Posted in theBismark Tribune, January 19, 2014
After struggling through classes at Bismarck State College, Kaela Surface sought out an alternative type of education at Beacon College in Leesburg, Fla., a school specifically geared toward students with learning disabilities.
Surface was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a math learning disability when she was about 4 years old.
….Beacon College has an enrollment of 190 students.
“Seventy-six percent of our students graduate with a BA degree within four years of admission,” Shelly Chandler, vice president of academic affairs at Beacon College, said. “We offer an education specially geared toward students with learning disabilities because we have a student-centered learning model with lots of support services.”
Some learning services offered at Beacon College are learning specialists, life coaches, occupational therapists, mental health counselors, math specialists and peer tutors.
Requirements for admission into Beacon are a regular high school diploma or GED, the ability to do college work as evidenced by IQ and achievement testing and a documented learning disability or ADHD.
