Accommodations and Modifications for Teens

Accommodations for the Classroom

An accommodation is an adjustment that allows you to participate in school or at work in a way that matches your learning strengths. Accommodations can include, among other things, a quiet work area, extra time to complete tasks, repetition of instructions, use of a calculator, and sets of instructions specially provided either orally or in writing. Other accommodations include:

Taped Books

Many students with LD find it helpful to listen to taped textbooks or to have material read aloud by readers.

Readers

A reader, often a fellow student who reads assignments aloud, can be helpful when an instructor gives an unscheduled assignment or exam and there is not enough time to prepare the narrative on tape.

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Inc. (RFB&D) provides texts on tape and digital formats for people who cannot read printed media. The RFB&D library has more than 80,000 texts on tape, and will soon have it's entire library on CD in digital formats. To use the service, you must complete an application and provide documentation of your disability.

Talking Books

The Talking Book program is operated by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of The Library of Congress. This program lends a wide range of publications in Braille or recorded form free of charge to people with visual, physical and perceptual disabilities.

Alternatives to Note-taking

If note-taking is an identified and documented problem for you, you can request that your school permit you alternative ways to take notes. You may consider using the services of a note-taker -- usually a classmate-or you can tape lectures, provided you first receive permission from your instructor.

Alternatives for Written Composition

If you have LD, you may find written assignments to be very difficult. Despite your intelligence, you may have trouble organizing ideas for writing, using correct grammar and spelling, or writing legibly. Sometimes it helps to use word processors. Dictating and editing services can also be helpful. Some campuses have writing labs where staff can help you write and edit your papers.

Alternative Ways to Take Exams

If you have trouble reading or understanding exam questions, writing under pressure, organizing thoughts, or remembering the mechanics of spelling, punctuation, and syntax, you may want to ask for accommodations when taking exams. Accommodations for test-taking include:

• Having material read by a reader
• Listening to taped tests
• Dictating answers to a scribe
• Having extra time to take a test.

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