What if Students Don’t Want Accommodations?

March 17th, 2013  

When students refuse to accept their accommodations, we become concerned that we are not fully implementing their plans. Here are some tips from the LRP Special Ed Connection newsletter.

  1. Document student’s refusal of accommodations. In one school district, teachers document refusals on an “accommodation review worksheet” (sample available at www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/270-2c.pdf ). This allows teachers to weigh in on accommodations that are effective or those that may no longer be needed.
  2. It’s the district’s duty to provide accommodations.  Do not blame the student or the parents for not implementing accommodations. Don’t adopt the attitude of, “I’ll leave the notes out for him, but if he doesn’t take them, he doesn’t take them.” If the student rejects an accommodation, the team should determine the issue and try to resolve it. Self-advocacy is important, but it doesn’t mean “that you put the student completely in charge.” Provide and encourage the student to use the accommodations.
  3. Gain buy – in from the student. Consider asking students: why are you rejecting the accommodations? Do you think they help you in the classroom? Are you embarrassed to use your accommodations? How can we help?

Ensure teachers understand accommodations.  For example, a student with preferential seating may not only need to be seated in front, but always near instruction. If a teacher tends to walk around while instructing, she will need to stay in the front

Accommodations & Modifications & Interventions, Oh My!

January 1st, 2013  

I have used those words interchangeably for years! Aren’t they the same thing? In reality, our students require a great deal more accommodations than they do modifications. With accommodations, we are not changing our learning expectations for the students—they are expected to learn what the other students are learning—rather we are providing more access to that learning for them by making some adjustments to the environment. And interventions are another thing altogether!

Here’s a break down:

 Modifications are the changing, lowering or reducing of learning and assessment expectations. This includes allowing a student to learn less material than is expected of other students (reducing the number of items on an assignment or the common “shortened assignments”) or revising assignments or tests to make them easier (reminding student of their reading strategies right before testing reading).  Modifications may be appropriate during instruction. If they are necessary during large-scale assessments, such as the HSGQE, pre-approval must be obtained from the state.

 Accommodations are practices and procedures in the areas of presentation, response, setting, or timing/scheduling that provide equitable instructional and assessment access for students with disabilities.

 An Intervention is something that is added to your existing instructional strategies to teach new skills, build fluency in a skill, or encourage a child to apply an existing skill to new situations or settings. Interventions are good educational practice.

ModsAccomsInterv

Our IEP forms include the following section for modifications and accommodations:

ModsAccomsInterv2

Thanks to Dan Kaasa, Jill Ramponi and Staci Gonzales for the information provided in this article.

Other websites for intervention help:
www.interventioncentral.org
www.gosbr.net/reading
www.studentprogress.org

Assessment Accommodations in Place in the Classroom?

November 21st, 2012  

A new field has been added to the Assessment Participation section of the IEP.

This new field is a way for case managers to confirm that the accommodations that are checked in for assessment participation align with the Program Modifications/Accommodations  that are used on a daily basis in the classroom.

The accommodations that are used for state testing must be accommodations that students are familiar with and that they are using on a regular basis.  This new field will eventually be added into the error check routine for IEPs, and the data will be cleared on an annual basis.  At each annual IEP review, the team should be verifying that the accommodations that are checked for use during testing are the same or similar to those that are listed in the program mods/accoms section of the IEP.

For students who are not subject to state testing (grades PK-2 or students who have passed the HSGQE), you can check the N/A option.

Snapshot of Assessment Participation section of IEP database

September 2012 FAQs

September 1st, 2012  

Q: On my Summary of Services page, I need to include a category of service that is not listed in the database. What do I do?
A: In most instances, you will not need to add what is not already listed. Most services your school provides will fall under a special education academic or behavior service or one of the common related services. If the team feels the need to specify a service outside of what is listed, fill in the “Other” field on the Summary of Services page. However, you can clarify services in the Additional Comments field. This might include clarifying that the “Reading” minutes will be focused on pre-academics or that the “Writing” minutes include 30 minutes in general ed 5 days a week and 30 minutes in sped 4 days a week. Please do not use the summary of services to match with a student’s class schedule.

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Q: I have a student that uses the Dragon Speak program. What areas of the IEP do I need to include that information?
A: Dragon Speak can be used as an assistive technology accommodation. You will include a description of the student’s strengths and needs related to this accommodation in the PLAAFP. You will mark the “Yes” box next to the assistive technology question in the Special Factors section of the IEP.  You will include Dragon Speak in the Program Modification/Accommodations page with a description of when and how it is to be used. Finally, if it is being used as an accommodation for testing, mark the box for “Using a computer without spell or grammar checker.”

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Q: Which day is the first day of an evaluation timeline?
A: The date the parent writes on the consent to evaluate is the first day of the timeline, i.e. if the meeting is at 5:00 pm on August 15, the first day to count is August 15. However, if the parent did not sign the consent at the meeting and returned it to you at a later date, the timeline begins on the date that the district (school) received the consent. Either way, write the received date at the bottom of the consent form and include that date in the database.

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Q: What is the purpose of turning in my paperwork from a meeting within two weeks? I have so much to do.
A: There are two main reasons for this. The first and most important reason is that if it isn’t turned into Central Office in two weeks, it likely hasn’t been provided to parents within two weeks. Parents have a right to this information within a reasonable amount of time. Secondly, Central Office needs time to review and file the paperwork and must have the most current paperwork always in the file in the event that records are requested from another district.

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Q: Are the educational needs statement fields on the ESER supposed to be in any particular order?
A: Yes! Once the evaluation process is complete and the IEP team reviewed the evaluation data, the team must identify and prioritize the educational needs. At the meeting, the team will list the needs in priority order and the recommendations to meet those needs. The team may discuss and determine that there are too many needs to address with a one year IEP and will choose to work on the first few needs for the upcoming IEP year. If that happens, you must provide an explanation of that discussion in the PLAAFP so that it is clear that these needs were not forgotten.

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AIMSweb Benchmark Testing: Text Enlargement

May 2nd, 2012  

A question came up recently regarding the appropriateness of using materials with enlarged text for AIMSweb benchmark testing.

Although many accommodations are not appropriate for benchmark testing as they can compromise the standardized procedures, enlargement of text for students with mild visual impairments does not invalidate the standardized procedures.

See the text below from the M-COMP Administration and Technical Manual:
(Entire Manual is here: http://www.aimsweb.com/uploads/M-COMP%20Manual.pdf)

From page 11:
Testing Students With Special Accommodations

“Some examples of special accommodations include (a) increasing the amount to test-taking time for a particular student, (b) having a student practice the test beforehand, or (c) providing feedback during the testing process to a student about whether an answer is correct or incorrect.
These accommodations are changes in the way the test was standardized, and should not be allowed. Like all standardized tests, using M–COMP probes with some students may be inappropriate because the demands of the test do not match the capabilities of a specific student. For example, because M–COMP requires pencil-paper test taking skills, students with severe motor problems may not be appropriate candidates for M–COMP use. Although the stratified sample includes students with disabilities, those students were administered the test in the standardized manner, with no special accommodations. For students with mild visual impairments, text enlargement may be an appropriate accommodation as it does not invalidate the standardized procedures.” (emphasis added)