Top Accommodations and Modifications to Ask For at Your IEP Meeting - Part 3
**Please note: All accommodations and modifications need to be personalized to the student, their challenges, and their needs. This list is not meant to be prescriptive or exhaustive, but rather a place to start as you gather ideas.
When preparing for an IEP meeting, it’s smart to come up with a list of accommodations or modifications you’d like to see the school provide for your student. An accommodation (A) is a support that is added to the student’s day to help them access the curriculum or learning. A modification (M) is a support that changes the curriculum or learning from how other students may be receiving it so that your student can access it. Both are helpful in different ways and perfectly appropriate to ask for. Being prepared with suggestions and reasoning for why certain supports will set your child up for success is a great way to help them get what they need.
In this three-part series, we have been recommending accommodations and modifications for students with literacy-based learning differences. You can find our recommendations for students who struggle with reading and writing in previous blogs. Here we will look at a few more general recommendations that can help a variety of students.
GENERAL LEARNING DIFFERENCES
For any student with a literacy-based learning difficulty, we recommend the following supports:
Final product examples of big assignments (A) - This empowers the student to know what they are shooting for instead of guessing. Clearly communicated expectations from teachers produce better work.
A clear timeline of deadlines provided by the teacher for all major assignments (A) Organizing ideas and tasks as well as getting started on a long assignment that requires sustained effort can be very overwhelming to students with learning disabilities. Providing a clear timeline (similar to chunking an assignment) gives a student a road map for where they need to go, showing them where to start, where to take breaks, and where to stop.
Study guides provided at least 3 days in advance for all tests (A) - Scaffolded support for executive functioning as students often need more time and repeated practice for mastery.
Executive Functioning support on an individualized basis (A) - Whether we realize it or not, every day at school students are expected to complete tasks that require high levels of executive functioning. Time management, study strategies such as following multi-step directions, organizing information and note-taking, test preparation, and goal setting are critical to student success. Students who struggle with these tasks need explicit instruction to be successful in a traditional classroom.
Assistive Technology training (A) - AT is incredibly necessary and helpful for students with learning disabilities. However, offering AT without training is essentially pointless. Training and technical support for the student AND their guardians must be included. This empowers the student to be independent and learn.
Removing distractions (A or M) - Ask the teacher to be mindful of the increased impact that everyday distractions can have on your student. Giving them a seat away from the window, heater, or hallway noise, offering a quiet room free from visual distractions for testing, allowing headphones when appropriate, and more are all examples of ways teachers can reduce distractions for students.
Extra time on all classroom and district assessments (M) - Oftentimes, students with learning difficulties benefit from extended times on assessments due to anxiety, challenges with processing time, attention difficulties, and producing their work product. Anywhere between 1.5x and 2x the standard time given is best practice. This means if the teacher is giving the class one period to complete a test, a child with an IEP should be given two class periods to complete the same test. There is no scientific evidence to support that being able to do something faster equals greater intelligence. In fact, the opposite is true. When work is done slowly and carefully, it is often done better and the content is remembered longer. It may be best for this extra time to be offered in a space separate from the classroom to remove any stigma or distractions.
Explicit instruction (M) - Explectice instruction helps all students learn but is vital for students with learning disabilities. We encourage teachers to make it a part of their habit to provide repetitive practice, regular review, clear steps, and visuals to support these steps from classroom expectations to how to write a paragraph.
Reduced homework load (M) - A reduced homework load is important for students with learning differences because their brains are working upwards of five times as hard to complete a skill in comparison with their neurotypical classmates. The benefits of homework are practice for the student and data for the teacher. Fewer questions on a given skill for a neurodivergent student can provide the same practice and feedback needed as more questions for a neurotypical student can. This honors how much energy is being used and individualizes learning, all while achieving the objective of the teacher.