Lack of accommodations consequences

[Florencia Ardon]

Hello!

 Have any of you done a study on people who have dropped out, changed majors to an easier one or received low grades warranting intervention (leave of absence, not being in good academic standing, special programs to improve academic outcomes, etc.?) I'm interested in the relationship between lack of appropriate accommodations & adverse outcomes. --whatever evidence is there rather than anecdotes.

It could be also studies of students who do very well in several classes, where they receive accommodations, and not in others where accommodations are either not given or given in a way that is not useful.

Thank you!

Flor

 

My workday may look different from yours. Please answer at a time that supports your wellbeing.

Florencia (Flor) Ardon, PhD | She| Her | Hers

Study Skills Lecturer & Neurodivergent Student Support Program Manager, Learning Strategies Center
Neurodiversity @ Cornell lead | Advisor, Student Neurodiversity Alliance at Cornell

fa...@cornell.edu | neurodi...@cornell.edu

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[Dawn-Marie Solais]

I'm really interested in this as well. All 3 of my kids dropped out because their struggles were not believed and not accommodated. If this research hasn't been done, or done well, I hope someone does it.

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[Michael Canale]

This is an excellent question. While I have not done a formal study, I gathered data for a proposal. I received a grant to start a peer mentoring program, which ran out in May. We had secured funding from a Department of Education grant, which was frozen and later revoked. The proposal was to seek university funding. 

What I gathered is: 14,000 total students, 197 with ASD receiving accommodations. The graduation rate was 79.6%. This is on average with students with disabilities and 7% lower than non-disabled students.  I identified and connected with 9 students who did not graduate. Of the 19, 6 transferred to another school because we did not offer their program of interest. 4 transferred to a school with an ASD program, such as the University of Delaware. 9 said they did not like their experience in college (0 reported lack of accommodations), it was more associated with "they didn't get me", "no one supported me and reminded me of assignments", and all reported lack of socialization and feeling of belonging. 

From all I have gathered, being a parent of a student with ASD, and from years of working with ASD students, and the many conferences and research. The issue isn't accommodations; it's that what is needed isn't covered by the ADA, 504, or any other legislation. This is a form of peer mentoring, social engagement, and the pursuit of their passion.  The number one issue I see is that when times get tough, students shut down. They stop going to class because they are embarrassed that they missed a deadline, so they don't hand it in. I can be the most supportive and personable person on campus, and still, some will not reach out to me when in trouble. 

During the peer mentoring program, these common issues are addressed. The peer can be a sounding board; they can check in with the student. They are not a tutor or reminder; they are a connection, and that's the real accommodation that is missing. 

Thats my perspective 

Be Well 

Michael 

On Wed, Oct 22, 2025 at 9:17 PM Florencia Ardon <fa...@cornell.edu> wrote:

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[Lyndel Kennedy]

Hi Flor,

My PhD research is into factors contributing to success for neurodivergent students in higher education. I published a framework analysis paper just recently on supports and accommodations, and how neurodivergent students experience disclosure processes and supports differently to non-neurodivergent students who also qualify for accommodations, eg those with mental health conditions. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/27546330251352326  Some neurodivergent students endorsed the supports-related theme ‘why discontinued’, wanting more course flexibility, mental-health support and assistance from tutors. Let me know if you can’t access it. 

I have other papers from this dataset as well, https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.0159 (A Comparison of Neurodivergent and Non-Neurodivergent Students’ Characteristics and Higher Education Experiences in Australia and New Zealand) and https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/aut.2024.0118 (Comparing Disclosure and Supports used by Higher-Education Students with Neurodivergent or Mental Health Conditions). These two papers break the neurodivergent students into diagnostic subgroups if you just want to see autistic students results.

I will have a final paper from my PhD available next year, a cluster analysis, which shows neurodivergent students can do very well, that skills are more important than neurodivergent diagnoses or traits for academic success, and accessing supports does seem to be a part of that. 

Happy to discuss further if that would help.

Kind regards,

Lyndel Kennedy

 

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[Florencia Ardon]

Hi Michael,

 

Thank you for your response!

 

In my personal experience with my kids (AuDHD and ADHD; I’m also an ADHDer and dyscalculic) they have seriously struggled in classes where the instructor sort of doesn’t believe in them/their needs. They’re very capable students, very conscientious and do very well in most classes, except for those where the instructor is very rigid. For instance, in AP Bio the teacher was making them read very heavy research articles “because in college you’ll have to do this” or even “in grad school.” My PhD is in biology of reproduction and *I* found the articles dense. It was basically impossible to get him to change even after many meetings. My kiddo ended up going to another class in addition to their regular one, to be able to get the knowledge & skills they felt they needed/wanted. Now they’re in AP human geography and the instructor is basing it heavily on textbook reading, which is a struggle for my kid. The teacher is refusing to provide alternatives and for instance printed out the slides—like 8/page so the letter is tiny. My kid has learned to be a very strong self-advocate and I also advocate for them and still.

 

At Cornell we’ve had many students share that they struggle because of lack of accommodations. I have some questions about your university or respondents:

• Were they enrolled in a specific support program or had access to more academic advising, coaching, tutoring?
• You mention a peer mentoring program, do you know what happened with students who are not in the peer mentoring program?
• I would argue that the reminding of assignments is a need; intervention is not to have a staff member call them every night (a parent actually asked me to do that), but working with the student to use tools on their phone or using an accountability system.
• Were you able to explore more on what the student actually meant by “they didn’t get me”? To me it can mean a million things, including the instructor not believing in them.
• Similarly with the feeling of belonging, were you able to have them give you examples? To me, it can also relate to microaggressions and lack of accommodation on the side of the instructor or TA; I think “feeling of belonging” is a very broad term.

