Parents and Guardians
Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services understands that parents and family are integral to the success of their students, especially students with disabilities. Often, students with disabilities have not only relied on their parent’s involvement throughout their K-12 educational experience but parents have often been in a position to make decisions on the students behalf which can make the transition to college especially challenging as this is no longer the case.
When your student is taking courses at ASU they are responsible for their accommodations. They are expected to attend and participate in their intake meeting, doing the majority of the sharing. They should be prepared to answer questions about previous accommodations, their disability and how it impacts them, what challenges they have experienced in the past, and begin to anticipate their needs. We understand they may not know exactly what they will be needing, however starting to understand these topics will help them throughout their college experience if they find they are impacted in new ways and require additional support and accommodations.
Parents are welcome, with the students permission, to attend meetings with the student.
If your student would like a parent or other person to have access to their education records, the student will need to initiate FERPA clearance through the ASU Guest access process. Information on this process can be found here: https://students.asu.edu/parent-guest-access.
Parents with FERPA clearance should expect:
- To be able to contact university officials, covered under the guest access, and receive information related to their student as is pertinent to the situation.
- To be able to share information with Student Accessibility that might be helpful in support of their stduent.
- Receive information on an as needed basis if it is pertinent to their students overall success.
Parents with FERPA clearance should not expect:
- Authority to make decisions or determinations on a student's behalf including final decisions involving accommodations
- Student Accessibility to call and check in on the status of their student.
- Faculty to check in with parents if their student is not doing well or misses classes.
- To have blanket access to information related to and about their student.
- To call and ask if your student went to class today.
Parent FAQ
Student Accessibility staff are happy to reach out to your student and ask that the student connect with you directly. If you feel this is an emergency and your student is in crisis or danger We recommend contacting emergency services such as ASU Police or 911.
Student Accessibility encourages families to support their students in learning how to develop self-advocacy and self-reliance skills that will help them throughout their life. Helping show your student how to do something rather than doing it for them can make a big difference for them. Student Accessibility is always happy to provide instructions and demonstrate how to request accommodations.
Reach out to your student to discuss your concern. If you have not already, you should discuss a communication plan. Encourage your student to connect with their faculty or their academic advisor and discuss the class. Faculty have office hours for that purpose, to support students.
There are many resources provided at ASU to support success. Student Accessibility and Learning Services is one of those offices. Helping students understand the importance of utilizing the resources available to them can be a broad discussion that can later be focused to the benefits of working with our office. Remember this is a transitional period and coaching your student through can have a positive impact.
It is critical that students request their accommodations each semester. Accommodations in higher education are determined on a case by case and course by course basis. The process of requesting accommodations has been simplified, but it also allows the student to be in control of what they need and when they need it.
Parents are encouraged to talk to their student to discuss concerns. Encouraging your student to connect with their Accessibility Consultant at the Student Accessibility office can also make a difference in figuring out if there are other things that can be done. The more information the student shares about what is going on, the better Student Accessibility can work with your student to ensure they have access.
In higher education, the student is the driver. Your student will need to learn how to talk about their disability and the impact it has on them in an educational setting. When they meet with their Accessibility Consultant, they will be asked this type of information. Once your student is registered with the Student Accessibility office, they will need to request their accommodations each semester. If they have testing accommodations, they will need to notify us of when those exams are taking place, if our office is proctoring them. If they use other services, they will need to communicate with our office the information so we are aware of what those needs are. Most of that information can be done within the student portal. Students can learn more about those processes on the Current Student page as well. The Student Accessibility office tracks the needs of students through that system and ensure students are receiving the access they need.