us today.

This is our final sound check. Thank you again for joining us for today's broadcast ADA live episode 71, improving lifelong success to Morehouse College approach to academic supports for students with disabilities. If you have any questions, you can submit them through ADAlive.org or call the A DA center at 404-541-9001. Thank you again for joining us.  Our broadcast will begin shortly.

>> Hi, I'm Sheryl from Morehouse College and you are listening to ADA live.

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>> Let's roll.

>> Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of the Southeast ADA center, the Burton Blatt Institute and Syracuse University, we welcome you to episode 71 of ADA live. I am Pam Williamson with the Southeast ADA center. Before we move on today, I want to re. Mind you, you may submit your questions about the ADA at any time at adalive.org. We are so happy to have you on today's show and the Southeast ADA center has been fortunate to partner with Morehouse College over the past few years and we had several students who have completed internships with us.  We do truly appreciate the collaboration and enjoy supporting these students and their desire to learn more about disability and Civil Rights.

We're going to chat for a few minutes today about the disability services and your center at Morehouse College, so for our listeners who may not be familiar with Morehouse College, can you tell us more about the school's history?

>> My pleasure. Founded in 1667, it is the only black college for men. It is a small campus of 2,100 students earning the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. At Morehouse, it was a model of leadership and citizenship. Apparently, Morehouse has more than 17,000 alumni representing more than 40 states in 14 countries. We are so proud of our graduates; our alumni include such notables, Martin Luther King Jr., the most visible in the Civil Rights movement, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, businessman and former 2002 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, twice Olympian gold medalist, the first African American man. While this list is not exhaustive, it gives a sampling of the type of students who attended.

Additionally, Morehouse is an outstanding leader from colleges from media and ranking agencies. Morehouse is the number one institution of all types for producing the most black male scholars, the number one feeder school for black males entering laws and business schools and among the bright scholars in Georgia. I would like to acknowledge that Morehouse is proud to partner with the Southeast ADA center to provide leadership opportunities for our students for which they gain valuable work experience and able to affords career paths and develop that field. There is much more I could tell you about this little college in Atlanta, but I will stop for now. Please visit our website, www.Morehouse.EDU for additional information.

>> Thank you so much for that overview of Morehouse and the distinguished alumni that you have. Now, we know in postsecondary education, the support for students with disabilities is often the key to success. Let's talk about how a student with a disability would go about getting the support they need at Morehouse.

>> Thank you, Pam, for the great question. Because college operates differently from high school this question is very important. If a student is 18 years old, he has to self identify. I say "he" because if Morehouse is an all male institution. Students who are 18 and older must initiate accommodation requests even if they come with a family member. There are laws that protect a student's privacy, they are the health insurance ability and accountability act known as HIPPAA and the family educational rights and privacy act FERPA. Because of HIPPAA and FERPA, postsecondary staff cannot advocate for the student unless the student puts in the request in writing that he or she wants accommodations prepared for them. A procedure for obtaining services, you have to register with the disability services offices and to be registered a student enrolled, a currently enrolled student must schedule an appointment, complete the intake registration form and provide appropriate documentation. All information and documentation submitted to the disabilities office is considered private and will not be released without the student's written authorization.

>> Good. So now when a student does submit and registers with the disabilities office, does he have to prove he has a disability to obtain an academic adjustment?

>> Yes, he does. As supported by law, Morehouse College and other postsecondary institutions require a student to provide documentation that shows his or her current disability and the need for an academic adjustment. The disability service office on an individual basis and uses the following guidelines determines the appropriateness of documentation. The documentation should be current. It must be submitted by a professional, including a licensed professional or psychologist. It should be signed and recommendations. For students with diagnosed learning disabilities, the documentation should include the testing procedures utilized, as well as the test results.

>> Well, let's talk a little bit more about the type of documentation that a student should provide. Can you tell us more about that?

>> Sure. Morehouse College sets reasonable standards for documentation. A student will be asked to provide documentation prepared by appropriate licensed professionals, such as a medical doctor or clinical psychologist. The required documentation may include one or more of the following, a diagnosis of the current disability, the date of the diagnosis, how the diagnosis was reached, the credentials of the professional providing the documentation, how the disability affects major life activities and how the disability affects the academic performance. The documentation should be current and must provide enough information for Morehouse College to did he recall the appropriate and reasonable academic adjustments.

