College & Transition Counseling News

DA is excited to announce two members of our College & Transition Counseling department, Carey Eskesen and Jill Corbin, were recently approved by the Member Relations Committee of the National Association for College Admission Counseling to create a Learning Differences Special Interest Group (SIG).

"By establishing this SIG, we believe that an open forum amongst high school/independent counselors and members of the higher education community will allow for sharing of knowledge about programs, services and supports designed to enhance the learning environment of students with learning differences," Dr. Corbin said. "As this is a current—and growing—trend in higher education, we see a need for this type of open dialogue to occur."

 

The idea for the SIG developed when the team was attending the annual conference in Boston last September. Dr. Corbin co-presented with educators from Landmark College, The University of Arizona (SALT) and the College Living Experience on Finding Success for the Learning Disabled Student. There were secondary school counselors, independent counselors, members of community based organizations, and many post-secondary educators in the audience. Ms. Eskesen and Dr. Corbin toured a handful of colleges while in the Boston area that have structured programs for students with learning differences with quite a few other counselors from across the US (and even Guam)! They brainstormed the idea prior to the presentation and took the opportunity to pitch it to the attendees in the roomm who were all very encouraging. They then elected to move forward with the SIG proposal process. 

Each year at the annual conference th team will be provided a space to collaborate with fellow educators who work with--or have an interest in--students with learning differences. They hope to bring awareness to colleges who are excelling in those areas in order to help secondary counselors provide intentional guidance to students who could benefit from those services. Especially to students (and their parents) who are told that college is not an option after high school. 

 

Visit the SIG page on the NACAC website for additional information. Congratulations to Ms. Eskesen and Dr. Corbin on this exciting new leadership role!