I am wondering if someone can explain to me modification versus accomodation??
My 13 year old brother has an IEP with a full page of accomodations. Everything you can think of. Shortened assignments, prefered seating, organizational help, etc. Should this list be “renamed” for modifications?? The teacher are not doing any of the things on the accomodations list. He is being bombared with homework and class assignment he simply can not complete??
His social studies teacher said the principal told her she didn’t have to do any of his accomodations?? That can’t possible be true, can it?
I would appreciate any help. If the list should have been modifications, I will call a team meeting and change it immediately!!
Also, I am in Massachusetts.
Thanks
Dawn
Re: modification versus accomodation
I would think his school is in violation of the law if they are not providing his accomodations. I would have someone get in touch with the principal - he will of course deny saying that because to have said that would put his school into what’s called “non-compliance”.
Who is your brother’s advisor? Or who does it say on the IEP is responsible for seeing it put in place? That’s a person to call too. Someone on the school’s side signed that document as did at least one of your parents.
The things you’ve mentioned are accomodations. Modifications would changes to the curriculum itself.
Good luck. Your brother is fortunate to have such a caring sister.
Re: modification versus accomodation
I also don’t think the issue here is whether they are accommodations or modifications. You could call them lottery tickets and I doubt the teachers would follow them.
I would suggest taking a few minutes and getting paper & printer or pencil ready… and getting the stuff for doing this on a regular basis right there and handy so it takes the minimum of time.
Write a short letter to the principal, with a copy to the teacher (important to do this and follow the chain of command; it also keeps you from venting) that says “In a conversation on November Whatever, Miss Whoever said that she was not required to provide Sam Student with the accommodations listed on his IEP, specifically to give him shortened assignments and organizational help. I am very concerned at this, as these accommodations have been determined as things Sam Student needs to get a free appropriate public education. THey are not simply things that are helpful or things he would like. School personnel are legally required to provide these accommodations.
Please contact me and let me know how you plan to address this situation. I trust that you care about providing an appropriate education to all the students in SuperDUper School, and about complying with special education laws.
If the letter is sent by registered mail, then nobody can deny having received it. It would also be useful to have a little spiral notebook where you just jot down whenever an accommodation is not provided, and who didnt’ do it and what you did about it. THat notebook can really be effective (but don’t turn it over to anybody, copy it instead ;)) in showing exactly what you mean.
Re: modification versus accomodation
Ah, Accommodations. My 16 year old junior had a great private assessor who suggested within the assessment that the parent/student team meet with the teacher 4 times a year and go over whatever concerns re: the IEP or 504 that came up. I have yet to meet a teacher (he was first assessed in the 1st grade) who doesn’t need to meet and discuss–I think alot of questions come up from the teachers side that give the parents food for thought and it helps the whole situation be facilitated. Parents are their students BEST advocate. We have had teachers at the beginning of the year state that ‘of course’ they understood what it means to be dyslexic…..tell my son to “just try to take the vocab test” (after we’ve discussed not to count applied spelling as it is one of his accoms.) and then hand it back during class in front of his peers with an F on it. Course of action?? Another meeting with said teacher. The teachers get the picture pretty quickly that they are going to be doing a whole lot of meeting with slightly tense families if they don’t appropriately accommodate the student. BTW, this happened (again)in the 10th grade! So there you have it-my suggestion is get visable…Teachers are not nescessarily well versed in how to effectively accommodate. Also, we have followed up with a letter thanking the teacher for the time spent and briefly outlining what was said. If you like you can copy this to the office. This is also very effective though not always necessary….use your best judgement on this one. LL
You will hear this from others, but there is no way a principal can legally tell a teacher she/he doesn’t have to follow the iep. It is against the law. You have to hold them to it, also maybe a question to the principal is in order, he/she may not have said this at all. Accommodations I believe are physical things that can be done to assist the kids, like preferential seating, longer time for tests and assignments, quiet place for testing, stuff like that. Modifications are something done to the schoolwork itself, making tests all one method, using an easier to read text that still follows the subject being taught in class, I know there are more. Also look up info in ld indepth and abc’s of ld, that should probably tell you more than I.