How Teachers Can Accommodate Learning Disabilities in the Classroom

Summary and Response to “Common accommodations and modifications in school” by Amanda Morin

What are the major themes of the reading? What were the important applications to learning?

The major theme in the reading concerns the provision of appropriate accommodations and modifications for students that are struggling in school. These adjustments aim to support their learning, behavior, and everyday skills development. The important applications to learning include identifying and making accommodations that involve changing the presentation, response methods, setting, timing, scheduling, and organization support to make the educational content and assessments more accessible without fundamentally altering the core curriculum. In this context, modifications involve adjusting the assignments, assessments, and curriculum standards themselves to match students’ unique needs and capabilities. These accommodations and modifications can also be individualized to address specific learning disabilities.

What resonated with you as you read? Aha! Moments? Where did the text challenge you?

In truth, all of the strategies resonated with me to some degree, but a special “Aha moment” for me was the realization that some of these strategies are pie-in-the-sky approaches for already overcrowded classrooms and the fact that some were dumbing down coursework rather than achieving the above-stated goal.