Assisting dyslexic college students: An experimental program design at a university

Abstract

Although there are some programs for dyslexic students at the post secondary level, most of them are in community colleges and not in the four-year colleges and universities. The cost of support services furnished is often high—as much as three to eight thousand dollars in extra costs per year. Thus, poor and middle income students cannot have access to programs which they need. Another problem is that data gathering, in existing programs, appears to center mainly on test results in academic areas only and overlooks other equally important areas. Obviously, academic problems are present in dyslexic college students, but there are other areas of difficulty about which information gathering is also of critical importance. If post-secondary institutions are to serve a learning-handicapped popula tion successfully, there is the need to know and understand various aspects of the disability. When a learning disability exists, it goes beyond academic problems in its effect upon the individual and enters into other aspects of living. To deal with the total problem, educators must draw upon the knowledge of other disciplines in order to obtain useful data about each student, particularly in areas of neurophysiology, language processing, and social skills.