Reading Accom. - How to Get Access to Print
by Dan Burke
When I was about to enter college in the previous millennium, a teacher who worked with blind kids told me that I couldn't read to myself as fast as most people could read out loud. And most people could read to themselves quite a bit faster than they could read out loud.
News flash: If I didn't try something different, I would not be able to keep up with the college reading requirements!
So how about you? Can you keep up in spite of low vision or a learning disability or ADHD? Are you like I was at 17, able to read, but unable to get far enough fast enough, or just not getting enough out of it despite a lot of time put into reading your texts? Do you find yourself feeling physically exhausted by the act of reading? Do you read and reread passages or test items in order not to miss the meaning? Do you employ my most typical strategy -- if I couldn't get the book on tape, I blew off the reading and made sure I went to class every day, hoping to make it through on the strength of the lecture notes I took?
Here are some startling facts that students who talk to me have heard over and over again: The average college student reads at a rate of 200 to 300 words per minute -- and they understand what they read. The average speaking rate, or rate at which we read out loud, is between 100 and 120 words per minute.
Compare your speed with this: Can you read at least as fast as a normal speaking rate? Can you do it with comprehension?
What does that mean? It means that if you can read no faster than at an average speaking rate, it will take you twice as long as most of your classmates to read your assignments. If you need to reread the material or test questions because you often don't fully comprehend the print the first time, then you are that much further behind your classmates.
Scared? Good, that's what I wanted to do.
When I was a freshman in college, I started using recorded texts from Recording for the Blind (and now Dyslexic). No, not all the books I needed were available, not always were the correct editions completed in time. Not always were the recorded texts worth the bother because of interminable and useless descriptions of graphs or illustrations or because the prof jumped all over in the book, and it was incredibly frustrating finding the beginning of the right chapters on 4-track cassettes. (Actually, when I first started college, not long after the end of the Vietnam War, RFB was still issuing recordings on reel-to-reel.)
Don't misunderstand me -- books on tape made a huge difference in my academic confidence and my grades. My point here is that RFB & D did not create a seamless, foolproof solution for me.
They can't!
I asked for volunteer readers for some of the stuff I couldn't get on tape. But I have to be honest -- I felt ashamed doing this, and before long I dropped the efforts. So, for most of the courses in which I couldn't get the books, I either dropped or bluffed my way without the benefit of the reading.
Sounds familiar to some of you, I'm sure. A semester doesn't go by in which every Disability Services Coordinator encounters a handful of students who have a print limitation, but who are not using any alternative reading strategies. They are always behind. They feel frustrated with school and with themselves because they aren't as successful as they would like to be. They think they should or could be doing better. They feel ashamed of themselves.
And yet they have been equally embarrassed about employing more effective means for reading!
Often these students are already eligible for RFB & D, maybe they tried it and had been frustrated. Maybe they've only tried it once.
You know who you are.
Ask yourself now: "Wouldn't you want to use any legitimate means to be as successful in school, and later in your career?
And what about all of you who found yourselves in the second, third or fourth week of classes, still trying to get your textbooks in an accessible format?
Don't you deserve an equal chance to succeed?
After preregistration, go to the books store and get the titles, authors, editions and ISBN numbers of all the books that have been ordered thus far. Faculty don't always order early, but enough do to get a head start. For those that aren't ordered, try contacting the prof or the department to see if they have already selected the books, and get the same information on those texts too.
Call RFB & D with this information right away. They can order the books already available and you'll have them in time for the first day of class.
For the books that aren't available, you now have to make some decisions. RFB & D can record them for you if you buy two copies and send them to Princeton. They will reimburse you for one and return the second when recording is complete -- but you won't have the book until they're done. So, ask how long recording will take -- you want to make sure it will be ready in time for the semester. It will be sent out in installments as each cassette is completed, so you need to know the projected completion date to determine if you can wait for the end of the book to arrive.
Your next choice should be etext. Buy the book and bring it to Disability Services. If you can get a syllabus this early, we will produce your etext by following the reading assignments in order. But if you get it to us early enough, you may not be able to get a syllabus. That's okay -- with enough of a head start, we may be able to do the entire book before your classes begin.
Some books just don't scan for etext properly because there are too many illustrations or other problems, such as color shading on pages which don't permit clean scans. In this case, it may be necessary to use a reader, either recording for reading assignments or sitting with you while they read. Taping works best for some students, others prefer one-on-one reading. Math, for example, is almost useless on tape. Sitting with a reader allows the student to ask for clarification, rereading portions. The choices here may have more to do with individual preference, the nature of the book, or the subject matter, or all three.
Using scanners on campus is also an option, along with either Ruby or Wynn scan-and-read software. This may give you more flexibility in the use of your time -- not to mention independence.
Some books just aren't in the bookstore until just before the semester starts. In this case, -- and it will happen -- the same steps should be followed, in an accelerated fashion. Check to see if RFB & D has them and order what you can. It probably won't be useful to have RFB & D record them now -- you'll never get the tapes in time. So, bring books not available to Disability Services to see about etext. Your syllabus is critical now, as we are busiest at the start of each semester, obviously. If use of a reader is the best way to go, get one lined up as quickly as possible -- maybe work something out in advance with your reader from the previous semester.
For all these steps, your Disability Services Coordinator is key to facilitating the arrangements. Stay in touch with us.
If you follow these steps, you'll save yourself a lot of sweat, worrying about getting behind on your reading. There's no worse way to start the semester than by being behind on your reading. It takes too much to get caught up, and your grades may show that poor planning for your own access to learning.
It seems like a lot of work -- and frankly, it is. But you have every right to give yourself the best opportunity to be successful! At bottom, that's what civil rights mean.
