Here’s a list of simple classroom accommodations you and your child’s teacher can work together to put in place.
- Time Extensions. This accommodation is pretty self-explanatory. Kids get up to time-and-a-half on tests, and in some cases, they get unlimited time. This is great for kids who need more time to process information, have a slower reading rate, or who need time to go back over and edit their writing. One warning: This accommodation is not right for every student. Many ADHD students find that extended time is counterproductive – the time pressure actually helps them to focus.
- Readers. Many students who are slow readers or auditory processors have their tests read to them. A teacher may read the exam to them, or the student works with a Kurzweil machine that reads text. Many colleges and university provide both of these accommodations.
- Technical Assistance. The use of computers, spell-checkers, reading machines, or voice-activated software are good accommodations for kids whose minds are quicker than their pens.
- Oral Exams. With this accommodation, both the questions and the answers are given orally. This accommodation works well for highly verbal kids.
- Quiet Room. This accommodation is for students who spend the first 20 minutes of a test watching the pens click and listening to the other kids shuffle their papers before they even glance at their exam. However, this will not work for all kids – some find that they need white noise in the background to focus. In that event, try placing a fan or a white noise machine in the room.
- Breaks. This accommodation should be used in tandem with a time extension. If a kid is going to sit through a test that takes her twice as long, then she deserves a few breaks.
- Portfolio-Based Assessment. Many parents and students are asking schools to drop their standardized testing methods in favor of a model that embraces the student as a whole. Rather than taking traditional tests, your child creates a portfolio of his work throughout the semester or school year, representing different mediums like writing, art work, and oral presentations. To Tests homepage