JJC’s StAR program accomodates those needing extra help

JJC’s StAR program accomodates those needing extra help


By cindy wojdyla cain ccain@stmedianetwork.com Oct 28, 2010 02:37:28PM

http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/2107269-418/star-students-jjc-program-disabilities.html


JOLIET — Sarah Krug knew something was wrong all the way back in first grade.
She couldn’t comprehend the material and her reading skills were below grade level.

At first, educators thought she had dyslexia or some neurological disorder. But those tests came back negative. Instead, she was diagnosed with a learning disability that affects her ability to comprehend written words.

She struggled with her studies throughout grade school and high school. But her biggest test was ahead of her as she headed to Joliet Junior College last fall.

Luckily for Krug, 19, of Joliet, JJC has a program designed to help her and any other student with a disability succeed. Called Student Accommodations and Resources (StAR), the program provides tutors, computers, software, note takers and sign language interpreters to accommodate disabilities.

An open house for StAR will be held Wednesday (see sidebar). The open house was scheduled in October because it’s disability awareness month, and 2010 is the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, said Jacque Klika, StAR manager.

During a recent event at the school to raise awareness about disabilities, “students said there has been a lot of shame with having a disability all their lives,” Klika said. But once they heard other students talking openly about their disabilities and they learned how StAR could help them, they felt better, she added. “They kind of lose that shame.”

The program has been a godsend for Krug, who is studying to be an athletic trainer.
On Monday she demonstrated a computer program called Kurzweil that reads printed materials aloud

“I can slow it down or speed it up,” she said.

Without StAR, Krug knows she would struggle.

“Seeing and hearing the material at the same time helps me understand it better and it helps me remember it,” she said.

Students must complete evaluation tests or have an official diagnosis from a licensed professional before they can be eligible for StAR, said Lori Smith Okon, a special needs counselor who works with StAR students.
Students who use the program’s services have disabilities involving learning, hearing, vision, speech, mobility or mental health and autism issues. And it’s up to StAR to help with the accommodation.

For instance, someone with test anxiety can take a test in bite-sized chunks instead of all at once until they overcome their fears, Okon explained.

Students who have physical disabilities get note takers who write down lecture material. Hearing-impaired students get sign language interpreters — whatever it takes to get the students through their classes.
Okon tries to get parents involved, too, by showing them their offspring’s progress in classes in “real time.”

“The more you get parents involved, the greater the success,” she said.

About 400 students are getting help from StAR this year. The number grows as enrollment at the school increases and diagnostic tests improve.

Klika said last year there were 17 students with Asperger Syndrome, one of the autism spectrum disorders; this year there are 32.

Now that she has been in the program for more than a year, Krug is happy to give it a rave review.

“If you’re going to come to JJC and you need an accommodation for anything, go to StAR,” she said.

“They’re there to help you. They’re happy to help you in any way they can.”