Accommodations, Modifications, Supplementary Aids, and Services

What's Required

Supplementary aids and services, special education, and related services must be based on peer-reviewed research to the extent practicable. The admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee must determine needed supplementary aids and services to be provided to the child, or on behalf of the child (34 CFR 300.320(a)(4), 20 USC 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(IV),19 TAC 89.1050(a)(1))

The term "supplementary aids and services" means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable the child with a disability to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate (34 CFR 300.42and 20 USC 1401(33))

The ARD committee must determine needed program modifications or supports for school personnel that will be provided to the child to enable the child to: Advance appropriately toward attaining the annual goals; and be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum, and be afforded an equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities including, to the maximum extent appropriate, in nonacademic settings and services such as: meals, recess periods, counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services, recreational activities; special interest groups or clubs sponsored by the local educational agency (LEA), referrals to other agencies that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities, and employment of children, including both employment by the LEA and assistance in making outside employment available (34 CFR 300.117, 34 CFR 300.107, 20 USC 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(IV)

Be educated and participate with other children with disabilities and nondisabled children.

The LEA is required to provide training to an educator who works primarily outside the area of special education only if the educator does not possess the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the IEP developed for the child receiving instruction from the educator (TEC 21.451(e) and TEC 21.451(d)(2))


What We Do


The least restrictive environment (LRE) requirements: 
    • Adapt curriculum and instruction for students working below and above grade level.
    • Use effective instructional practices.
    • Select critical content to teach.
    • Be knowledgeable about and skilled with a variety of ways of presenting and assessing content learning.
    • Select accommodations based upon when and where such accommodations are necessary.

Accommodations vs Modifications:
Accommodations
    • An accommodation is a change in the teaching or testing procedures in order to provide students access to information and to create an equal opportunity to demonstrate content knowledge and skills.
    • An instructional accommodation involves a wide range of techniques to help students participate in the general education curriculum to the maximum extent possible.
    • An instructional accommodation does not change what the student is expected to master; therefore, curriculum content remains intact.
    • In Texas, an accommodation is defined as practices and procedures that are "intended to reduce or even eliminate the effects of student's disability, but do not reduce learning expectations".

Modifications
    • A modification is a change in what the student is expected to learn and/or demonstrate.
    • An instructional modification indicates what is being taught–the curriculum content–is altered.
    • The instructional level, general education benchmarks, or number of key concepts to be mastered are modified.
    • Therefore, the course objectives are modified; Students are not required to learn all of the course objectives but only targeted objectives.
    • A curriculum modification reduces content and skills the student is required to learn.
    • In Texas, a modification is defined as "practices and procedures that change the nature of the task or target skill".

Supplementary Aids and Services:

Supplementary aids and services are provided in general education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate.

Supplementary aids and services can be accommodations to the curriculum under study or the manner in which that content is presented or a child’s progress is measured. But that’s not all they are or can be. Supplementary aids and services can also include: 

    • direct services and supports to the child, and
    • support and training for staff who work with that child.

Determining what supplementary aids and services are appropriate for a particular child must be done on an individual basis.

Additional Resources