Madison Access
Madison
Access
Unlocking doors to higher education
A
newsletter of the Office of Disability Services
Volume 1, Issue 1
Volume two, Issue one September
2005
Hurricane
Katrina and disability documentation
Hurricane Katrina took much from many, including disability
documentation. It is possible this year and probable in the next few years that
a student may tell you he or she has a disability, but no proof since Hurricane
Katrina destroyed disability documentation. Send students to the Office of
Disability Services anyway! We will work with any student in such a situation
to appropriately address accommodation and services needs while we help them
seek free or reduced-rate assessments to update their documentation.
Helpful
Faculty Manual
Check out the new faculty manual posted at http://www.jmu.edu/ods/Facultyresources.shtml. This is a
comprehensive resource which will be valuable in applying principles of
Universal Design and in reaching the specific learning needs of students in
your classes who have disabilities. This resource was edited by Jean Bryan, a
JMU student in the Technical and Scientific Communication program, based on a
model from
Other
Faculty Resources
The Office of Disability Services is committed to supporting
your success in teaching students with disabilities as well as students with
varying learning needs. In our office, we possess a wealth of resources to
support these efforts. If you ever have specific questions about teaching
students with disabilities or desire a workshop for your departmental staff,
give us a call. If we don’t know the answer, we will do our best to seek the
information or resources you need.
Resources from which we have recently shared include: DO-IT handouts on a variety of
disability-related topics, Teaching
Students with Disabilities publications on strategies and guidance for
faculty, as well as books on specific topics.
That’s a
good question!
Recently, some of you have asked some great questions. Here are
a few and the answers we gave:
How should
I handle it if a student just hands me their Access Plan Letters without
meeting with me?
Technically, a student’s disability rights in your class begin
with self-disclosure. While just handing you the letter is not best practices
in self-advocacy, that still counts. We encourage our students to schedule a
private meeting with each instructor to discuss accommodations and answer any
questions. When a student just hands you a letter, we encourage you to request
a meeting with the student. The student doesn’t have to tell you anything more
about their disability than what is in the letter, but it is good for our
students to learn to express their learning needs in your specific course and
to discuss with you how each accommodation should be achieved. This also helps
you put a face to a name and helps the student learn to trust you.
My lecture
notes are extremely detailed and are used for creating my tests. How should I
handle the accommodation of copies of professor’s notes?
Some students have an accommodation to have a copy of your
lecture outlines or notes. When you “wing it” in a lecture, try to provide at
least a sketchy outline of what you plan to cover. When your personal lecture
notes are so detailed as to give away possible test questions, you should supply
the student with a less detailed version of those notes. This is to serve as a
springboard for his or her class note-taking.
How should
I handle extended time on tests when I give timed tests on Blackboard?
Blackboard does not kick the student out of the system when the
time runs out. The student should be advised to keep working until their own
allotted time runs out. Blackboard will register an exclamation mark in your
class gradebook. You can then click on the exclamation mark to see how long the
student took on the test. CIT offers support for any other Blackboard questions
by calling 568-7061 or checking out their website at http://cit.jmu.edu.
What should
I require my students to do for presentation handouts if another student in the
class has a visual disability?
This is a great opportunity to build a sense of community and
respect for diversity in your classroom. Part of the presentation preparation
should require class participants to provide any handouts in accessible format.
That might require that they E-mail an electronic version of the handouts at
least one hour prior to class or that they provide a large print version of the
handouts if that is an appropriate accommodation. If the student will be
reading documents in Braille or using screen reader software to have text read
to them, any information should be converted to text format, preferably Word.
CIT or ODS will gladly share tips for conversion of documents to Word versions.
Great questions! As always, we are always willing at
ODS to help faculty on a case-by-case basis with accommodation questions or
services questions. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll do what we can to find
out.
Strategic
Learning for College Success
Throughout this past academic year, ODS experienced numerous
requests for learning strategies instruction from students without
disabilities. In brainstorming ways to expand this service beyond Disability
Services, a new course will be piloted beginning this fall semester. Strategic
Learning for College Success, SPED 401, is a three-credit elective course which
students may take if they want to learn to be more effective or efficient
learners. The course focuses on personal learning processes and styles as well
as a number of specific learning strategies. Assignments will emphasize
implementation of learning strategies into other coursework at JMU. CARS and
the Special Education Department have supported the curriculum development and
formal assessment plan for this course. The metacognitive awareness and
regulation of students taking the course will be monitored in addition to their
long-term academic progress.
Growing
population of Students with Disabilities at JMU
Two populations are growing among students with disabilities at
JMU. We are seeing an increasing number of students who are highly gifted with
a specific learning disability. We are also beginning to see growth in our
population of students with more severe executive functioning disabilities.
These include students with severe ADHD as well as students with autism
spectrum disabilities such as Asperger’s Syndrome.
Typically, one would expect a student with a learning
disability to function below their peers in most areas of classroom or testing
performance. In contrast, students with giftedness and learning disabilities
may function above most peers even though they struggle to function at their
own ability level. These students may independently employ strategies to
compensate for their disabilities and perform at high standards. The academic
and emotional struggles are usually internal and, in fact any expressions of
frustration may seem unusual given the student’s performance. Frequently, when
faculty teach students who are both gifted and learning disabled, they may
question the need for disability accommodations. Be assured that the process
for determining appropriate classroom and evaluation accommodations is based
upon the functional impact of the disability. When a student presents an Access
Plan Letter to you as an instructor, you can know that any listed
accommodations are based upon the documented disability and how that disability
impacts the student’s ability to learn. As we strive together to educate and
enlighten these citizens, we can team together to encourage the best learning
in our brightest of students.
The growth in students with severe impairments in executive
functioning is in part due to better services at the K-12 level and is, in
fact, a national trend. These students may face significant struggles in the
transition to college including independent decision making, time management,
navigating Blackboard or E-campus, etc. It is important for these students to
function as responsible adults in the college setting. At the same time, we
anticipate a growing need for new kinds of supports if these students are going
to be successful at JMU. ODS is beginning to brainstorm with various campus
programs what creative solutions we might implement proactively toward
increased student retention and success in all aspects of campus life.
Equal
Opportunity Integrity Responsibility
Madison
Access is a bi-annual publication by the Office of Disability Services at
Office of Disability
Services
Wilson Hall, Room 107
568-6705