The LEAP Program, a part of disability services, has grown to help numerous students here on campus since it was developed in 1996.
LEAP, Learning Empower-ment for Academic Performance, works with the Department of Human Services Vocational Re-habilitation to assist students who have learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.
“Each year we have added positions in the LEAP program to serve other students with other disabilities other than learning disabilities or attention deficit disorder to be served through the LEAP program,” said Martha Edde-Adams, director of the LEAP program and assistant director of disability services.
“The only catch to that is that they have to be sponsored through vocational rehab,” Edde-Adams said.
“We started with five to 10 students the first year I was here and it is over 200 now.”
The office provides workshops that cover financial planning and resume writing, peer mentoring, the conversion of textbooks into specialized formats and social activities.
Students workers tutor, “but they also share their experiences with what they have done already in school,” she said.
“The population for individuals with disabilities has a very low ratio for staying involved or getting involved on campus,” she said.
“So what we have tried to do this semester is provide some leisure activities.”
The increase in the number of students involved with the program is due to a number of factors.
“The opening up of the seats in the program, allowing students other than just those with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder has really increased the numbers, as well as individuals who were part of the secondary school system under the Individuals with Disabilities Act who are now coming into the college population and come knowing what accommodations are and knowing what they are eligible for,” Edde-Adams said. [That] has increased the number of students dramatically.”
State-funded programs like the LEAP program and state-funded education are all cutting their budgets this year.
This office, which also employs two secretaries and five graduate students, may be affected by both cuts.
The LEAP program is funded completely by grant money through the state.
The program grant is due for re-write in March.
“Until we hear from the commissioner from vocational rehabilitation on what they are going to do as far as our new contract goes, we just don’t know,” Edde-Adams said.
For more information on the LEAP program, call 439-8494. The office is located in Suite A on the lower level of the Culp Center.

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