The Americans Disabilities Act is broadly interpreted as bringing reasonable accommodation into the every day life of a person with disability.
Instructors are faced with this challenge of fulfilling their teaching responsibilities for all of their students, including students with disabilities. Students with disabilities are expected to meet the same standards in pursuing their academic program as those without disabilities.
Accommodations are alterations made in the way information is presented, in the deadlines students have to complete requirements, or in the manner in which their knowledge of course material is presented and acquired. Accommodations are also utilized to enable students with disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge, in their optimal mode of assessment.
Accommodations are meant to create a fair academic setting (level playing field) for students with disabilities, and not to provide advantages for these students. For students with disabilities, others in their classes, fair does demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Thus, accommodations are utilized in order to remove barriers of communications and academic participation to allow the ability of the student with a disability to fulfill course requirements.
There are many things that can be done in the classroom that will benefit the majority of your students, including students who have disabilities. The accommodations recommended for a student are not to alter fundamental course or departmental structure or academic requirements. Faculty members should, however, ask themselves the following questions regarding their program, course, and instruction procedures to determine what accommodations are needed for each individual student.
The critical factor in providing reasonable evaluation accommodations is determining the essential evaluation components of a course and the extent to which modifications are appropriate for a student with a disability. To determine this, the following questions should be answered.
Examination and test accommodations are determined on an individual basis. Accommodations do not provide an advantage for the student; rather, they help the student compensate for the effects of his/her disability so that examinations are equitable for a ll students.
The most commonly used examination accommodation is extra time. Students may receive extra time if it takes them longer to read, write or process the test material. Some students with medical or physical problems may need extra time to take breaks.
Other frequently used examination accommodations include the use of a word processor for students who have difficulty with spelling, organizing their ideas in writing, or the physical process of writing. Students with visual or physical impairments or se vere learning disabilities may need a reader or scribe to assist them in completing the test questions. The reader or scribe can not assist the student other than by reading the questions aloud or copying down what the student dictates to them. Some stu dents may also require writing tests in isolation, if they are easily distracted or need to be able to move around or take frequent breaks.
Accommodations strategies are listed, by type of disability, in the body of the web site, for the various types of teaching methods.
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Last updated: February 2, 2002 |
 Web Master Ed Keller |
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