The major objective of the Disability Support Services office at DVC is to assure educational access for students with disabilities. DSS concentrates its efforts on providing services that are not available elsewhere in the college. DSS makes the following services available to qualified students at DVC:
Architectural Barrier Removal (ABR)
There is an ongoing process on the campus for evaluating architectural barriers and recommending changes. The goal of significantly improving campus accessibility was achieved in Spring '96, and is considered to be the first of three to four phases of campus-wide ABR designed to maximize accessibility to our campus and its programs and services.
Books On Tape, CD and MP3 Files
Textbooks can be obtained through Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) or scannned into alternate media format. DSS assist with these services.
Counseling
We provide academic counseling, educational planning, career and personal counseling. It is considered discriminatory to counsel students with disabilities toward more restrictive careers than students without disabilities, unless such counseling is based on strict licensing or certification requirements in a profession. We coordinate necessary support services and act as a resource to help students obtain appropriate services beyond those provided at DVC.
Courses
Courses designed specifically for students with learning disabilities include a study skills class (lecture course) and a learning strategies class (small group instruction) which directly supports students enrolled in almost every academic course offered at DVC. We also offer adaptive physical education classes, which include individualized exercise, weight lifting, and aquatic fitness.
High Tech Center
The Center offers adaptive computer hardware and software technologies to students with disabilities to assist in the process of making DVC computer labs accessible to students with disabilities. The available technology includes voice recognition software, voice synthesizers, screen reading software, braille printer, reading machines, optical scanner, and electronic keyguards. Instruction is offered in the use of word processing, spelling, and grammar checking as tools to accommodate the effects of students' disabilities. (See Technology section)
Interpreters for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Interpreters hired by DSS are professionals who provide sign language interpretation in the classroom to students with severe to profound hearing loss.
Learning Disabilities Assessment
Individualized assessment to determine eligibility for learning disabilities services is available at DVC. Students are either referred by teachers, rehabilitation counselors, or are self-referred. The process for referring students from your classes is described in the section How to Refer a Student for Support Services.
Liaison to Campus and Community
For reasons of confidentiality, DSS staff may not share with faculty and staff the disability status of DVC students. As a result, students are instructed to advise instructors of their disabilities and their specific accommodation needs. DSS staff assists students to understand the educational limitations of their disabilities and the specific services for which they are eligible. DSS is allowed to verify eligibility for specific services of instruction.
Mobility Assistance
An accessible van is available to provide on-campus transportation. Among students who may be eligible for this service are students with temporary and permanent orthopedic disabilities that affect their mobility.
Note Taking
We rely as much as possible on in-class volunteers to provide notetaking services for qualified students. Special notetaking paper (no-carbon-required) is available in the DSS Office (SS 202A) free to the student who has need of this service. Students generally find their own notetakers in class. Students may ask individual instructors to announce the need for a notetaker in their classes or recommend a note taker. DSS Staff members may need to make very brief announcements in classes to solicit notetakers for students with disabilities. In these cases, the staff member will ask instructors' permission prior to making announcements in classes.
Priority Registration
It is often important that students with disabilities enroll in specific sections of a course in order to appropriately access the college programming. This may be necessary for students to coordinate interpreter schedules, to participate in DSS curriculum, or for mobility reasons. In addition, the actual process of registration can be especially difficult and stressful for many students with disabilities. It is for these reasons that DSS offers priority registration to qualified students.
Specialized Learning Strategies (LRNSK 60)
DSS at DVC offers academic support to students with disabilities enrolled in DVC courses through LRNSK 60. LRNSK 60 is a semester-long course (open entry/open exit) in which students sign up for one or two sessions per week. A learning disabilities specialist and instructional assistants work with students in small groups (up to three students) in Math, Study Skills, and Written Language. Students can earn .3 units to .5 units, depending upon the number of hours completed in a given semester. The emphasis of LRNSK 60 is strategies based learning. Thus, students will be taught to devise and follow specific techniques that will address issues in their course work, such as how to read a text book chapter more efficiently, how to write an essay, and how to approach math problems. Each student will learn strategies that are unique to his/her learning style and course work demands.
Testing Accommodations
The most appropriate method of administering a test depends upon the student's disability and the design of the test. Students with disabilities that affect manual dexterity, vision, or processing speed may be allowed extra time to complete tests. Many DSS students require a distraction-reduced testing environment and/or other testing accommodations such as use of adaptive computer technology. Refer to the "Testing Accommodations" section of this handbook for specific procedures related to testing accommodations.
