Liane Holliday Willey - Pretending to be Normal

(a) Handicapped parking passes.The ability to park your car near your building will enable you avoid overcrowded and visually perplexing parking lots.

(b) Elevator keys.Ask for these if you find yourself easily disoriented when faced with big crowds and continuous flights of stairs or if you think a few moments in the cocoon like elevator space will help you to calm down.

(c) Special student transportation assistance.If the school runs a bus service for students who would otherwise find it hard to drive themselves to campus, inquire to see if you can purchase a pass to use this benefit.

(ii) MAKING THE CAMPUS MAKE SENSE TO YOU

(a) Walk around campus as if you are a photographer and take mental pictures of everything that catches your interest with your mind’s eye. Sketch what you see, even if you are not an artist and have to rely on boxes, circles or triangles to represent the buildings, structures, walkways, streets, and landscaping elements you want to include. Use colored pencils or markers to help the sketches look like the real thing.

(b) Write detailed notes that tell you what you will see as you go from one place on campus to another.

(c) Take a tape recorder with you as you walk around campus and record what you are seeing and where you are going. Include all the details you need, but keep separate tapes of each destination’s trip so that you do not make things too confusing. For example, record one set of directional instructions that follow your morning class schedule and another that records your afternoon schedule and others that might help you navigate from your home to the library or your home to the athletic stadium or the student center to a shopping mall. In other words, separate each trip as if it were a separate song on a tape.

(d) Practice moving about campus with someone who will help you find your way around. As you do, make certain you talk about what you are doing, and that you do not become distracted by small talk or other discussions. Focus on making a mental, verbal and auditory map. Keep in mind that the more you practice, the better you will be able to imprint the information you need on your long-term memory banks and so, the sooner you will be able to find your way all around campus without relying on your maps or other information.

Many colleges will make special arrangements with special needs students that will allow for great flexibility in scheduling and graduation requirements. For example, you might be allowed to take less than the standard course load, you might be granted waivers or course substitutions, and you might even be able to plan a completely unique field of study that is designed solely for you. With those thoughts in mind, consider the following things:

(a) Never let an advisor or friend talk you into taking a course that you know will be more than you can handle at the time.

(b) Never sign up for a class that meets earlier than you routinely like to wake up or later than you routinely like to relax. If you are a morning person, do not take evening classes and vice versa.

(c) Try very hard not to take advanced level courses before you have taken their prerequisite courses, unless you have spoken to the instructor and have been reassured that you can master the material without the introductory level course.

(d) Build in time for fun and recreation, no matter how you define those concepts.

(e) Keep drop dates on your calender so that if you decide a course is too difficult for you, you can drop it without affecting your grade point average.

(f) The moment your instructor tells you when homework is due or when tests will be administered, write them on your calendar so that you cannot fail to remember them.

(g) Send a copy of your course syllabi and your schedule to your parents or support friend so that they can help remind you of important dates and commitments.

(h) Do not schedule your classes back to back unless they are in the same building. It can be too taxing to try and navigate your way through campus under time pressures.

(a) Study your least favorite subject first.

(b) Study during your most productive part of the day, avoiding times when you typically feel tired, restless, hungry, over-stimulated, anxious, etc.

(c) Experiment with studying in the same place — a «study spot» reserved only for studying, not sleeping, socializing or relaxing.

(d) Prepare short study tools that you can rely on and review when you find you have a few minutes to spare.

(e) Experiment with your environment when you study. Determine if you need quiet or background noise, bright or diffused light, a well organized or messy desk and possibly a snack or something to drink.

(f) Set short-term and long-term goals that you try to meet by a certain time. For example, a short-term goal might be that you set a goal of studying one hour a day for each course, while a long-term goal might be that you review your materials for at least two hours before each examination.

(g) Monitor your attention span, so that if you feel you are growing restless, tired or bored, stop studying and do something else until you find you can go back to studying. Discover how long you can study at one given time and try not to go beyond that time limit before you do change your activities.

(h) Write your notes in a way that sparks your memory most. You might underline or circle thoughts and words, draw arrows or stars by specific concepts, indent major ideas or details, change the style of your writing from cursive to print within each page of notes, etc.

(i) Make use of note taking and study tools

• 3 x 5 note cards that have short ideas written on them that might include mathematical and scientific formulas, definitions of terms, and general concepts

• an audio tape recorder to tape lectures

• a separate notebook for each class that allows you to keep all your notes, hand-outs, and homework assignments in one place

• a variety of differently colored pens and pencils that will enable you to prepare visually appealing and effective notes.

1. Practice stress reduction programs, which might include yoga or other similar physical exercises, deep breathing, bio-rhythm feedback or meditating. If you do not already have a program you regularly rely on, ask your counselor to help you find a program that matches your needs and your interests.

2. Turn to your favorite hobby or interest when you feel yourself getting overwhelmed.

3. Listen to the type of music that will calm your nerves.

4. Keep a journal or written record of your thoughts, including your dreams and ambitions, your day-to-day routines, things that make you happy and sad, anything that confuses or frustrates you, and anything that causes you stress or over-stimulates you. Keep in mind there is no right or wrong way to journal. Anything goes. I usually purchase a composition notebook or some other kind of book filled with blank paper and literally put a pen or pencil to the paper until my thoughts flow, even if this means I simply doodle and draw. Words often come after such simple exercises. In a journal, you can write whatever you feel like writing, not stopping to worry about spelling or grammatical correctness, focusing instead on your thoughts, ideas and emotions. If all is going well, your journal will be a great reference for you to enjoy just as you might enjoy a scrap book or photo album. But, if all is not going well, then your journal can serve as a record of when and possibly why things began to get difficult for you. If this happens, share as much of your journal as you can with a counselor, advisor or other support person so they can help you decide how to deal with the issues that plague or annoy you. This would be especially important if you ever come to conclude the stress is beginning to interfere with your ability to stay awake, sleep, eat, take care of your personal hygiene, study, make conversations or simply enjoy life. Stress can be crippling. Do what you can to control it before it controls you.