Accommodations in Education

March 29, 2023

Accommodations in Education


Many classroom teachers and homeschool parents have the opinion that all students should be treated the same. While this sounds great in theory, it is not practical. Children are different. Strengths and weaknesses can vary greatly among siblings, not to mention a classroom full of children from numerous different backgrounds.

 

I remember when I learned this. I had always tried to treat my students the same way, which is fine in the areas of kindness and respect for all. When teaching reading, students were assigned a reading group according to their ability to read. Doing this showed me how some students would be able to read other text books and some would need a lot of help in those other areas. There was no way to treat them all the same. What was right and fair for one student was not necessarily best for another. Because I was teaching in a Christian school at the time, I was able to let the class know that God created everyone with different strengths and weaknesses, so what was fair for one might not be fair for another. My goal in class was to do whatever I could to ensure that everyone would learn. Children need a variety of methods in teaching for everyone to have the opportunity to be successful. I had some students who were poor readers, but excelled at learning when we were doing a hands-on project. Some students hated hands-on projects. They were much happier just reading the text or writing a paper.

 

It is important to look at each student as an individual, and to make sure that a wide range of assignments are given to play into the strengths of everyone whenever possible. Realistically, this is not always possible when a teacher has 30 students in a class. For example, the effort should be made to include reading, writing, hands-on projects or art, and maybe computers and possibly some math when teaching a Social Studies unit. Most students will be good at and hopefully enjoy some aspect of learning in this unit.

 

Another way to help a student who struggles in reading is to read a test to them. If they are taking a math test and there are word problems, read those questions to them. The purpose of the test is to see if they can calculate the problem, not read the words. The same is true with science. Tests or answering questions at the end of a chapter is intended to assess their science knowledge, not to see how many of the words they can read. This is true of most subjects. They should receive a reading grade only for reading, not other subjects. While they are learning to read, it is important that they DO NOT fall behind in learning general knowledge subjects. When working with a dyslexic student, you might be surprised at their ability in math and science.

 

Another problem might be spelling. During my in-person tutoring days, I was able to get most teachers to accept the spelling words that we were working on along with the reading program. At the end of the week, I would give them the test during a tutoring session, score it, and make a copy of the test for the student to bring in to the teacher. This worked great.

 

If you are homeschooling your child, you will be able to adjust your teaching to your child’s learning style. If you are homeschooling multiple children, it won’t take you long to know who can be successful with independent work and who will need much more individualized attention. Remember, each child is unique. One size never fits all.

Here are a few of my favorite examples:

 

1. If a child has trouble with labeling geography maps in Social Studies because they can’t figure out which part is land and which part is water, help them out by lightly shading in the water with a blue colored pencil. I had a student one year who could fill in the entire map correctly if I made this one simple accommodation.

 

2. In 5th grade, many students learn where each state is located. They are asked to fill out a map of the United States with the name of each state. Either make this a matching test, so it’s NOT a spelling test, or better yet (and more fun), I had a very large felt map that students could label with the state names printed on felt strips. If they were learning state capitals, there was also a set of capitals on felt strips. All they needed to do was place them on the map. I also used this for a game in class.

 

3. In math, teach them how to build a model of something to scale. Again, just because reading is a struggle doesn’t mean that numbers are a struggle also.

 

4. Work art and creativity into otherwise “dry” subjects. During the time that I taught junior high, we took over the responsibility for the fall carnival. Whatever we were learning about in Social Studies/History at the time became the theme for that year. My students built and painted carnival game booths, dressed in character, wrote a creative story, and worked the event. By the time the carnival was over, they all knew more than they wanted about that time period or event.

 

5. Use cooking to teach measurements. Teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints, quarts, and gallons as well as weight measurements such as grams, ounces, pounds, etc. can be learned in the kitchen.

 

6. Reader’s Theatre is a great way for reluctant readers to participate in class. Give the strugglers the characters that have a very limited number of parts.

 

These are just a few ideas. Lastly, remember that students learn in many different ways. The goal is to find what works best for your student while you keep working on reading fluency.

Ten Things to Help Your Child Be Prepared to Learn

August 6, 2025
Do you remember the beginning of each school year when you were young? I do! I loved school, or at least elementary and junior high. High school was not as much fun because of all of the drama probably due to raging hormones. During the summers, as kids, we would play school. Actually, it was a good thing. It helped us remember our math skills, and kept us reading throughout the summer. I’m of the age that home computers did not exist yet, and you were lucky if you had a wall phone without a party-line (when you share your phone line with someone else because there weren’t enough lines to go around). Obviously, we didn’t have cell phones to distract us. We played some of the standard games of that time period like Monopoly and Scrabble, but mostly we made up our own games to play outside. But today is much different. Hopefully our children are still excited about a new school year, but our children today face challenges that did not exist when I was in school. We have technology in most classrooms that can either be a huge blessing or for some a curse. But regardless of how our classrooms are structured, either at school or at home (for homeschool families), one thing remains the same, our children are there to learn. We, as the adults in the room, need to bring structure and the cohesiveness needed for the best learning outcomes. So, here are 10 things that parents can do to help their children be prepared to learn? Make sure they have enough school clothes that fit so that they are not self-conscious about how they look. If you can only afford one week’s worth of clothes that’s okay. Laundry can be done on the weekend, and the order in which they wear their clothes or the way they pair shirts and pants can change for new combinations. Get the most important school supplies ahead of time and have them in their backpack. Other supplies can be purchased as needed. (In many places the two or three weeks before school starts, all school supplies are really cheap comparatively, so if you can afford it, it’s nice to stock up on what you know will be needed.) Have a plan for an easy, healthy, high-protein, low-sugar breakfast they can eat each morning. If they take lunch, it’s helpful to fix it the night before and put it in the refrigerator to eliminate a lot of morning stress. Make sure homework or anything else that needs to go to school the next day is in the backpack the night before. Arrive at school a little early, so they won’t feel embarrassed by walking in late. You want them to get off to a good calm start every day. In the evenings, talk about what your child learned that day. Ask appropriate questions about each subject. If they need help, it’s okay to help them. Children learn in all different ways. Sometimes they may need some input from you to be able to do the assignment. If you feel they are struggling in school in general, schedule an appointment to meet with the teacher right away. If it’s just one subject that’s hard for them, I would personally schedule an appointment to meet with the teacher. Most teachers want to know if there is a struggle, so they can meet that individual need. Be aware of what your child is learning in school. If you have questions, ask the teacher, but don’t be a “helicopter” parent. The best place to do homework for a younger child is the dining room table. It helps them stay on track, and it lets you know what they should be learning. Actually, in my home we all did homework at the dining room table all the way through high school. It eliminates isolation and provides immediate help when needed. Happy New School Year!
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