Services for Learning Disabled and Educationally Disadvantaged Students During FY2009, the Fashion Institute of Technology continued its program ofsupport services and academic accommodations for learning disabled (LD) students attending the college. The objective of this program is to provide the support and accommodations necessary for their college success. While the main focus is on assisting students in meeting the academic and major area coursework requirements necessary forgraduation, the students are also provided academic counseling, advisement, job related skills and career advisement. By providing these services, the students’ grades and graduation rates are improved, and the students are better able to make career choices. Charlotte Brown, the chairperson of the Educational Skills Department, and Susan Altman served as co-directors of the program FY2009. Susan Altman, the Coordinator ofthe program, continued to work 12 hours per week, supported equally by the college and the Perkins Grant. The Coordinator’s responsibilities are to supervise the major program services: 1) Intake of new students 2)Enrollment of new and returning students 3) Academic advisement, planning and counseling 4) Tutor training, support and administration 5) Coordination of the program components and other FIT service providers concerning students’ learning styles and necessary accommodations 6) Supervision and planning ofmonthly staff meetings, student workshops and the annual retreat 7) Outreach to prospe ctive stu dents, pa rents an d high sc hool couns elors, i nformi ng them o f FIT ’s servic es 8) Collaboration with the career counselor to promote career development and job experiences and 9) Collaboration with the program’s academic counselor to help students reach their full potential. Our new career counselor, Georgette Smith, of FIT’s Career Services Department, joined ou r progr am wit h new foc us and e nergy. She worked c hiefly with the first a nd second year students, providing them with information about careers, thereby helping them make informed choices while in school. Furthermore, she helped with resume development and interviewing skills, and provided students with exposures to various work sites. In addition, the job bank, on MY FIT’s group page continued to be a source of job shadowing opportunities and internships. The students checked the constantly evolving bulleti n board li stings , and if int ereste d, were abl e to fol low the c ompany ’s link t o rese arch the company, and to our contact person to inquire about the listing. This tapped into the popula rity of social ne tworki ng site s such as LinkedI n, My Spa ce and Face book. Ms. Smith facilitated workshops during two student meetings, and accompanied us on our annual retreat. Students utilized services of our Career Counselor monthly (33%) and one time per semester (66%) and made comments as, “very useful,” “opened my eyes,” and “extremely helpful in resume development and searching numerous job opportunities.” 1
