Accommodation Breakdown

Imagine a teacher assigns a writing project, requiring students to write three paragraphs related to an element on the periodic table.

Imagine one student writes three paragraphs about Chlorine and turns it into the teacher.

Now, imagine the teacher returning the paper back to the student, with red marks noting points taken off and the message, “I expected five sentences per paragraph.”

What happened?

No laws or implementing regulations state accommodations must be written within a specific word count.

However, pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the unique needs of students must be addressed.

In other words: Clarity and ensuring the unique needs of the child are met is more important than word count.

Word prediction software is an assistive technology (AT) tool that suggests words as a person types them. If you want your student to use it and/or your student’s IEP or 504 Plan team suggest it, what should be included in the accommodation? How should it be written?

The following is an example of an accommodation written into one student’s IEP:

“Student will respond using word prediction software.”

Seems straightforward, but there are too many holes to allow it to stand.

A parent requested the following accommodation after his teachers repeatedly mentioned his Individualized Education Program (IEP) to the class:

“Teachers should not intentionally allow other students to know that XXXXXX has an IEP and receives special education services.”

The parent didn’t understand that privacy is a right, not an accommodation, simply because the privacy violations modeled by the teacher pointed in the opposite direction.