Help Create a Welcoming Environment for Students

Creating an inclusive and supportive environment is essential for all students, particularly those who require accommodations through Disability Services. Here are comprehensive steps and strategies to ensure these accommodations are effectively implemented:

Understand challenges and solutions 

Engage with the student to understand their learning challenges and what strategies have been effective for them in the past. Examples of how a student鈥檚 disability can affect them in the classroom include:

 
  • Medication side effects: Drowsiness, fatigue, dry mouth, thirst, blurred vision, hand tremors, slowed response time and difficulty initiating interpersonal contact.
  • Environmental stimuli: Difficulty screening out sounds, sights or odors that interfere with focusing on tasks and limited ability to tolerate noise and crowded areas.
  • Sustaining concentration: Restlessness, shortened attention span, distraction and difficulty understanding or remembering verbal directions.
  • Maintaining stamina: Difficulty sustaining enough energy to spend a whole day on campus, combating drowsiness due to medications.
  • Handling time pressures and multiple tasks: Difficulty managing assignments, prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines, with an inability to participate in multi-task work.
 
  • Interacting with others: Difficulty getting along, fitting in, contributing to group work and reading social cues.
  • Fear of authority figures: Difficulty approaching professors or TAs.
  • Responding to negative feedback: Difficulty understanding and correctly interpreting criticism or poor grades, potentially personalizing or becoming defensive due to low self-esteem.
  • Responding to change: Difficulty coping with unexpected changes in coursework, such as changes in assignments, due dates or instructors.
  • Severe test anxiety: The individual is rendered emotionally and physically unable to take an exam.
 

Private discussions

Always discuss a student's accommodations and how they will be implemented in a private setting. Note that a student may elect not to utilize all their accommodations.

Consult with Disability Services

If you believe that an accommodation might interfere with the intended learning objectives or requirements of your course, consult with Disability Services for additional guidance and potential alternatives.

 

Confidentiality

Maintain strict confidentiality regarding students' accommodation needs, as mandated by federal laws such as FERPA, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Communicate with teaching assistants

Ensure that your teaching assistants are informed about the necessary accommodations for students in class, recitations or lab sessions.

Instructional strategies

Employ strategies that promote the success of students with disabilities:

  • Address various learning styles: Incorporate auditory, visual, kinesthetic, experiential or a combination of styles.
  • Experiential learning activities: Integrate hands-on activities to enhance learning.
  • Behavioral expectations: Clearly set and communicate behavioral expectations for all students.
  • Embrace diversity: Foster an inclusive environment that respects and includes people with all abilities.

Accommodations

Accommodations are intended to provide equal access to university programs, courses and activities for students with disabilities. Common accommodations that may be approved by Disability Services include, but are not limited to:

Testing accommodations

  • Extended time for exams and quizzes
  • Distraction reduced environment
  • Use of computer for essay exams

Classroom accommodations

  • Use of Glean, laptop or other electronic device to take notes
  • Preferential seating in the classroom
  • Flexibility with attendance and assignment deadlines

Communication accommodations

  • ASL interpreting
  • Real-time captioning
  • Audio description of video content

Alternate format accommodations

  • Textbooks in an alternate format
  • Copies of handouts, classroom materials, PowerPoint presentations in electronic format/enlarged font
  • Copies of handouts, classroom materials, PowerPoint presentations in Braille

By adhering to these steps and strategies, you can create a supportive and equitable learning environment that accommodates the diverse needs of all students. These steps and strategies incorporate information adapted from provided by Disability and Access (D&A) at the University of Texas at Austin.