7 - PMC MTC 2020 - PYT Q&A Session [Music playing] SONIA TANGUAY: So, Amanda uh do you have any questions for me? AMANDA BLAIS: I do! There's lots coming in Sonia and I know- SONIA: I figured! AMANDA: So, we're stuck for time a little bit but um there's questions coming in about whether or not a Psych-Ed Assessment is necessary in order to ensure that accommodations are available. SONIA: For a learning disability, yes. A psycho-educational assessment is necessary and must be done within the last three to five years. So, what we're looking for is for an assessment that has adult measures that has recommendations for post-secondary. So, an assessment that would have been done in primary school would not fall within that category. Uhm, however if you have an ADHD diagnosis and you ended up getting an assessment, a psycho-educational assessment to get confirmation of that ADHD diagnosis, a Psych-Ed Assessment is not needed. We have specific ADHD forms that can be completed by a psychiatrist, medical doctor, or a psychologist if you're receiving therapy uh, they can fill out that document. So, that is a lot more cost effective to go that route. AMANDA: Okay! So, recent would- uh So, somebody was asking about um, to define recent but you're saying recent would be over the age of 16 probably or within the last three years - SONIA: In the last three to five years. So, recent would be, yeah and adult measures typically are administered... can be administered at the age of 16 and above. AMANDA: Amazing! Okay um somebody asked uh how does a student's double time translate to university? SONIA: So, typically um what we provide in terms of accommodations for extra time is between 25 to uhm 50% extra time. So, double time is not a common accommodation that we grant in university. Uhm, again the if we were to grant um more extra time then we would be looking at the diagnosis, the disability, and the functional impairments uhm that are being documented as well as the- the courses themselves in terms of the task that the student is being asked to perform and how the specific aspect of their disability or functional limitation is going to impair the completion or their performance on that particular task. AMANDA: Okay awesome. Um and how soon should uh I register with the disabilities office? SONIA: So, you can register as early as- as soon as you- you receive an offer of admission. Uhm, So, as soon as you're told congratulations you've been accepted to this institution, though certainly you can register with the disabilities office. You will need however to follow up in closer to the start of September in order to set up those accommodations So, even though you're- you're doing the leg work or you're registering um you know in the spring or in the summer which I think is ideal because at least you can establish kind of a rapport with your coordinator or your counselor or advisor you'll need to meet again So, it's not just a one-time thing. If you're not sure and you're still waiting for your admission but you're still interested in finding out about documentation requirements or what specific institutions uh offer in terms of disability services, schedule an information meeting. AMANDA: And for the information meetings- they can be done before you get your- your offer of acceptance too right? SONIA: Correct. AMANDA: Yeah So, they could do it now even if they wanted to meet with somebody? SONIA: Yeah they in in February sometimes we have a lot of students that do information meetings um in March as well. So, I find that's a nice way to kind of just get some questions answered and that can be done by phone or by video conferencing uh no problem. AMANDA: Awesome! We have one here that says my parents keep talking about self-advocacy at university but I don't really know what that means, can you talk about that? SONIA: Ah that's a great question! That was one of my slides and I didn't have a chance to talk about it So, I'm just gonna read off my slide actually. So, thank you for asking that question. Um So, what is self advocacy well self advocacy is about understanding your disability, your learning profile, what - how to express it and articulate um what you're good at how your disability affects you in the learning environment. Self-advocacy is about expressing your needs in a way that promotes open communication and collaboration. So, it's not just a being forceful with being a self-advocate it's engaging in conversation in order to express what you think you may need and be open to suggestions. It's also understanding your responsibility and being able to ask for help, right? So, as a human being we- we are kind of we want to be independent we want to do things on our own sometimes and sometimes we feel that asking for help is a sign of weakness and by all means um what I tell students is if um if life is if asking for help is gonna make your life easier, why not ask? So, that's what I would say uh self-advocacy is. AMANDA: So, it's really important to kind of put yourself out there and ask for what you need help with or have questions about. SONIA: Mhmm, and even if you don't know right, like in terms of what I just talked about- your coordinator can actually help you kind of piece that information together and help you kind of articulate these things. AMANDA: Um a student's also asking they're considering a reduced course load, how will that affect their graduation date? SONIA: Okay um So, it may affect your graduation date um because it will take you longer. Um but there's certainly opportunities for you to take extra courses during the spring and summer terms. So, that's an option for you to graduate perhaps a little bit closer to your graduation date but I think you need to remember as a student that university is not a race, university is a marathon and I commented earlier about um looking at you know gaining meaningful uh employment skills as well as learning and developing new abilities as a student So, I think you- you need to- to kind of look at the big picture rather than just focusing on graduation date. AMANDA: Amazing, okay um somebody says- I would like to connect with an upper-year student to learn about their university experience, what would you recommend? SONIA: I think that's probably one of the best way to learn. Even though as a coordinator or advisor we know a lot, why- there's no better way to learn than from learning from another student. Student to student right? So, we do have a mentorship program it's called the student experience office and they have a mentorship program and you can connect with someone specifically, they try to pair up people in their programs and I think in the summer, there's also students or departments that reach out to students to answer specific questions. So, look at the Student Experience Office in in whichever institution that you choose to - or choose to attend and um I know that also in the summer I had a student this year actually who paired up with a mentor uh over the the summer and the person was in sciences and quite frankly the person did So, well and actually didn't end up using a lot of student support services because the mentorship kind of filled that need. AMANDA: That's amazing and actually that kind of segues nicely to our future student panel that we'll be having um in in about 10 minutes or So, right? So, um they'll get to get an update of like what that's going to look like. I think that's all the time we have for now, any closing word Sonia before we um send it off to Paddy? SONIA: I think overall you know plan ahead, yes this may bring a lot of uncertainty and perhaps a lot of uneasiness. A transition brings unfamiliarity but try to approach it uh with openness and seeing this as an opportunity can certainly be a great way to approach change and a new journey towards university. AMANDA: Amazing! Thank you So, much Sonia. I know that we also have an orientation video that we um did for our event this year that talked a lot about what you were reviewing during your presentation So, students should definitely check that out as well right? SONIA: Absolutely. AMANDA: Yeah, cool, okay thanks So, much Sonia. Paddy I'm turning it over to you. [Paddy]: Thanks Amanda and thanks Sonia. Just a whole lot of really- really important information for all the kids moving on. Just fantastic and uh as you said plan ahead and stay ahead So, much information for these kids. Uh also that wraps up our three presenters from the Paul Menton Centre, that's Amanda, and uh and Jordyn, and Sonia and just imagine when you move on to your post secondary if you get come across a star like one of those three they'll really-really help you in your and you're adapting and settling in in post-secondary. Okay So, uh I did want to mention another one of our special students today, uh this is a a student who's uh from Sir Robert Borden High School and student told me that they're now sponsored by IKEA sponsored by IKEA which means their assemblies take forever. (Chuckles) thank you, thank you, very much and there was a kid at West Carleton uh that I found out to who took the bus home, took the bus home with the principal made her take it back. Thank you, thank you very much. So, listen and all your planning and all your your thinking and all your studying it's all it's important for you to have a break to lighten up loosen up and relax a bit. That's part of what we're doing when I'm with you. Now what we're going to do is take a five minute break but before we do I'll let you know I want to come back we're going to have a special, powerful speaker uh talk to you and then we're going to have as Amanda mentioned, the student success panel students from uh Carleton University who like yourselves were in high school two or a few two or three years ago a couple of them actually attended Make the Cut and uh they're going to tell you how they're succeeding. (music).