Understanding These Educational Plans to Best Enhance Student Success in Special Education
Adaptations are changes in the way instruction and assessment [1] are carried out to allow a learner equal opportunity to demonstrate mastery of concepts and achieve the desired learning outcomes. They are made to meet a student’s needs as identified on an individualized education plan (IEP) [2].
There are two categories of adaptations:
1. Accommodations
Accommodations are a type of adaptation that creates a personal learning environment for a child by altering instruction, classroom environment, assessment and/or other materials and attributes in order to provide a student with a disability an equal opportunity to participate in class activities and demonstrate knowledge and skills.
Accommodations do not fundamentally change the instructional level, content or learning expectations of the course, standard, or assessment. They are intended to help students overcome or work around their disability and fully access the general education curriculum, without changing the instructional content.
Examples of accommodations include:
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Enlarging the print
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Providing study guides before tests
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Providing alternate versions of tests
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Orally reading tests and allowing students to provide oral responses instead of written responses
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Providing extended time to complete assignments and/or tests
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Doing work in a different setting
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Allowing assistive technology
[3]
2. Modifications
Modifications are a type of adaptation that involves changes made to an assignment, content, instruction, or an assessment that fundamentally alters the content, lowers the standard, or reduces the learning expectations in regards to the objective being addressed or the assignment/test measuring that goal.
Examples of modifications include:
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Completing part of the standard
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Reducing the amount or complexity of content the student has to know compared to the rest of the students (e.g. Study 10 words instead of 20 words for a spelling test)
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An alternative or substitute curriculum is given to a student that is more easily achievable than the standard assignment
Determining the difference between an accommodation and a modification can be tricky. However, if a change made to the instruction and/or assessment does allow for a child to demonstrate mastery of the content, then the change is an accommodation.
If a change is made to the content and/or assessment that does not allow a child to demonstrate mastery of the content, then the change is a modification. In short, children who receive modifications are not expected to learn the same material as their classmates and do not complete the same amount/level of work as other students.
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