Student Accommodations and Modifications

If your child has an IEP, then your IEP team must consider the need for student accommodations. This page is specifically about the legal requirements, but you’ll more about specific accommodations as you go through the “NEXT” pages in this tutorial (links at bottom of this page).

IDEA §300.324 says IEPs should include the —
(i) Appropriate positive behavioral interventions and supports and other strategies for the child; and
(ii) Supplementary aids and services, program modifications, and support for school personnel” —

IDEA also says in section 300.320 (6)(i) that an IEP must include “A statement of any individual appropriate accommodations that are necessary to measure the academic achievement and functional performance of the child on State and district-wide assessments.”

Additionally, IDEA specifies in Sec. 300.105 Assistive technology.
“(a) Each public agency must ensure that assistive technology devices or assistive technology services, or both, as those terms are defined in Sec. Sec. 300.5 and 300.6, respectively, are made available to a child with a disability if required as a part of the child’s–
(1) Special education under Sec. 300.36;
(2) Related services under Sec. 300.34; or
(3) Supplementary aids and services under Sec. Sec. 300.38 and 300.114(a)(2)(ii).
(b) On a case-by-case basis, the use of school-purchased assistive technology devices in a child’s home or in other settings is required if the child’s IEP Team determines that the child needs access to those devices in order to receive FAPE.”

The IDEA Appendix A says, “The Act requires the IEP team to determine, and the public agency to provide, the accommodations, modifications, supports, and supplementary aids and services, needed by each child with a disability to successfully be involved in and progress in the general curriculum achieve the goals of the IEP, and successfully demonstrate his or her competencies in State and district-wide assessments.”

“Public agencies often require all children, including children with disabilities, to demonstrate mastery in a given area of the general curriculum before allowing them to progress to the next level or grade in that area. Thus, in order to ensure that each child with a disability can effectively demonstrate competencies in an applicable area of the general curriculum, it is important for the IEP team to consider the accommodations and modifications that the child needs to assist him or her in demonstrating progress in that area.”

§300.342 (b)(3) Each teacher and provider must be informed of—(ii) The specific accommodations, modifications, and supports that must be provided for the child in accordance with the IEP. The teacher must know what provisions have been decided upon in order to utilize them effectively.

Student Accommodations Quiz Question

A district’s list of specific accommodations and modifications places limits on what a school can provide the child.

Answer: False. The list of student Accommodations is a starting point, but does not limit your school’s options for helping your child.