Accommodations and modifications fall under the umbrella of supplementary aids and services, which allow students with disabilities to access and participate in more activities and environments by compensating for their educational needs.

Accommodations accomplish this objective without modifying the curriculum. Students receiving accommodations complete the same classwork and assessments as their peers without disabilities.

Modifications, in contrast, change or lower expectations or standards. The goal is to gear the curriculum to the student’s capability. In some cases, a skill that would normally be taught at a certain grade level is changed, eliminated, or postponed. For example, say an English course requires reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. A student with reading needs could instead read the simplified version published by Great Illustrated Classics. This allows for participation in classroom discussions but lowers reading level expectations.

Accommodations change HOW a student learns the material, modifications change WHAT a student is taught or expected to learn.

Statement must include:

• What: the specific adaptation needed

• When: the condition that trigger the adaptation

• Where: the environment(s) in which the adaptation is needed

• Who is responsible for implementing the adaptation

Template:

• In [where], [when] the student will be provided with [what] by [who].

• Example: "In all school settings [where] when unexpected behavior is observed [when], reality statements [what] will be utilized by all staff working with XXX [who] to recover instructional control and prevent escalation. For example: 'Why don’t you lower your voice. That will keep the conversation between the two of us' or 'Why don’t you take a deep breath. This doesn’t have to get any bigger.'"

Remember:

Avoid using phrases which introduce ambiguity, such as, “as needed,” “may,” and “and/or.” Accommodations and modifications need to be phrased as “student will.”

SpEd Forms has great drop down options to pull from as well!

Presentation accommodations allow a student to, for example:

• Work with fewer items per page or line

• Have a designated reader

• Hear instructions orally

• Have another student share class notes

• Be given an outline of a lesson

• Use visual presentations of verbal material, such as word webs and visual organizers

• Be given a written list of instructions

• Learn content from movies/videos instead of reading

Timing accommodations allow a student to, for example:

• Take more time to complete a task or a test

• Have extra time to process oral information and directions

• Take frequent breaks, such as after completing a task

Organization skills accommodations allow a student to, for example:

• Mark texts with a highlighter

• Have help coordinating assignments in a book or planner

Response accommodations allow a student to, for example:

• Give responses in another form (e.g., oral or written)

• Dictate answers to a scribe

• Use a spelling dictionary

• Use a standard calculator or table of math facts

Scheduling accommodations allow a student to, for example:

• Take more time to complete a project

• Take a test in several timed sessions or over several days

• Take sections of a test in a different order

• Take a test at a specific time of day

Setting accommodations allow a student to, for example:

• Work or take a test in a different setting, such as a quiet room with few distractions

• Sit in a specific location (for example, near the teacher)

• Use special lighting or acoustics

• Take a test in small group setting

Presentation modifications allow a student to, for example:

• Receive more prompting and cueing to help the student determine the right answers

• Read class material written at an easier level of understanding

Assignment modifications allow a student to, for example:

• Complete fewer or different homework problems than peers

• Write shorter papers

• Complete alternate assignments and projects

• Complete problems where aspects of the problem have already been completed

Curriculum modifications allow a student to, for example:

• Learn different material (such as continuing to work on multiplication while classmates move on to fractions)

• Get graded or assessed using a different standard than the one for classmates (e.g., pass/fail grading)

• Be excused from particular projects

Assessment modifications allow a student to, for example:

• Take a practice version of a test prior to the real assessment

• Select from two rather than four answer choices on a multiple-choice test

• Answer fewer or different test questions

Modifications can look very different. Some will be small tweaks to the expectations placed on a student, while others will alter their learning experiences in very significant ways.

The categories and examples below are here simply to illustrate how big that range of restrictiveness can be. When you write IEPs, think about how restrictive you need to be in order to sufficiently support each student's needs.

Parallel Participation

Students do something similar to what everyone else is doing. Performance expectations are adjusted through the provision of additional cues or through minor adjustments to the format of a task. For example:

• When fill-in-the-blank worksheets are assigned, the student's worksheet is pre-modified with page numbers added to make it easier to find each answer.

• The student's worksheet is pre-modified to include all multiple choice items.

Partial Participation

Students do some of what everyone else is doing; parts of the task or performance expectation are eliminated. For example:

• The student's assignment expectations are modified to only involve ideas/content rather than length, writing mechanics, etc.

• Math items are pre-modified to remain at the core concept or parent function level with guided notes and examples being provided as well. For example, if an item asks students to graph y = 2x^2 + 3, the student will be asked to graph y = x^2.

• The student's materials are pre-modified with simplified vocabulary, shortened text that focuses on key concepts, and multiple choice items are limited to two choice options.

Alternative Participation

Students do something different. The student is able to access a setting (e.g., a general education classroom) and participate in routines with the whole group; however, when task and performance expectations exceed the student's capability, they are provided with task materials and expectations that are fundamentally different from those given to the rest of the class. For example:

• The student is provided with texts modified to a lower grade level and only literal comprehension questions.

• The student is provided with alternative tasks with outcome expectations that pertain to their IEP goal in the area of functional academic skills rather than grade-level learning targets. For example, while other students learn to locate each state and name the capital, the student locates the colors of the states on a map.