>> You mentioned a couple of times the documentation should be current, so what timeframe does Morehouse consider current?

>> Documentation must allow disability services to understand how a student is currently impacted by the disability. The documentation should provide substantial, clear, and convincing evidence that supports the need for accommodations, and subsequent to the teen's 18th birthday. A statement may be made as to whether the condition is temporary or permanent and if it is stable or permanent.

>> Does a student with a disability have to inform the post secondary school about his or her disability?

>> No, if a student wants the college to provide academic adjustment, the student must identify him or herself as someone with a disability, likewise, they should let the college know about the disability. If the student needs accessible in housing, classroom, or cafeteria, etc. In any event, your disclosure of a disability is always volunteer and may be done at any time; however, adjustments are not retroactive. For example, sometimes a student elects not to disclose. The student may be embarrassed or wants to keep his disability invisible. He tries to do it alone or tries not to use crutches, as adjustments have been referred to. At the end of the class, the student may not get the desired grade and then the student wants to apply the academic adjustments after the fact that is what we mean by it is not retroactive. They must ask for accommodations and sometimes they decide not to use it, they do not register or make requests for accommodations until later and so, after the student claims the disability or wants to have adjustments applied to the previously term.

>> That is great information for the student to know and understand. Let me ask another question, if a student had either an I.E. P. or individualized educational plan or a 504 accommodation plan in elementary, middle, or high school, should they consider submitting it as documentation for the need for academic adjustments?

>> That is a good question. A school plan, such as an individualized program, IEP or the 504 plan is insufficient documentation in and of itself, but can be included as the comprehensive evaluative report. Also, since it is different in high school education, what you need to meet these requirements may be different. Likewise, in some cases, the nature of the disability may change. We may need a new evaluation to provide for documentation.

>> Thank you for the information you have provided so far. It has been an excellent source for our students with disabilities. ADA live listening audience, if you have questions about this topic or any other ADA topic, you can submit your questions by calling 404-541-9001 or submit them through our website at www.ADAlive.org.

Now, let's pause from a word from our featured organization, Morehouse College.
>> The admission of Morehouse College, and historically black college with men for men who lead lives of leadership and service. Morehouse emphasizes the intellectual and character development of its students. In addition, the college assumes special responsibility for teaching the history and culture of black people. Founded in 1876 and located in Atlanta, Georgia, Morehouse is an academic community dedicated to teaching, scholarship and service and the continuing search for truth as a liberating force. Morehouse seeks students who are willing to carry the torch of excellence and willing to pay the price of gaining strength and confidence by confronting adversity, mastering their fears and achieving success by earning it and in pursuit of its mission, Morehouse challenges itself to among one of the very finest liberal arts institutions in the world. To learn more visit their website at www.Morehousecollege.EDU.

>> Welcome back, everyone. We are speaking with Carolyn Walker the director of the resource center at Morehouse College.

>> I welcome you back as well and it has been a pleasure talking to you on this podcast. I want to thank the audience for tuning in, so glad to share this time with you.

>> Ms. Carolyn, let's talk about the academic adjustments that a postsecondary school must provide. Can you provide more information on that?

>> Surely, the academic adjustment must be determined based on the individual needs. Academic adjustments include modifications to non-fundamental academic requirements. It includes electronic books, sign language interpreters, extended time for testing, a distraction-reduced environment, an exception to due date assignments, adaptive software or hardware, accommodations, a nontraditional education source. In providing an academic adjustment, a postsecondary school is not required to lower requirements. For example, for a test, although it is required for extended testing time, it is not required to change the content of the test.

>> Thank you so much for the examples of things that can be academic adjustments. I would like to learn more about your center, the Fredrick Douglas academic resource center at Morehouse. Can you tell us more about what you do there?

>> I would be delighted and I'm so thrilled about this position because it allows me to expand critical learning techniques to a broader audience. The academic resource center also known as ACRC is the academic resource center to flourish academic field building and serve as an academic resource in the campus community. In the CRC at Morehouse College, we offer an array of support services, not only for students with disabilities, but all students who want to transfer in their academic field. We had wonderful successes in our center.

