One of my dreams has always been to be a doctor. I worked hard in high school and planned to major in biomedical engineering in college before going to medical school. However, those plans took a detour during my sophomore year when I contracted meningitis, which caused a stroke. Because of the neurological damage and hearing loss that resulted from the stroke, I have problems retaining knowledge, processing information and managing my time.
I’m still working toward a college degree, but now I need a little extra help. CLE gives me that help by teaching me how to cope with my challenges and develop strategies to work around them. Discussion group sessions with our staff psychologist have been very helpful in teaching me how to overcome obstacles in my daily life, and I am in a group with other students who experience some of the same problems. We learn about each others’ challenges and think of new ways to overcome them. I’ve learned a lot about the special needs that affect other students, and I love helping other people with their challenges, too.
In addition to the discussion group, I also get a lot of help from my tutors. They check my assigned work, provide structured study time for tests and help me develop academic skills. The structure provided by the discussion groups and tutoring sessions has helped me learn how to budget my time. Now I’m less likely to procrastinate on my assignments and get frustrated by deadlines.
CLE also helps me coordinate with my school’s Office of Student Disabilities so I can talk to my instructors and express my need for additional exam time or special support.
I don’t think I could have gotten this far in college without CLE. I still want to go to medical school, and I’m working toward that goal one step at a time.
