Often times parents get carried away at the idea of their student having a disability and needing assistance such that they ask for everything that they can to help accommodate their child. (As an educator, you will realize the danger in over accommodating as much as under accommodating… as over accommodating can lead to a student becoming dependent on that accommodation)
Sometimes we as educators after having worked with the child can provide more helpful information about the academic setting to better match the need for accommodation to the student’s level of need.
For example, a student with a reading disability might benefit from having work read to him/her; however, after a couple of years of being having all materials read, the student may become too dependent on this accommodation.
For a student that has been diagnosed with dyslexia, a parent may request that they only be tested with a paper-pencil… however, if the student practices computer testing weekly – having a paper-pencil test on the big assessment might not translate well later on….
If you have a parent that is over-advocating for his/her student to receive all available accommodations, how might you guide the parent in helping to determine which accommodations are reasonable and necessary?
