15+ years of research on college students with disabilities: Lessons learned and shared by the Adaptech Research Network Dawson College and Adaptech Research Network Presentation at AQPC (Association québécoise de Pédagogie Collégiale), June, Fichten, C.S., Barile, M., Asuncion, J., Abrami, A., Alapin, I., Amsel, R., Arcuri, R., Budd, J., Chauvin, A., Chwojka, C., Ferraro, V., Fiset, D., Fossey, M., Gaulin, C., Généreux, C., Gutberg, J., Havel, A., Heiman, T., Hewlett, M., James, C., King, L., Jorgensen, M., Jorgensen, S., Juhel, J-C., King, L., Lamb, D., Landry, M-E., Martiniello, N., Mimouni, Z., Nguyen, M.N., Raymond, O., Robillard, C., Schipper, F., Tétreault S., Tibbs, A., & Wolforth, J. 1

Agenda Adaptech Research Network’s research Common beliefs and realities about s tudents with disabilities Numbers of students Grades Graduation / persistence Employment Information and communication technologies Dialogue More information 2

Adaptech Research Network Based at Dawson College since 1996 College and university students with disabilities Federally and provincially funded Bilingual, empirical research Methods Qualitative, quantitative, archival 3

Adaptech Research Focus Team Faculty, students, professionals, consumers, partners Topics Registration for campus disability related services Obstacles and facilitators of success Academic outcomes and persistence Information and communication technologies 4

Common Beliefs and Realities Belief Many more students with disabilities on campus Reality Many more students ≈ 2/3 students not registered for campus disability services 2 “Population émergente” 1 Raymond, O. (2011, April). Pas facile? Pour une transition plus tranquille! Comité interordres. Presentation at the LDtech Meeting, Dawson College. 2 Fichten, C.S., Jorgensen, S., Havel, A., Barile, M., (2006). College students with disabilities: Their future and success. Final report to FQRSC. Montréal: Adaptech Research Network, Dawson College. 5 Students with disabilities: Western Quebec 1

Common Beliefs and Realities Why bother to educate them? Common beliefs They will get poor grades They will not graduate They’ll never get a job Reality It’s the law 1 Common beliefs are all wrong 6 1 Ducharme, D. & Montminy, K. (2012). Accommodating disabled college students: Opinion handed down by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. Pédagogie Collégiale, 25 (4), 1-6. Retrieved from DucharmeMontminy-Vol_25-4(a).pdf

Grades Dawson College 6 year archival study: 3 groups 1 First semester mean grades All Other Disabilities > Nondisabled Students = Learning Disability Program Learning Disability / ADHD All Other Disabilities No Disability StudentsGradeStudentsGradeStudentsGrade Social Science16664%103 70% 13,90862% Career/Technical3264%40 71% 4,63467% All Programs34764% % 40,26266% 1 Jorgensen, S., Fichten, C.S., Havel, A., Lamb, D., James, C., & Barile, M. (2005). Academic performance of college students with and without disabilities: An archival study. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 39(2),

Graduation / Persistence Students with and without disabilities graduate at the same rate 1 Graduation rate of students with disabilities is actually higher But not significantly so 1 Jorgensen, S., Fichten, C.S., Havel, A., Lamb, D., James, C., & Barile, M. (2005). Academic performance of college students with and without disabilities: An archival study. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 39(2),

Students Working Full Time Working Part Time Looking for Work Studying Unavailable For Work Pre-University With a Disability9010%4%1%83%1% No Disability7528%5%2%84%2% Career/Technical With a Disability8651%15%1%30%2% No Disability540 49%14%3%31%3% Employment 1 Fichten, C.S., Jorgensen, S., Havel, A., Barile, M., Ferraro, V., Landry, M-E., Fiset, D., Juhel, J-C., Chwojka, C., Nguyen, M.N., Amsel, R. & Asuncion, J.V. (2012). What happens after graduation? Outcomes, employment, and recommendations of recent junior/community college graduates with and without disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation 34(11), Graduates of 3 Cegeps 5-10 months after graduation 1 9

10 Information and Communication Technologies and LDs Widely believed: ICTs help academic performance of students with LD Research Inconclusive Minimal research conducted Small samples confounds Fichten, C. S., Nguyen, M. N., King, L., Barile, M., Havel, A., Mimouni, Z., Chauvin, A., Budd, J., Raymond, O., Juhel, J.-C., & Asuncion, J. (2013). Information and communication technology profiles of college students with learning disabilities. Journal of Education and Learning, 2(1), Retrieved March 1, 2013, from

Information and Communication Technologies and LDs 11 Realities Students do not use many ICTs recommended by experts 1 Kurzweil: experts 45%, students 6% Concept mapping: experts 41%, students 10% Dictation software: experts 65%, students 10% 1 Fichten, C. S., Nguyen, M. N., King, L., Barile, M., Havel, A., Mimouni, Z., Chauvin, A., Budd, J., Raymond, O., Juhel, J.-C., & Asuncion, J. (2013). Information and communication technology profiles of college students with learning disabilities. Journal of Education and Learning, 2(1), Retrieved March 1, 2013, from

Social Media 12 Students with disabilities do not use social media 1 Hours spent engaged in social media, on average 12 hr/week non-school related activities 6hr/week school-related activities 1 Asuncion, J. V., Budd, J., Fichten, C. S., Nguyen, M. N., Barile, M., & Amsel, R. (2012). Social media use by students with disabilities. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 16(1), 30-25

Social Media 13 Five most accessible social media forums 1 MSN/Windows Live Messenger Facebook YouTube Messenger Skype 1 Asuncion, J. V., Budd, J., Fichten, C. S., Nguyen, M. N., Barile, M., & Amsel, R. (2012). Social media use by students with disabilities. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 16(1), 30-25

Adaptech’s Current Research 14 Theory of Planned Behavior & academic persistence Controllable aspects to facilitate academic success Employment Free and inexpensive information and communication technologies Tablets and smartphones iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android Windows, Macintosh

Implications Is it always easy? Of course not. Are there challenges? Absolutely. Will all students with disabilities do well? No. Is it all up to the teacher? No! Is it worthwhile? Definitely! What can be done to make thing easier? 15

Accommodation vs. Universal Design of Instruction (UDI) 16 Accommodation Approach Access is a problem for the individual student Should be addressed by the student and the office for students with disabilities UDI Approach Access issues stem from inaccessible, poorly designed instructional environments Should be addressed by the designer (i.e., teacher)

What Have You Tried? 17 That worked well That, well… was not such a good idea in retrospect

Thank You 18

Resources More info: Adaptech Research Network Presenter: Catherine Fichten Download this presentation Presentations/AQPCFichten.pdf 19