Program Models

• Individual contact is available at the freshman level to provide instruction and modeling of advocacy skills and accessing of services
• By the time students are juniors and seniors, our one-on-one time has lessened, as they have gained the skills needed to be their own best advocate.
• Achieving independence over time is the goal.

Two-tiered Model of Service:

• Accommodations provided by law
• All accommodations are provided by our Accommodations Team
• Accommodations are in place to remove the academic barriers that exist due to the manifestations of the disability
• Accommodations are not meant to guarantee success for the student, they are to ensure fair and equal access
• Individual meetings with a Disability Specialist are an additional service beyond legal mandates

Accommodations

• Exams: extended time, reader, writer, computer for typing answers, limited-distraction environment
• Classroom: notetakers, recording lectures
• Individual: alternative format materials (i.e. recorded or scanned textbooks)
• Authorized accommodations are based on the unique manifestations of the documented disability and the functional limitations resulting from the disability; therefore, not every student will receive the same accommodations.

Meeting with a Specialist

Accommodations

• Clarify the student’s documentation as a first-step to explaining authorized accommodations
• Get feedback from each student on an ongoing basis regarding the effectiveness and appropriateness of their accommodations

Advising:

• Assist student in selecting classes for the next term and in preparing to meet with their faculty advisors
• Help students negotiate their way through petitions, incompletes, etc.

Coursework:

• Clarify what the assignment is asking for or refer the student to the professor for further clarification
• Help the student figure out what steps to follow and what resources to use to get an assignment done
• Help students determine why an assignment might not be going well

Communication with Professors:

• Help student decide what the professor needs to know
• Help the student plan how to approach the professor and communicate information
• Help the student figure out how to contact hard-to-reach faculty
• Engage in direct advocacy with professors only if invited to do so by the student and if such an action is compatible with the student’s independence

General Academic Monitoring:

• Discuss how each of the student’s classes is going
• Help the student identify and articulate what is working well and what is interfering with success
• Refer the student to academic resources such as the tutoring program and supplemental instruction

Study Skills and Organization:

• Provide modeling of study strategies such as creation of mnemonic devices, reading comprehension techniques, etc.
• Help student design a time management program that will fit his/her cognitive style and lifestyle
• Model how to set up and use planners and “master notebooks” to organize course material. For example, using a 3-ring binder with tabs for the syllabus, lecture notes, completed texts, lab reports, vocabulary lists, etc.