Need
for Documentation
All accommodations
must be based on needs shown in the student’s documentation.
If a student has more than one disability, there must be documentation
and comments about the need for support from the person who has evaluated
and/or treated each disability. Before
each semester begins, students need to meet with the staff at the
Office of Disability Services to plan for the support needed for
that semester. Accommodations evolve, and the needs of the students
change as they develop the skills needed to work in their planned
career. Technology training and plans for internships, field placements,
practica and other work experiences are also factors.
Notification
of Faculty About Accommodations Needed
For that same reason, it is wise for students
to meet in an appointment with their professors before the semester
begins, when possible, taking the letters requesting accommodations
as an opener in the dialogue for how they will be meeting the course
requirements. It is not a good idea to tell the professor about
the need for support the day before the first exam! With prior knowledge,
many faculty have appreciated the notice so that there can be more
support given to the student with a disability through out the semester.
Faculty cannot request the documentation to review. The information
is a confidential medical record and cannot be handed out freely
to anyone who feels they have a need to see it.
Do I need new documentation?
Maybe.
When students entered Buffalo State College, they
had to have current, relevant documentation of the disability, and
accommodations were determined at that time based on the needs and
skills of the student.
If a significant change occurs during the time
the student is in college that affects the impact of the disability
in either the classroom or in a field placement, that requires comment
if not new evaluation from the person who has been treating the
student. Sometimes this is good news – the disability or its
impact is becoming less severe. More often, though, it is news that
the condition has caused a deterioration in the capability of the
student to do something. Either way, new documentation is needed.
Another situation that comes up suddenly
for some students is the “age” of the documentation
in regard to the requirements for graduate entry exams or certification/licensing
requirements. THE GRE, LSAT, MCAT, and NYSTCE or the ETS Praxis
exams are some of the exams that require documentation within the
past three to five years before the exam. If a student was last
evaluated in their senior year of high school, the documentation
might be “new” enough. If not, before accommodations
can be given, the student must have new evaluations done, and this
can take months.
Testing Accommodations
- When students meet with faculty to discuss
their need for accommodations, the paperwork to set up exam procedures
is also completed. The Exam Administration Guide (EAG) serves
as an acknowledgment that the faculty member understands and has
made plans to administer the tests in accordance with the students’
needs. It must be completed and returned to the Office of Disability
Services before the first exam can be taken.
- Students need to be mindful that there
is a need to protect the security of the exams, and the sense
that the test is secure protects their academic honor. If they
are to take the test at the Office of Disability Services, the
test should be sealed in an envelope before they leave the professor
or the department office with it, and there have been several
markers put in place to track it and keep it secured all of the
time it is in the office, before and after it is given.
- Exams can also be faxed to our office
or emailed to the Coordinator or the secretary.
- Alternate Test Times: Sometimes
students’ work schedules or other classes require tests
to be taken at times other than when the class is schedules to
do the exam. To protect the exam security, an alternate time agreement
signed by the faculty is needed before the test can be administered
in the Office of Disability Services.
- Open Book or Open Note Exams:
There are times when classes are best evaluated by the use of
open book/open note exams. The faculty who choose to do this must
initial this option on the EAG in the space provided unless it
is written on the exam itself. As a further security check, the
Disability Staff will contact the professor for verification.
Paper Project Deadline
Extension Requests
- The Office of Disability Services does
not support extensions for paper and project deadlines unless
there is a compelling reason to do so. In the career paths most
students take, there is no chance for a time extension.
- Deadlines are part of the work setting.
Support can be built into most paper and project assignments so
that unless a paper is assigned as a last-minute task, there will
be time to complete it on schedule.
- Library research appointments, retrieval
of information, clarification of the task and rules, support in
doing correct citations, and preparation for adequate computer
skills are part of the services offered by the library and writing
and tutorial centers on campus.
- Scheduling a series of appointments to
work through the steps needed in the paper will ensure the task
is done well and on time.
- Medical emergencies do occur, and if
a doctor orders hospitalization or bed rest, any student, with
or without a disability, could expect to have the opportunity
to ask for an extension.
(Link to Academic Support Programs, Butler Library) |
