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Planning Calendar for college-bound students with learning disabilities
Keep this learning disabilities high school calendar handy. It will tell you what you need to accomplish each year in high school, if you plan to attend college.
If you haven't been there yet, please visit our
Learning Disabilities Main Page
to learn more about laws concerning high school and college students with learning disabilities and/or physical handicaps.
Then assess yourself and your readiness for college at
Am I ready for college?
If you are a junior or senior, self-assessment will help you analyze your skills and abilities in preparation for college searching and selection, and help you with your college choice decisions.
It may also help you decide whether your first two years of college should be at a four-year institution, or at a community college.
If you are a freshman, this site will give you guidelines for personal and academic development throughout your next four years.
Freshman year in high school
Be sure the Special Resources staff is familiar with you and your disability.
Discuss with your counselor placement in special classes.
Go slowly in choosing any extracurricular activities, being sure you do not take on too many.
Start out diligently in your classes - high school is different from junior high.
Concentrate on getting the best grades you c an.
Get help if/when you need it in your regular classes, or ask your resource teacher for help.
Extracurricular activities in high school
Sophomore Year
Begin to explore options for classes and your future.
Look around for volunteer activities of interest.
Consider taking the PLAN test,
A PRE-ACT Assessment test,
if available in your area, or the PRE-SAT Exam, called the
PSAT.
Request appropriate testing accommodations, if you qualify.
Meet with your high school counselor and special resources teachers at least once to assess your current status and progress.
- Review testing and diagnosis documentations.
- Plan and review courses for junior year.
- Discuss college options and recommendations with counselor and resource manager.
- Remember that if you plan on applying to a four-year university, you need to be enrolled in as many college preparatory classes as possible.
- Depending on your disability and grades in regular classes, consider Advanced Placement classes.
Begin to look at the web sites of schools that may interest you. Become familiar with their LD programs, and the levels of support each may provide.
Contact the service providers at colleges that interest you, at which you may qualify as an applicant.
Take a look at your local junior colleges. This is a way for you, and many of your peers, to ease into the college environment and get many of your most demanding classes out of the way in a more friendly environment than that provided at many
colleges and universities.
Junior Year
For sure, if you did not take the PSAT or the PLAN in your sophomore year, take one or both in the fall of your junior year:
PLAN (ACT PRE-TEST)
PSAT
Review academic achievement.
Assess extracurricular activities and volunteering involvement: remember you will be asked about these activities on your college applications.
Begin planning for your senior year, and remember to take as many college prep classes as possible. Depending on your academic record, enroll in AP classes if recommended by a teacher. Discuss this with your advisor.
Review the level of services in your high school for which you may be eligible.
Begin to identify the level of services you may need in college.
Research colleges and visit colleges of interest.
College Search Engines
College rankings
Learn about the SAT or ACT exams, either the standard or non-standard test:
ACT
SATs
Register for the tests:
ACT Registration
SAT Test Registration
Request any necessary psycho-educational testing, including any achievement tests and the WAIS-R.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R)
Go here for information on interpreting the WAIS-R:
Interpretation of the WAIS-R
Senior Year
This page is written specifically for high school students diagnosed with learning disabilities. See also the
Senior Year Calendar for ALL high school seniors
Organize the college admissions process:
College Admissions
Are you a high school athlete?
Fill out and submit your general college applications and any special applications you may be asked to provide:
College Applications
Write any application essays requested in the applications forms:
Application essays
Disclose learning disability to college(s).
- Release results and diagnostics of any current psycho-educational testing and release documentation of any other health-related disabilities. Remember that if you are under the age of 18 you must have your parents' signatures to release any information.
Our main senior-year calendar covers all your senior year things-to-remember except for those specifically related to learning disabilities:
Senior Year Plan for Everyone
Learning Disabilities, Main Page
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