Classroom Accommodations
Although many accommodations can be used in the classroom, the appropriateness of an accommodation must be considered on a case-by-case basis. That is, what may be appropriate in one setting may not be appropriate in another.
For example, students with learning disabilities in mathematics frequently request the use of a calculator in classes where a calculator is normally not allowed. A distinction may be drawn between a class where calculation may be secondary to the class objective (e.g. chemistry class) and a class where calculation is itself an essential element (e.g. algebra or statistics). Two questions to ask are:
- Is the accommodated function an essential element of the curriculum? If the answer to this is no, then go to question 2.
- Would the accommodation fundamentally alter the course of study? If the answer is no, the accommodation is probably reasonable.
With that in mind, consider each of the following in-class accommodations and determine whether they are reasonable?
- Calculator during tests
- Tape recorder
- Notetaker
- Extended time for outside assignments
- Alternate test format
