What are reasonable accommodations and modifications?
Accommodations are changes which do NOT fundamentally alter or lower the standard or expectations of the course/standard/test.
Modifications are changes which provide access for a student with a disability to participate which, DO fundamentally alter or lower the standard or expectations of the course.
Both accommodations and modifications can be requested in any of the following:
- course content - for example, an eighth-grade student in a small school uses a wheelchair. He could attend physical education with other eighth-grade students without disabilities. He would do the swimming with the rest of the class, but during the weeks the class played basketball he would do other exercises.
- teaching strategies - for example, a teacher may hand a student with learning disabilities an outline of main points before each lecture, and at the end of each lecture, ask the student a question to check for comprehension.
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Five minute assignment: Give an example, for each of the following areas where modifications or accommodations can be requested. |
- standards
- tests
- presentations
- location
- timing
- scheduling
- expectations
- student responses
- environmental structuring
Next page: Accommodations versus modifications