Book Review

Title: Going to College: Expanding Opportunities for People with Disabilities:

Authors: Elizabeth Evans Getzel & Paul Wehman

Publisher: Brookes, 2005.

Paper, ISBN: 1-55766-742-X, 336 pages 

Cost: $34.95 

Reviewer: Rhonda S. Black

      Going to College presents a well-designed and coordinated set of 21 chapters by 21 contributing authors.  However, inherent in texts with material written by several authors, some information is redundant.  The book is suited for an audience of professionals working in secondary or higher education who are relatively new to the area.  It provides a good introduction to issues that individuals with disabilities confront upon embarking on a college education.     
      The book is divided into four sections.  The first section, College Planning and Admissions, includes chapters discussing the needs and challenges associated with going to college, understanding the regulatory environment, self-determination, and the role of disability support services.  The chapter titled “Understanding the Regulatory Environment” was the most valuable. Virginia Reilly and Trent Davis thoroughly explained the ADA definition of disability and guidelines for documenting one’s disability.  An informative College Accessibility Checklist and Additional Resources Appendix were included adding to the utility of this chapter.  
	The second section, Creating a Welcoming Environment Through Design and Implementation, includes chapters describing Universal Design in college teaching, support services on campus, strategies for students with hidden disabilities in professional schools, the role of technology, and training faculty and staff.  While the chapter on support services duplicates some material in the first section, there are unique aspects such as a specific Academic and Career Plan Form that makes the process more concrete.  The chapter regarding hidden disabilities duplicates much in the third section, but discusses preparing for clinical placements and disclosure strategies in much greater detail than the following section.  The Universal Design and Technology chapters are, by far, the best chapters in this section.  These chapters add to the knowledge base in easy-to-read language suitable for both the practitioner and potential student.  These chapters, along with a chapter titled Training University Faculty and Staff, are especially relevant to those who provide training for college instructors in making their courses more widely accessible.  
	The third section, Applications for Students with Disabilities, contains three chapters with specific information on students with psychiatric, learning disabilities or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and intellectual disabilities.  The chapter on psychiatric disabilities focuses primarily on coordination of mental health services and providing peer mentors.  But, little information is provided for “how” to provide accommodations other than the need for attitudinal change.  The chapter on students with learning disabilities or ADHD outlines two specific approaches – Strategic Tutoring and The Possible Selves Program.  Strategic Tutoring goes beyond content area tutoring to include instruction in strategies for learning, organizing, and planning.  The tutor helps the learner identify current strategies and to systematically and explicitly learn more efficient strategies when necessary.  The Possible Selves Program targets student motivation by examining future goals and hoped-for possible selves. Steps include discovering, thinking, sketching, reflecting, growing, and performing.  I personally enjoyed this chapter because it did not redundantly repeat the characteristics of students with disabilities.  Rather, it provided specific strategies with discussion of research supporting these strategies, and sufficient detail that the reader could walk away with concrete implementation tactics.  The chapter regarding students with intellectual disabilities provided a similar program description – the C3 – College Career Connection. However, this description consisted mostly of “visioning” and planning practices, with little information on actual implementation. 
	The fourth and final section of the book is titled Creating Opportunities for Employment and includes two chapters -- Internships and Field Experiences, and Career Planning and Placement.  The first chapter regarding internships discusses career development in general, and the need for career exploration and orientation. This chapter then discussed several topics discussed previously in the chapter on strategies for students with hidden disabilities in professional schools (section 2) including disclosure about disability, individualized planning, university-community partnerships and the role of assistive technology. The final chapter discusses the role of the career placement center on campus and again emphasizes the importance of job experience before graduation, and university-community partnerships.    
	Overall, the text provides relevant information for those in the college environment charged with making postsecondary education more accessible and supportive. Filled with case studies, program descriptions, and documentation guidelines, this text is a valuable resource for practitioners who provide or coordinate services for young adults and adults with disabilities. However, the chapters do act more as “stand-alones” than an integrated piece of work.  Much information is slightly restated in different chapters by different authors.  While repetition aids in the acquisition of knowledge, this book seems to be resource guide in which the reader would select various chapters based on a specific interest, rather than a text to be read from cover-to-cover.   

Rhonda S. Black, is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  She teaches courses in transition, social competence, research design, and methods for general education teachers.  She can be reached at rblack@hawaii.edu