Accommodation Question

[Anonymous]

I am a university professor and I’m wondering how accommodations help my student in this instance. She has accommodations from the university and it is “flexibility with due dates”. The student and I discussed what this means in concrete terms and she asked for a 1 week extension on all assignments.

In the class, on Monday, the students are given a topic. The following Monday the students need to turn in a 3 page essay. This happens every week. How does the extra week help this student? Doesn’t it just kick the can down the road. She never really gets additional time, she’s just a week behind everyone else.

When we get to the final exam, her accommodation is going to be that she receives the exam a week earlier. Grades are due very quickly after classes end and I cannot grant her an additional week at the end of the semester per the university. So in the very near term, her work is going to double up on her.

I’m trying to understand how this accommodation helps. I have no idea what her disability is. I don’t ask and as long as the university provides me the notification of accommodation that’s all I need.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to say without knowing the nature of her medical condition. But let’s say it’s an autoimmune issue where some days will be good, some days will be bad, and she doesn’t know in advance what kind of day it’s going to be. That extra week may give her the extra flexibility that she needs to accommodate a bad day while still doing her best to keep up with everything on her good days. Some weeks the paper may come in on time on Monday, some weeks it might come a couple of days later, but on those weeks she’ll work a bit harder after getting the late paper done to get back on top of the schedule for the next one. After all, it doesn’t take a full week to write a three-paper.

[Anonymous]

I suggest you get this post moved to the "special needs" forum on DCUM, maybe. Parents there have kids who often need accommodations. Most posts there are about much younger children but there's more knowledge about accommodations there. Ideally I'd put your post both there and in this forum too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suggest you get this post moved to the "special needs" forum on DCUM, maybe. Parents there have kids who often need accommodations. Most posts there are about much younger children but there's more knowledge about accommodations there. Ideally I'd put your post both there and in this forum too.

Ugh, the last thing the SN board needs is a “are accommodations just garbage” post from an educator.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to know? why do you care?

Just follow the guideline, give her the grade she deserves based on the work she turns in.


Maybe she is getting radiation treatment and 3 days a week she is too exhausted to work but then she knows she will have 7 good days between treatments and can plan to get all her work done in those 7 days but know the other 3 days she is useless. She can plan her work better with the extra week instead of trying to give you her radiation schedule.

[Anonymous]

I am also a professor, and in this case, I would sit down with her and the syllabus and ask the questions you've asked here.

You are actually not required by law to provide the accommodations if they are not reasonable in terms of your coursework. This also means that you and she can think through how to make the accommodations work for your course. Or, you can just give her the accommodations and not make how they affect her ability to complete the course your problem.

However, I have come around to the view that it's not a big deal to make my course work for students who need to do it at a slightly different pace. So, I would give her all of the Monday assignments up front, and tell her that while she has the 1-week extension on each of them before she receives late penalties, that you strongly suggest she try to complete them sooner for exactly the reason you describe. That way, at the end, when she gets the exam early, she won't necessarily be doubling up on work.

If your exam is open book (which it must be since students are taking it home), even if it is "doubling up," since the exam is presumably review, and 90% of the coursework will have been completed by that point, she still gets the extra time to break the assignment into pieces, or have a mental issue of a day or two where she can't work, or end up in the hospital for breathing treatments, or whatever it is that interrupts her ability to get work done. That additional time may make it more likely she'll complete enough of the exam to pass, even if the last 10% of the coursework has to get done simultaneously.

[Anonymous]

No one gets a week- should be a day or two the most

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am also a professor, and in this case, I would sit down with her and the syllabus and ask the questions you've asked here.

You are actually not required by law to provide the accommodations if they are not reasonable in terms of your coursework. This also means that you and she can think through how to make the accommodations work for your course. Or, you can just give her the accommodations and not make how they affect her ability to complete the course your problem.

However, I have come around to the view that it's not a big deal to make my course work for students who need to do it at a slightly different pace. So, I would give her all of the Monday assignments up front, and tell her that while she has the 1-week extension on each of them before she receives late penalties, that you strongly suggest she try to complete them sooner for exactly the reason you describe. That way, at the end, when she gets the exam early, she won't necessarily be doubling up on work.

If your exam is open book (which it must be since students are taking it home), even if it is "doubling up," since the exam is presumably review, and 90% of the coursework will have been completed by that point, she still gets the extra time to break the assignment into pieces, or have a mental issue of a day or two where she can't work, or end up in the hospital for breathing treatments, or whatever it is that interrupts her ability to get work done. That additional time may make it more likely she'll complete enough of the exam to pass, even if the last 10% of the coursework has to get done simultaneously.

