Print Story Email Story Discuss Story (2)

Recommend ( 0 )

Courtesy photo Sara Canali proudly shows off her GED diploma that she got in the mail from the state of Florida. She graduated from high school with a special diploma but she wanted her GED. Because of her disabilities, it took her three years to obtain the degree but her dream was recently accomplished.

Related Links

advertisement

published: Sunday, August 08, 2010

Determination drives quest for degree

Special to the News-Sun

SEBRING - For most students who graduate high school going onto college is easy, but for some individuals with disabilities it is a struggle.

Sara Canali, 24, of Sebring, graduated from Sebring High School in 2007 with a special diploma, which is what all pupils in Exceptional Student Education classes receive. That was not enough for her. Sara, who has cerebral palsy and auditory processing disorder, knew in her heart at age 16 that she wanted to go to college so that meant she needed to get a general educational development (GED) degree.

While attending ninth grade at Sebring High School, Sara remembers her reading teacher, Veronica Hawthorne talking about setting goals and planning for the future.

"I heard her say to one of the students that colleges don't accept special diplomas. You would have to get a GED," Sara said. "That's when I already set it in my mind what I wanted to do when I graduated from high school."

Her goal was set but the hurdles she had to jump were enormous. Sara, a quiet student, has always been a hardworker at school and never got into trouble. Even though she has always had trouble hearing and problems with processing information that is spoken too fast, she was not diagnosed with auditory processing disorder until after high school in October 2007.

"My grandparents and I knew that I had auditory processing disorder. I had all the symptoms. We had a hard time getting the doctors to diagnose APD because they were saying they couldn't finish the tests. They were going too fast for me," Sara said.

Because of her cerebral palsy, she got around school in a wheelchair, but it was her APD that was the biggest challenge. "I use captions to watch TV and use a CapTell phone like TTY (phones that have written captions for everything the caller says)."

Prior to graduating high school, Sara took the TABE (Test for Adult Basic Education) test to determine her skill level. The test results came back after she graduated. Sara had a ninth grade reading level, fifth grade language level and a sixth grade math level. These levels were up from the third grade level she had in reading and math when she first entered high school.

In September 2007, Sara enrolled in GED classes at South Florida Community College in Avon Park. The GED program is done independently. Sara set up a schedule to go from 8 a.m. to noon four days a week with the help of Vocational Rehabilitation who set up transportation for her to attend classes. She had assistance from SFCC instructor Jeff Fitts who would check her work and answer questions.

"I did OK with reading and language on my own, but I had trouble with math," Sara said.

An SFCC student assisted Sara for five months in tutoring her in areas like algebra and math. After that, she recruited two more tutors through the Sebring High School's National Honor Society to help with fractions, geometry and word problems. She was showing great strides in math skills and had already reached the highest level in language.

In November 2008, Sara passed her TABE test in language. Her confidence was not built up enough for math so she waited until March 2009 to take that TABE test.

"I passed my math TABE test in March 2009 with a perfect score of 12.9," Sara said with excitement. "I would not have made it this far if it wasn't for my tutors."

Sara then was ready to take the GED practice test. Even though she had accommodations from the Sebring High School to take the GED, it was not taken into consideration that she has to use a keyboard in order to do the written essays.

Sara's next struggle was with the state of Florida to allow her to use a keyboard to write an essay. This is where her grandparents, Tom and Jane Canali who are also her caretakers, stepped in to help.

"My grandma had to call Washington D.C. to get them to approve for me to use the keyboard," Sara said. "It took about six weeks to get it approved so that I could use the keyboard for essays for GED."

Test day was finally set for June 2009. Sara took one test a day in reading, language, math, science and social studies. It normally takes six to eight weeks to get the final results back since it is mailed to Tallahassee but it was four months before she heard anything.

"It wasn't until October 2009 before I heard anything because they lost my essay. I was the only student who had typed the essay. I had to go back to write another essay," Sara said.

Two weeks later, she got the final results. The minimum passing score is 410 for each subject. Sara scored 430 in reading, 420 in language and essay, 490 in math, 480 in science, and 390 in social studies.

"I passed everything but social studies," she said.

So it was back to the drawing board to recruit Fitts, National Honor Society students and family members to help her with social studies.

Then on May 20 and 21 this year, Sara took her social studies GED test again. After six weeks, she received the notice on June 29 that she passed social studies with a score of 500.

"I had enough points total that I passed my GED. After three years of hard work, I did it. I'm very excited," Sara said with excitement.

Her goal is to go to college and study music and art. Sara has kept her focus on her dream throughout the three years it took in getting her GED. That is not to say that she had doubts at times, but she had a good support team behind her all the way. She even watched two of her friends with disabilities give up in taking the GED program because it was too hard for them. Sara was determined to keep going.

"Even though there were days I was very frustrated, my grandparents and my family supported me. There were days I would say I want to go back to high school and be in ESE classes. My grandma would n't give up on me. I was grateful to have the support from my family, friends and everyone in the community," Sara said.

The Canalis are now researching colleges in Florida that work with people with special needs. In their research, they found a college in northern Florida that actually accepts students with a special diploma.

"My advice to students with or without a disability is that if you have a dream or you know what you want to do after you graduate from high school, tell somebody like your teacher or your counselor. Tell them so they can help you in any way they can to help you reach your goal. The important thing to remember is you can do anything if you just put your mind to it," Sara said.