Let’s start with the great news. You’ve been accepted to college! You earned your way here, and you can do fabulously! Everything that helped you get where you are is going to help you succeed while you get your degree, so keep all those strategies in mind as you start classes.
Depending on your situation, you may need some supports or changes to the regular way things are done to help you succeed in college. Every college has a person or office in charge of helping students with disabilities. Make sure you go introduce yourself, either before you start or right when you get there, to find out what help and supports they can offer you.
This person or office may be able to hook you up with special technology, tutoring, counseling or any number of other resources. They can also help you understand what you’re entitled to from your professors, and help you ask for it. This might include extra time for assignments and tests or modified assignments of various kinds.
One of the big pitfalls of college life is that you are going to get to see how everyone else manages their studying, and it can be tempting to do what “everyone else” is doing. Remember, though, that everyone else isn’t you! Your learning disability doesn’t have to define who you are, but you can’t ignore it either. Your friends may all study at the coffee shop with music blaring in their earbuds, but if you need a quieter or more organized environment to work, you won’t be able to join them.
Don’t feel like you need to tell the world about your dyslexia, though. Just get used to saying, “Sorry, I do better when I study at the library” (or wherever). You won’t be the only one, and no one will think it’s weird at all.
One strategy that a lot of students with dyslexia find helpful is to highlight their reading. This can be a great way to organize your learning and help you when exam time comes around. It can also help your comprehension as you read, because it forces you to think about each sentence or paragraph twice – once when you read it the first time and once when you highlight it.
Highlighters, however, are not magic wands. Just having them and running them over some text will not make you learn. You have to use them well. If you’re looking back at a page of reading and almost the entire thing is highlighted, something is wrong.
There are a number of good ways to highlight, and you should choose one that works for you. One of the most common requires reading one paragraph at a time. At the end of the paragraph, ask yourself, “What was the main point of this paragraph? What is the one thing it is telling me?” Then go back and find the phrases that capture that information, and highlight them. Then ask yourself, “If I were giving a test on this paragraph, what would I ask?” If it’s not already, highlight the answers to those questions, too.
Some people find it useful to use two or three different colors of highlighter. One can be for the main idea of the paragraph and one for additional important information, or for terms and definitions.
As you do your work in college, you’re going to run across many words you don’t know. Some people just skip these words and hope they’ll understand anyway, but you can wind up skipping almost everything in some textbooks! Carry a dictionary (or have one on your phone or computer) wherever you go. Either look up unfamiliar words right away, or highlight them and come back.
Your other constant companion should be a notebook – you can have one for each class or just one general one, whichever works for you. Write down new definitions that are likely to come up again. That way, next time you’re reading and you come across the same term, you can just glance at your notebook.
As you’re reading or working, when you come across things that are totally confusing to you, note down what they are in your notebook. Take it with you to class or when you meet with your instructor or tutor. Don’t be afraid to ask questions – you might be surprised how many of the other students are just as confused as you!
Many colleges have writing centers that offer assistance in learning to write better academic papers. Don’t be embarrassed to use this resource – that’s why it’s there. Sometimes people with dyslexia have trouble organizing their thoughts on paper. The writing center can really help.
Chances are that spelling is a challenge for you, too. Once you’ve used the spellchecker on your word processing software and done your best to proofread, ask a friend to read your paper. Just say, “I’m a lousy proofreader. Could you read this and just mark the misspelled words? I can fix them if you can find them.” The difference between a professor thinking you’re brilliant and a professor thinking you’re way behind can be as simple as spelling everything correctly. It’s not fair, but it’s true.
You got to college because you worked hard and have a lot of skills and talents. Those things are still valuable. When you start feeling frustrated or down on yourself, remind yourself of everything you can do. And don’t be afraid to ask an instructor, “Is there some other way I can show what I know?” You’ll be surprised how often the answer is yes!