The number of students with learning disabilities has increasedover the years, but so has SMU’s preparedness to helpthem.

“The number of people requesting accommodations hasincreased,” said Karen Settle, the director of the Counselingand Testing Center at the SMU health center,” and so has thenumber we have accommodated.”

Alexa Shannon, the learning disabilities specialist at theAltshuler Learning Enhancement Center, said about 315 students oncampus have been diagnosed as having a learning disorder, attentiondeficit disorder, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder andthat this number has not grown considerably in the two years thatshe’s worked at SMU.

“I haven’t seen a huge jump,” Shannon said,”but I have seen a lot of students [seeking help] over thelast two years.

“It’s not that more people have it, but more peopleare being diagnosed.”

Settle said the increase is due to increased awareness oflearning disorders.

“We didn’t even know ADD existed 30 yearsago,” Settle said. “We’ve just done a better jobof alerting the public of the condition, and advisers are better atpicking up cues [to help in diagnosing students withdisabilities].”

Settle is in charge of testing students who think they may havea learning disability.

“Usually they’re referred by a professor, theiradviser, a parent, sometimes even by themselves,” shesaid.

Settle said that about half of the students tested are diagnosedwith LD or ADHD. The rest, she believes, are strugglingacademically for other reasons.

“There are other emotional problems that can cause a lackof focus, such as depression,” she said. “Drug use,especially marijuana, can contribute to troublefocusing.”

Settle also believes that some students struggle in adjusting tocollege and confuse this with having a learning disability.

“I think [ADD] has become something of a buzzword,”Settle said. “Students hear it on TV and think they haveit.”

Settle believes it’s frequently a case of a student simplysuffering from high expectations or needing to change his studyhabits.

“Some students think they should have a 4.0 GPA and arestruggling with a 3.2,” she said. “Usually, they justneed help in note taking, or they’re not going toclass.”

Settle also sits on the President’s Advisory Committee onthe Needs of Persons with Disabilities, which works to accommodateand otherwise assist students with disabilities.

After being diagnosed, a student would see Shannon at the LECfor additional academic counseling and accommodations.

“It all depends on what the students needs,” Shannonsaid.

Many students need help with time management or organization,but Shannon also helps them with self-advocacy — learning howto talk to professors, explaining their condition and telling whatthe professors can do to help.

Shannon said that there are many things professors do whilelecturing that can disrupt the focus of a student with a learningor attention disorder, like mumbling or speaking with their backsto the class while writing on the board.

While Shannon said the number of students with a learningdisability in a class rarely exceeds three to five students, shebelieves that the accommodations those students need help allstudents.

One problem Shannon sees in students who are confronting theirlearning disability is the shame or embarrassment that canaccompany the diagnosis.

“Some don’t want to admit that they have it or areconcerned what it might look like [to seek help],” she said,”but for the most part, they make a healthy adjustment.

“The more mature students take advantage of what’shere [at SMU] for them.”