 

Could you please add more on what needs are not covered by ADA, 504 and other legislations?

 

Thanks again,

Flor

 

My workday may look different from yours. Please answer at a time that supports your wellbeing.

Florencia (Flor) Ardon, PhD | She| Her | Hers
Stephen H. Weiss Provost’s Teaching Fellow

Study Skills Lecturer & Neurodivergent Student Support Program Manager, Learning Strategies Center
Neurodiversity @ Cornell lead | Advisor, Student Neurodiversity Alliance at Cornell

fa...@cornell.edu | neurodi...@cornell.edu

https://lsc.cornell.edu/neurodiversity-at-cornell/ | https://blogs.cornell.edu/neurodiversity/

Book an appointment with me

Celebrated identities: ADHDer, Latina, Woman of Color, Immigrant, First Gen

[Michael Canale]

Great point Florencia, 

I'm sorry to hear about what's happening in the K-12 with your kids. Requesting copies of slides and a digital copy of the textbook to enable text-to-speech is reasonable. My recommendation is to contact the school district's Special Education Committee Chair and request an emergency meeting. Request that these supports be in their 504 or IEP. Those accommodations would also be provided in college, therefore removing the "when you get to college" defense.

• Were they enrolled in a specific support program or had access to more academic advising, coaching, tutoring?

         They were registered with SDS, and we work with our academic success center with advising (we also do academic advising with them if they prefer) and tutoring. All students can receive 1 hour a week; our students receive double. Coaching is done primarily with me because we don't have anyone else. But the peer mentoring program took a lot of that off my plate, so I can focus on students who may need a more structured support 

• You mention a peer mentoring program. Do you know what happened with students who are not in the peer mentoring program?

Some of them were the students I interviewed who left the university. Since we had to pause this program, the number of calls from the student conduct office went right back up to the numbers prior to the mentoring program. These are students with innocent intentions who are perceived differently. A common one is a male student trying to introduce themselves or start a conversation with a pretty girl.  He is observing, learning, and building up the courage to say something. Yet she is seeing it as stalking. I work with these students to avoid the formal conduct hearing

• I would argue that reminding students of assignments is a need; intervention is not to have a staff member call them every night (a parent actually asked me to do that), but working with the student to use tools on their phone or using an accountability system.

Absolutely. When I meet with students, as with the mentoring program, it is to start the semester with a system. Calendar, appointments, scheduling exams and all of the hard work. We also develop email templates together. And lastly they meet with my AT specialist to see demos of apps, AT, etc. 

• Were you able to explore more on what the student actually meant by “they didn’t get me”? To me it can mean a million things, including the instructor not believing in them.

It encompasses a LOT. Mainly, they felt that people (the general community) did not know about autism and autistic norms. I didn't specifically as if they felt they weren't believed, but it was more the feeling that "my brain is different and they don't care or tell me I have to change" I have to "figure it out on my own"

• Similarly with the feeling of belonging, were you able to have them give you examples? To me, it can also relate to microaggressions and lack of accommodation on the side of the instructor or TA; I think “feeling of belonging” is a very broad term.

 Here at UMBC, our teams are the Retrivers. So there is a large community of "retriever nation", big homecoming events, carnival, and bonfire.  It's not very inclusive for those with sensory overload. So they are not "accessible". How can you identify as a retriever if you do not feel included?  ...lack of belonging. The physical events are accessible. Interpreters are available when needed, transcription is offered, but...  For my asd students, there is no sensory room, noise-canceling headphones available. If you ask why, the response will be "no one requested them". leads me to the next point: you do not know how to ask for something you didn't know you could even ask for. I had a student I met with weekly, and he told me he didn't attend an event because it would be too noisy. I recommend the headphones, and his eyes widened and said, "I never thought of that." 

Could you please add more on what needs are not covered by ADA, 504, and other legislation?

 

Many of the points listed above are not required under current legislation. If you consider all the potential supports covered in the IDEA and 504 as they apply to K-12, compared with what the ADA and 504 require of universities, the differences are significant.  IDEA can require a behavioral consultant, OT, PT, Speech, resource teacher, etc. 

Post-secondary: all supports fall away and are replaced with Accommodations. Essentially, accommodations do not include supports. Peer mentoring, coaching, and regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with someone are not required by the ADA or 504. They would be considered voluntary support services. If we take a student who is a quad and requires a PSA, in K-12, the district is responsible for providing and paying for that aide. In college, the student becomes responsible for paying 

Hope this make sense 

Michael 

[Florencia Ardon]

Hi Michael,

 

Thank you so much for your detailed answer! You seem to offer many resources and support! I agree—disability services offices are only obligated to provide access. Our initiative started partially to offer the extra piece not covered by law, because that’s truly needed.

 

RE: my kiddo--I already sent an official request for accommodations. The special ed people know me and we have a good relationship. One of my kids has had an IEP the whole time, the other had a 504 from 4 to 12 grade.

 

They know (and I tell them) that I lead the neurodiversity initiative at Cornell, that I give workshops on this topic, that I actually teach study skills and collaborate a lot with student disability services, so am familiar with all accommodations given in college and the workplace. (I also provide consultations to students and faculty). But, when a teacher doesn’t want to provide accommodations, they don’t. I’m attaching a picture of the slides my daughter’s teacher gave her…. (he does not post them or any notes, etc. on Canvas, and doesn’t teach much during the class).

 

I always think about the parents who have virtually no free time to dedicate to deal with all of this. Pff.

 

Thanks again!

Flor