[Georgia_ahead] FW: Student Expectations

[Ann Phillips]

I give every disability student a PINK paper outlining what he is  
expected to do, and when he is expected to do it, regarding  
accommodations, communications with professors, testing sites, and so  
on.  And if it arises, I tell professors not to honor requests for  
accommodations until they have in hand the disability accommodations  
report from my office, and that they are never expected to provide  
accommodations at a moment's notice.

Ann Phillips
Disability Services
University of West Georgia

On Dec 4, 2007, at 7:54 PM, Bonnie Martin wrote:

> Hello again,
>
>
> I am forwarding a response Jim Marks makes to the DSP who is  
> concerned about students circumventing P&P.  It is a different  
> response to the same request I just sent by Howard who use to work  
> with OCR.  Just thought some of you would enjoy Jim’s comments.  I  
> needed them after the day I have had today!
>
>
> Bonnie
>
>
> From: Disabled Student Services in Higher Education <DSSHE- 
> L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU> [mailto:Disabled Student Services in Higher  
> Education <DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU>] On Behalf Of "Marks, Jim"  
> <marks at MSO.UMT.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 7:15 PM
> To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
> Subject: Re: Student Expectations
>
>
> Disability services in higher education will almost always be a sloppy
> business. The mental health of DS professionals will be stronger if we
> separate what we can control from what we cannot, and put our primary
> energies in what we can do instead of what cannot be accomplished. For
> instance, the subject line of this e-mail is "Student Expectations." I
> doubt that students have expectations that match up much with those of
> the DS professional, so I presume we're talking about the  
> professional's
> expectations for the students rather than the students'  
> expectations for
> themselves. . DS professionals can control our expectations, but not
> those of the students. We should never set our own expectations so  
> high
> that they are unreachable. Besides that, the whole point of being a
> student is to take risks and to mess up a bit in those risks. As such,
> DS professionals ought to be looking for the teachable moment rather
> than always trying to prevent them. I like to think of ourselves as
> guides or shepherds rather than as controllers or precisionists. We
> constantly teach, cajole, and threaten, and we hope for more successes
> than failures. But the fact is, we will never get it right, even if  
> our
> goal is to work ourselves out of a job. Just keep doing your best to
> educate students and faculty, then let it go. Also, avoid the self
> inflicted wounds of more paperwork. Paperwork is evil and should be
> used with caution and restraint. Those contracts or memos of
> understanding are not going to change behaviors much. At best, the
> paper will document your saying, "I told you so," but we can do that
> without the paper anyhow.
>
>
> Jim Marks
> Director of Disability Services
> University of Montana
> jim.marks at umontana.edu
> http://www.umt.edu/dss/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Disabled Student Services in Higher Education
> [mailto:DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU] On Behalf Of Nikki Dyer
> Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 2:52 PM
> To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
> Subject: Student Expectations
>
> Colleagues:
> A number of our students, who have sought services from Disability
> Support Services this semester, have chosen to disclose their
> accommodations to their instructors in ways which are less than ideal.
> More specifically, students are providing notices of their
> accommodations to faculty on the day of an exam, are not meeting with
> the faculty in a private one-to-one setting to discuss their
> accommodations in a "pro-active" manner, and they are sometimes
> expecting accommodations beyond what is featured in their notice to
> instructors. I am confident that I am not alone in having to address
> these concerns and am asking what you all are doing to combat these
> behaviors. I have considered generating a "Statement of Understanding"
> for students, but other than this, I am at a loss. Any insights would
> be appreciated - as always.
>
> This list is intended to serve as a forum for higher education  
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> disabilities in higher education. Any commercial posts or posts  
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>
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Ann Phillips, PhD, LPC
Coordinator, Disability Services
Student Development Center
University of West Georgia
Carrollton, GA 30118
(678) 839-6428




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