Nicole Bowman

SPU 314

Accommodations Menu
Disabilities included, with characteristics and accommodations:
1. Intellectual Disabilities
2. Specific Learning Disabilities
3. Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
4. Physical Disabilities
5. Visual Impairments
6. Autism Spectrum Disorders

Intellectual Disabilities
Definition: means significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning,
existing concurrently [at the same time] with deficits in adaptive behavior
and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a
childs educational performance.
Characteristics:

Low achievement in all academic areas

General weaknesses in attention, memory, problem solving, and skill
generalization
Weak social skills
Deficits in daily living skills/adaptive skills
May have trouble speaking or speaking clearly

Accommodations:

Have a tutor available to monitor students academic needs and help

the student accordingly, outside of teachers capabilities.
Paraprofessional available for student at all times
Involve the student in as much as possible, allowing other students to
work together on group projects, reinforcing social skills. Praise child
frequently.
Give student immediate feedback, breaking larger tasks into smaller
tasks, and one step at a time.
Utilize paraprofessional and create lessons around students abilities
and skills, allowing student to answer questions and be assessed in
other forms besides orally.

Specific Learning Disabilities

Definition: means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes
involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may
manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to
do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual
disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental
aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result
of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of intellectual disability; of emotional
disturbance; or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Characteristics:

Difficulty in reading (Dyslexia)

Difficulty in writing (Dysgraphia)
Difficulty in math (Dyscalcula)
May not follow social rules in conversation
Motivational problems, resulting in long-term academic difficulty
Cognitive skill deficits related to memory, attention, impulsivity and/or metacognition

Accommodations:

Give student time to receive extra help with a reading specialist and allow
student to make up work that they may have missed while they were gone.
Allow student to use technology in which the computer assists the student in
reading a book.
Allow students other alternatives to writing, such as computer programs in
which student speaks to type.
Allow student extra time with a tutor in math; give student extra time to
finish work.
Discuss social rules in the beginning of the class and address student
privately, practicing the social protocol of holding a conversation with another
student.
Give the student an interest inventory and establish rapport to understand
students interests and manipulate lessons to keep the student engaged and
increase their understanding.
Maintain an engaging and fast paced classroom and place student in a
specific seat in which distractions are limited, allowing the student to stay
focused on the task at hand.

Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Definition: means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following
characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree
that adversely affects a childs educational performance: (a) An inability to
learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (b)
An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with
peers and teachers. (c) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under
normal circumstances. (d) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
depression. (e) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears
associated with personal or school problems. The term includes
schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially
maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional
disturbance.
Characteristics:

Hyperactivity, impulsiveness, short attention span

Present internalizing behavior problems such as social withdrawal,
anxiety and depression
Aggression or self-injurious behaviors
Immaturity, temper tantrums, poor coping skills
Learning difficulties

Accommodations:

Place student in a specific area of the classroom with limited

distractions, away from the windows or doors.
Allow student to talk without interruption when student puts forth
opinion. Give student time to attend counseling and therapy sessions,
with extra time to catch up on missed assignments.
Keep in contact with professionals and guardians to understand how to
handle student when aggressive situations present themselves.
Prepare other students to step back and allow professionals to handle
aggressive or self-injurious behaviors.
Provide structure for the student. An agenda will keep the student on
task. Avoid changing the schedule drastically without preparing the
student for the change.
Allow student extra time on tests and important assignments, and any
extra tutoring or help the student may need.

Physical Disabilities
(or orthopedic impairments)
Definition: means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a
childs educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a
congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis,
bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy,
amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).
Characteristics:

Difficulty with verbal abilities

Difficulty with motor abilities
May be gifted
May have severe intellectual disabilities
Poor self-esteem or self-worth; personal thoughts, feelings and social
behavior are negatively affected

Accommodations:

Allow students to use assistive technology in terms of communicating

with other students, teachers and aides
Arrange classroom to increase accessibility to all areas of the room.
Allow gifted students the time needed in other rooms for enrichment
time and challenge the students mind with enriching activities.
Allow students to interact with general education classroom by letting
the student participate in a group activity, without always being
secluded into a separate classroom.
Find what the student enjoys to do and allow the student to show off
their skills. Create a comfortable environment in which the student is
not separated and is included in group activities. Remain confident in
the student.

Visual Impairments
Definition: means an impairment in vision that, even with
correction, adversely affects a childs educational performance. The term
includes both partial sight and blindness.
Characteristics:

Can cause developmental delay in a large range of skills

Need to learn in a different way
May need extra assistance in daily activities
Need to depend on other senses to learn
May avoid tasks that require good vision

Accommodations:

Keep student on task with the class, allowing student extra time in
areas of struggle and extra tutoring time when necessary
Allow student to use different tools in the classroom such as Braille
and hands on materials.
Allow aide to help the student, but also allow student to be dependent
and do tasks on their own, using aide as a backup for harder tasks.
Give student materials in which other senses can be used, such as
feeling, smelling and listening. Allow student to experience the
learning and have the other students participate in the same activities,
learning from each other.
Allow student materials in which the text is larger or an audio tool is
available for the student to listen. Do not ask the student to participate
in a task in which requires vision alone.

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Definition: means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and
nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age
three, which adversely affects a childs educational performance. Other
characteristics often associated with autism are engaging in repetitive activities
and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in
daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term autism
does not apply if the childs educational performance is adversely affected
primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance. A child who shows the
characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the
criteria above are satisfied.
Characteristics:

Significant limitations in expressive and receptive language

Difficulty is social reciprocation, such as eye contact, or appreciation of those
around them
Difficulty adjusting to changes in routine
Repetitive body motions
Appear to be in a world of their own

Accommodations:

Understand that the student will communicate in their own unique way; it is
important to listen and try to understand the students point of view. Allow
student to utilize their own specific skills and communicate through their own
ways. Avoid using a sarcastic tone around student.
Practice with the student, but never force the student to treat others that
way if they do not understand. Allow them to be around the other students,
and show the other students how to include the student.
Keep the student in an area of the classroom with limited distractions. Allow
the student a particular stress relieving activity. Keep a solid schedule in
place and allow the student time to prepare for any changes that may be
occurring, allow student a copy of the schedule at all time.
Allow the student to self-stimulate.
Actively engage the student and allow the student time in therapy, and time
to make up the work when student returns to the classroom.