This is a practical guide for professors to accommodate students with disabilities and enhance student learning. As a teacher, you can make substantial and rewarding contributions as well. It is helpful to understand several major concerns that these students face.
Time:
To accommodate their disabilities, students usually need to spend more time on schoolwork and routine daily activities. They often rely on time-consuming learning methods that involve readers, note takers, tutors, tape recorders, and more. In meeting classes, students with mobility impairments sometimes must arrive late or leave early because of the additional time required to navigate around campus.
Access:
Inaccessible or partly accessible classrooms are a problem. In rooms with risers, students in wheelchairs have to sit in the back and therefore find it difficult to receive handouts, ask questions, and talk with instructors. Students with visual impairments cannot see items on the board, graphs, and overheads. Labs and computer centers are often crowded and difficult to navigate. Field trips may be inaccessible to students with mobility impairments.
Changes:
To meet their responsibilities, students must invest in detailed care and planning, often scheduling activities far in advance. Last-minute changes in classrooms, assignments, or examination dates can severely disrupt their plans.
Addressing the Question of Disabilities
It is best to address the question of disabilities directly, as part of the introduction to your class. At the beginning of each semester, make a general announcement: “If you need accommodations for any disability, please make an appointment to see me, or see me during my office hours.” Add a similar statement to your syllabus.
When you meet with a student who has a disability, explain the course requirements and ask the student to clarify any special needs. Does the physical layout of the classroom pose problems, and if so, how can they be addressed? What arrangements can be made to help the student participate in class discussions? Will alternative examination formats be needed? Students are usually their own best advocates, and they know the techniques and adaptations that best suit their needs. Remember that students with disabilities are students first, persons with disabilities second. It is natural for people who are not disabled to feel hesitant or uneasy when meeting people with disabilities for the first time. But people with disabilities are neither more nor less emotionally fragile than people without disabilities.
“Hidden” Disabilities
LEARNING DISABILITIES which hinder students of average or above-average intelligence to easily and dependably process various types of information. Students with dyslexia, for example, have a perceptual deficit that scrambles sequences of letters or numbers. Discuss with the student how the learning disability manifests itself and how the student has handled it in the past. It is important to realize that learning disabilities are not the result of a student’s intelligence, physical or emotional health, or cultural or socioeconomic background. Learning impairments may exist with other disabilities. For instance, students with head injuries resulting from traumatic accidents may require accommodations similar to those needed by persons with learning disabilities.
MILD TO MODERATE SENSORY DEFICITS (for example, low-level vision, slight hearing impairment), which can be accommodated by appropriate seating arrangements and room lighting.
CHRONIC DISABILITIES (for example, diabetes, seizure disorders, cardiac or respiratory conditions, lupus, cancer), which may interfere with stamina, attention span, and alertness, especially when there are adjustments in medical management. The attendance and performance of these students may be erratic, so they may need a flexible schedule for assignments.
The Issue of Physical Access
MAKE SURE THAT THE CLASSROOM IS ACCESSIBLE. Most buildings on campus have entrances that are accessible to students who use mobility aids (for example, canes, crutches, walkers) and wheelchairs. Individual classrooms and laboratories differ in how accessible they are. If you need to switch to a more accessible room, call the Registrars Office at ext. 3185.
PAY ATTENTION TO SEATING NEEDS. Students who use canes, crutches, or walkers may need a chair or desk that is close to the door. Students with other types of disabilities may need classroom aides such as note takers, lab assistants, and readers; make sure that seating is available for these aides as well. The approach to seats must be flat, without steps or uneven surfaces. Wheelchair users need flat or ramped access. Classroom tables or desks must have enough clearance for students using wheelchairs to get their legs underneath. Lab tables and computer consoles should be set up so that wheelchair users can comfortably reach the equipment.
MONITOR ACCESS TO OUT-OF-CLASS ACTIVITIES. Be sensitive to questions of access when planning field trips, assigning lab and computer work, and recommending visits to museums or attendance at off-campus lectures.
BE AWARE OF STUDENTS’ TAPE RECORDERS. Students who cannot take notes in class may routinely tape lectures. For their benefit, it is important that you lecture clearly from a position close enough to the microphone to allow recording. Always explain what you are demonstrating in class, what you are writing on the board, or what is being depicted in slides or other visual aids. Students with hearing impairments may ask you to wear a lapel microphone, which is linked to a headset that amplifies your voice through wireless radio transmission.
FACE THE CLASS WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING. Students with hearing impairments who read lips cannot do so when the speaker’s head is turned. If you are writing on the board or narrating a desktop demonstration, try to avoid talking when you are facing the board or the desktop.
Methods of Class Participation
During your initial meeting, with students who have disabilities, ask to help them participate in class. Students who cannot raise their hands to answer or ask questions, for example, may feel isolated or ignored. Ask them how they wish to be recognized in the classroom. Some students will want you to call on them. Others may prefer to meet periodically with you before or after class to discuss the course content.
CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES TO ORAL PRESENTATIONS, IF NEEDED. Oral presentations may be difficult for students with speech impairments. Some students may want to give their presentations with the help of interpreters. Others may want to write out their presentations and ask an interpreter or another student to read it to the class. Still others may wish to give their presentations without assistance and should be encouraged to do so. You can request an outline as a record of the organization of concepts.
Written Assignments and Exams
ENSURE THAT STUDENTS GET THE ACADEMIC HELP THEY NEED TO SUCCEED IN YOUR CLASS. Although a student may have an in-class aide such as a note taker or sign-language interpreter, these aides are not academic tutors. Students with learning disabilities may benefit from ongoing tutorial help from graduate student instructors.
WHEN APPROPRIATE, ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO USE WORD PROCESSING PACKAGES to write their papers. Students with learning disabilities or with reduced manual dexterity can benefit from drafting and revising their papers on a computer. Students with dyslexia and similar information processing disorders should be encouraged to use computers that have spell checking features or to work with a proofreader or an editor while preparing their final copy.
PROVIDE APPROPRIATE TEST-TAKING CONDITIONS. Some students with physical or learning disabilities or both may need one or more of the following accommodations to complete their exams:
- A writing aide to transcribe their dictated answers to exam questions
- A separate room with better lighting, fewer distractions, or special equipment such as a computer console, video magnifier, or text-to-speech converter
- An extended exam period for students to write slowly, who dictate answers to an aide, or who have a unique processing speed
- The option of having exam questions presented in written or oral form, both of which should be equivalent
- The option of submitting exam answers in an alternative format: an oral version for a written exam, a written version for an oral exam, or an adapted form of an essay exam.
If your academic department cannot provide alternate test accommodations for students with disabilities, the Disability Services Office will do so, given sufficient advance notice. If you have questions or problems about appropriate test-taking accommodations, call Disability Services at ext. 1372.
Provided by:
The Center for Student Progress/Disability Services
Located at Wick House
330-941-1372
Adapted from:
The Division of Rehabilitation Education Services
University of Illinois