Here’s the answer.

[Anonymous]

As an aside, in my 20 years of teaching, I've had only one student with university-approved accommodations that I ultimately had to fail because he got too far behind. The situation was similar to the one described here with weekly assignments, and we met many times, but ultimately that particular course just did not work for him -- too many frequent assignments and he basically gave up -- and it was too late to get him into something else or come up with a new plan by the time it became clear that he wasn't going to be able to complete enough work to pass the course.

I also had one incident where a student only received accommodations after my course had ended, and the department of student services asked me to reconsider his failing grade. He had failed for lack of attendance which led directly to not turning things in and failing assignments because he didn't know how to do them. Essentially, they were asking me to imagine that he had taken the course with accommodations he didn't have at the time, which had resulted in better, passing-level work. Everything about that request was ridiculous (and illegal), though I understand why a sympathetic person in DSS thought it was worth trying.

For the most part, accommodations are reasonable, and students know how to manage their time. These are adults, and the ones with disabilities are already very familiar with what they have to do to pass a fast-paced university class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am also a professor, and in this case, I would sit down with her and the syllabus and ask the questions you've asked here.

You are actually not required by law to provide the accommodations if they are not reasonable in terms of your coursework. This also means that you and she can think through how to make the accommodations work for your course. Or, you can just give her the accommodations and not make how they affect her ability to complete the course your problem.

However, I have come around to the view that it's not a big deal to make my course work for students who need to do it at a slightly different pace. So, I would give her all of the Monday assignments up front, and tell her that while she has the 1-week extension on each of them before she receives late penalties, that you strongly suggest she try to complete them sooner for exactly the reason you describe. That way, at the end, when she gets the exam early, she won't necessarily be doubling up on work.

If your exam is open book (which it must be since students are taking it home), even if it is "doubling up," since the exam is presumably review, and 90% of the coursework will have been completed by that point, she still gets the extra time to break the assignment into pieces, or have a mental issue of a day or two where she can't work, or end up in the hospital for breathing treatments, or whatever it is that interrupts her ability to get work done. That additional time may make it more likely she'll complete enough of the exam to pass, even if the last 10% of the coursework has to get done simultaneously.

OP here--thank you for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I suggest you get this post moved to the "special needs" forum on DCUM, maybe. Parents there have kids who often need accommodations. Most posts there are about much younger children but there's more knowledge about accommodations there. Ideally I'd put your post both there and in this forum too.

Ugh, the last thing the SN board needs is a “are accommodations just garbage” post from an educator.

Well, I think it is reasonable and respectful for a professor to ask this and ask it anonymously. It may be that with some insight, the professor can do a better job tailoring assignments. This accommodation is a tough one if the assignment is to be discussed in class on the due date, but if assigned a week early has no meaning. Perhaps with some understanding about what the extra week achieves, the professor can come up with some creative ways to make sure the student can participate fully while still meeting her needs.

I can tell you that my son, and for many I have taught, this accommodation would have been a disaster, so I was wondering what the answers would be, myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you need to know? why do you care?

Just follow the guideline, give her the grade she deserves based on the work she turns in.


Maybe she is getting radiation treatment and 3 days a week she is too exhausted to work but then she knows she will have 7 good days between treatments and can plan to get all her work done in those 7 days but know the other 3 days she is useless. She can plan her work better with the extra week instead of trying to give you her radiation schedule.

Your answer is disdainful and disdain is unnecessary.

The professor asked in an anonymous location. This suggests the professor wants to do well by the student. Perhaps with some information about circumstances that can produce this unusual accommodation, s/he can do even better than just meet the requirement.

Not every interaction must be adversarial. Not every question has ill-intent attached.

[Anonymous]

To OP - you should be having this discussion with your university or college's Office of Disability Service or whatever office issues the accommodations. The accommodations are set every year. You are notified of the need for accomodations - if you are confused, you are supposed to ask ODS for clarification.

[Anonymous]

University professor here. It sounds like you've worked it out, but at the universities where I've worked, it's not been a problem to turn in a single grade a week late. In fact, turning in a week late is so common it's before we even start getting nagged about grades. If it would help the student more, talk with your dept chair/dean's office to see if it's okay to turn in this student's grade a week later than the others to make the accommodation.

[Anonymous]

NP and also a professor. I have a student with accommodations. First time in 10 years. Student needs frequent bathroom breaks, extra test time, take home test or testing center test. I just ask student which is best for her/him re the tests and that’s what I do. College isn’t about dotting every i and crossing every t, it’s about the whole person. I don’t need to know why my student has accommodations; I only need to know that small changes that I can make are huge in his/her life.