Understanding and Accommodating Students with Disabilities

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Understanding and Accommodating Students with
Disabilities

• Presented by Catherine Sherman
• Associate Director
• Center for Learning Teaching
• Washington Jefferson College
• February 10, 2005

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Main Topics

• The Numbers
• What is a disability?
• Disability Types
• Accommodation Process
• Helpful Teaching Techniques
• Questions Answers

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WJ Fall 2004 Stats

• CS met with 27 students with disabilities for 66
• total appointments, Fall 2004
• Most common disabilities at WJ?learning, ADD,
  and psychological
• CS met with 28 students for 20032004 academic
  year

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Enrollment Trends

• Enrollment in post-secondary institutions
• continues to rise
• Percentage of freshmen with disabilities has
  doubled since the late 70s.
• K-12 special education, advocacy, and awareness
• Medical and therapeutic advancements
• Technology

Source Cathy Henderson, College Freshmen with
Disabilities A Statistical Profile, HEATH
Resource Center, American Council of Education,
1992
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Post-Secondary Statistics

• In 2000, 6 of full-time, first-year students at
  four-
• year institutions reported a disability. Below
  is the
• breakdown by disability type in percentages

Source Cathy Henderson, 2001 College Freshman
with Disabilities Report, HEATH Resource Center,
American Council on Education
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Additional Stats

• Percentage of college freshmen with a disability
• reporting an LD
• 198816
• 2000?40
• Most common disability type
• 1988?Vision impairment
• 2000?LD
• Source Cathy Henderson, 2001 College Freshman
  with Disabilities Report,
• HEATH Resource Center, American Council on
  Education

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What is a disability?

• A physical or mental impairment that
  substantially limits a major life activity.
• Some major life activities include caring for
  oneself, performing manual tasks, learning,
  seeing, moving, hearing, and speaking.
• Physical, psychological, and learning

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Physical/ Medical

• Include congenital conditions, mobility
  impairments, injuries, and chronic medical
  conditions
• Some examples include blindness, deafness,
  epilepsy, paralysis, brain injury, asthma,
  chronic fatigue syndrome, and cerebral palsy.

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Psychological

• Psychological disabilities include emotional,
  cognitive, and behavioral disturbances, as well
  biochemical/structural brain differences.
• Some examples include anxiety disorders,
  Aspergers Syndrome, autism, bipolar disorder,
  depression, and schizophrenia.

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Psychological Disability Characteristics

• A hidden disability, issues of stigma
• Difficulty initiating interpersonal communication
• Difficulty with concentration, focus, and memory
• Mood swings, unwanted thoughts, inappropriate
  affect
• Struggles with change

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Characteristics, contd.

• Severe test anxiety
• Low tolerance for distractions
• Poor time management/ organizational skills
• Low energy
• Medication side-effects

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Learning

• Hidden disability neurologically-based
  life-long
• Average to above average intelligence
• Impairs ability to take in, process, and express
  information
• Manifested in deficits in oral communication,
  writing, reading, listening comprehension,
  mathematical skills

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Learning, contd.

• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is not a
  learning disability though nearly 25 of college
  students with LD have ADD
• Its frustrating!

Source Loring C. Brinckerhoff, College Students
with Learning Disabilities, Third edition,
Association on Higher Education and Disability,
2001
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Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD)

• Disorder marked by impaired concentration and
  attention
• Three subtypes Inattentive, Hyperactive and
  Impulsive
• Biological in origin, genetic connection
• More frequently diagnosed in males than females

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ADD Characteristics

• Inability to consistently concentrate
• Easily distracted or overwhelmed
• Difficulty following a train of thought
• Restlessness, fidgets?feels driven by a motor

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Characteristics, contd.

• Anxiety reactions
• Difficulty taking apart and/or organizing
  information, ideas, or assignments
• Difficulty controlling impulses
• Source College Students Who Have ADHD,
  Association for
• Higher Education and Disability, 2002

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Accommodations

• How do we help a student with a disability?
• An adjustment that ensures equal access to
  educational opportunities

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Disability Law and College Policy

• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (IDEA)
• Once called the Education for all Handicapped
  Children Act, 1975
• Mandates free, appropriate public education for
  all K-12 students
• School vs. student responsibility

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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 1973

• Protects rights of otherwise qualified students
  with disabilities
• Otherwise qualified?able to meet essential
  standards with appropriate accommodations
• Applies to all post-secondary institutions that
  receive federal funds

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Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990

• Supports and extends Section 504
• Prohibits the discrimination in postsecondary
  institutions
• Defines disability

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Washington Jefferson College Disability Policy

• Fully supports Section 504 and ADA
• Committed to providing reasonable accommodations
  to students with disabilities admitted through
  our regular admission process

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Accommodation Process at WJ General Points

• It is the students responsibility to begin the
  process in a timely manner.
• Submission of documentation is not the same as a
  request for services.
• WJ has specific documentation requirements
  (located on CLT page).
• Accommodations are not retroactive.

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Instructor Rights

• Instructor may accommodate without documentation.
• Instructor has the right to decline request
  without appropriate College notification.
• It is not the instructors responsibility to
  figure out appropriate accommodations.
• Instructors do not alter course
  content/objectives.

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Steps

• Faculty referral
• Self-disclosure and request for accommodations
• Discussion with CS, forms
• Submission of official documentation
• Discussion of accommodations

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Steps, contd.

• Letter of request for accommodations
• Student and instructor meeting
• Completion and return of Accommodation Agreement
  form
• Letter of request for instructors records

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Confidentiality

• Need-to-know basis
• Student signature required for release of
  information
• Exceptions
• Student not required to disclose disability
• Sharing information with parents

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Sample Accommodations

• Exam modification CLT will provide assistance
• Books on tape/CD and Braille
• Permission to record lectures
• Interpreters
• Scribes/Voice-activated software
• Peer note taker

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Accommodations, contd.

• Permission to use word processor and/or
  spell/grammar checker.
• Flexible attendance requirements
• Preferential seating (near door or in front of
  class)
• Access to primary campus buildings, to include
  ramped entrances and handicap parking
• Accessible campus housing
• Relocation of classes into accessible buildings

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Helpful Teaching Techniques Universal Design

• Universal design of instruction is a
• teaching approach that respects
• diversity and makes the classroom
• experience accessible to all students.

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Examples

• Put a statement on your syllabus inviting
  students to meet with you to discuss their
  learning needs
• Assure that all classrooms, labs, and fieldwork
  are in accessible locations
• Use multiple modes to deliver content
• Use captioned videotapes

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Examples, contd.

• Provide printed materials in electronic format
• Use Web pages with both text descriptions and
  graphics
• Choose texts early
• Create printed materials in simple, consistent
  formats

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Examples, contd.

• Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate
  knowledge
• Make sure equipment and activities minimize
  sustained physical effort
• Source DO-IT, University of Washington

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Additional Suggestions

• Choose a text with a study guide, available in
  electronic format
• Provide a detailed syllabus, clearly noting
  course objectives, reading assignments, due dates
• Write new or technical vocabulary on the board

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Suggestions, contd.

• Break a large assignment into small steps, check
  progress
• Give assignments aloud and in writing
• Speak directly to students with vision/hearing
  limitations

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CS Goals

• Understand disability and how it impacts learning
• Develop self-advocacy skills
• Strengthen self-help skills
• Encourage academic independence