Modification vs. Accommodations

Luminous Learning has a great infographic and blog post on accommodations for students who require them.

(Image credit: http://luminouslearning.com/blogs/luminous-learning/13695277-special-education-accommodations)

The blog post does a great job of clarifying the difference between modifications and accommodations.  The infographic gives some easy to implement ideas on how to assist students without changing the content or the standards.  This can be more complicated than modifications for many teachers.  If a student requires modifications for some reason, it can be easy to modify the number of questions that they are required to answer, assess them using a simpler rubric, etc.  With accommodations, however, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.  Teachers often feel that if they have 30 different students, they are expected to teach the same thing in 30 different ways.  This is where it is easy to become overwhelmed.

Looking at these ideas can give you some ideas that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the same content in a way that better supports his or her learning.  For example, help a visual learner by providing a graphic organizer to help them to organize their thoughts when writing a critical essay.  Give struggling readers vocabulary definitions ahead of time.  Ensure that your disorganized students have a system in place, such as an agenda, and help them to use their system every day.

While this infographic is very simple, I found that it helped me to think about the other ways that I can support students who struggle- and really, every student will struggle with some aspect of learning.  What strategies have been most successful for you?