One in particular service is tutoring. Last year, I had 17 tutors who covered 24 subjects, for example, algebra, calculus, Chinese, Spanish, French, statistics, sociology, history, etc. Our track record shows students who came two to three times a week improved their GPA by almost two letter grades. Not only do they receive certified training, they learned how to work with students with different learning styles. It can be individualized or group tutoring. Our minute clinic, 10-30 minute periodically and some students do remote tutoring. Our in-house operating hours are until 10:00 P.M. every night except Saturdays. During finals, we stayed open until midnight and sometimes we stayed open until 2:00 a.m. we provided snacks to help them do the best on the exam. The second thing we offer is our workshops. On Mondays, we have, every Monday, what I call organizational Mondays to set them up to be successful. This could be a one-time refresher for a student who has a clue or it can be a six week program to clarify study happens. Some of the topics include identifying and learning styles, campus and classroom etiquette, sometimes students are not sure what to expect at this level. We talk about prioritizing, taking notes, time management, how to communicate with a professor, how to make the syllabus work with them and business and social etiquette.

Once a semester for a week we have international events and we usually use our Friday nights and offer such programs as a salsa night. We have an emphasis on practicing Spanish fields. We have many different activities to encourage students and show learning can be fun.

Another person in our academic resource center is our athletic advisor and this person works with athletes to make sure, not only they are on track for graduation, but we as the college are compliant. There is another person in the center who is a student advocate. Students focused academic plans and help embrace academic issues.

Lastly, we see funds for a million dollar innovation project in the academic resource center. We recently started putting in new furniture, fixtures, computer labs, we have 40 computers coming with iMacs and PC's. We have dedicated computers for students who need special software and we have what I call the learning curve room. We have converted it with the cable to do webinars and the list goes on. I invite you to come see us.  We are really proud of where we have brought it into the 21st century.

>> Ms. Carolyn, I can feel your pride. I am so excited and I want my personal invitation to see this when it is renovated and it is a model of inclusion of people with and without disabilities, so I'm excited.

Earlier, we discussed the patrols of receiving disability related services. I know students have responsibilities when it comes to requesting accommodations, let's remind students of what their responsibilities are.

>> At Morehouse, we have established the following procedure to receive access or accommodations. The student must contact the disability services office to schedule an intake meeting. The student must provide documentation of the disability. The student must meet with disability resources at least once a semester to receive accommodations. We ask that the student review with faculty to review accommodations and notify the disability services in writing of any additional needs.

>> Well, thank you for that reminder. Now we are about out of time today. Is there anything else you would like to share with our listening audience today?

>> I invite those who may be considering Morehouse to come be our beautiful campus and visit the disability academic resource center.
>> We thank you for joining us today. Listening audience, you may submit questions and comments to the podcast to ADAlive.org and they will be forwarded to Carolyn Walker for her response. That is all the time we have today.

>> Pam, time is short when you're having fun.

>> Now ADA live listeners, remember our guest for this episode of ADA live is Ms. Carolyn Walker the director of the Morehouse academic center in Atlanta, Georgia. We thank you for joining us for this episode of ADA Live. This episode and all previously ADA episodes are available on our website at ADAlive.org, as well as on our sound cloud channel at soundcloud.com/adalive. All episodes are archived in a variety of format, including accessible audio and transcripts. You can download this podcast. It is as easy as going to the podcast icon and searching for ADA live. Check out the ADA tool kit from the Southeast ADA center and the ADA National Network for the celebration for the ADA anniversary and year round celebration of the ADA. The tool kit features a media kit and other resources to keep the celebration going at www.adaanniversary.org. And remember, if you have any questions about the Americans with disabilities act, you may submit your questions any time online at adalive.org or contact your regional ADA center at 1-800-949-4232. All calls are free and confidential. ADA Live is a program of the Southeast ADA center. Our producer is Beth Harrison, Emmy, and Bailey. Our music is from four wheels city, the movement for improvement. We look forward to having you join us for the next episode.


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Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility. CART captioning and this realtime file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
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