The classroom setting and surroundings are made up of a variety of kids with varying talents and potentials. Furthermore, interactions between impaired and non-native speakers in classrooms with pupils with special needs are now prevalent. As a result, educators and teachers must adjust and modify their ways of instruction to help kids with special needs as well as ordinary students achieve greater academic levels. As a result, this article identifies and explores the distinctions between accommodations and modifications in a classroom context to improve the learning of kids with special needs. This study also tries to explain why accommodation and adaptation are important in a classroom with students of varying abilities.
Today, accommodation and modification are critical tactics used by teachers to deliver successfully. Classroom accommodations and modifications are typically employed with students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a 504 plan (Goodwin et al., 2020). This is because these students demand their educators’ and instructors’ entire attention to study and grasp the course material efficiently. Experts define accommodation as a change in the setting, the curriculum style, or a teaching technique that allows students with special needs to learn the material and effectively finish their assignments (Goodwin et al., 2020). Recent research on the subject has shown that accommodating students does not change the teaching content; therefore, teachers should be free to use the same grading system for all students (Chen, 2019). As such, accommodation is just a change in the teaching approach to improve the learning of disabled pupils in a classroom.
Apart from accommodation, teachers also employ modification to successfully enhance the learning of both impaired and poor learners. According to Chen (2019), modification refers to curricular adjustments made for students with disabilities who are unable to comprehend the educational topic using the present teaching technique. For example, a teacher may opt to severely reduce and modify an assignment for a student with cognitive impairments that limit their ability. As a result, accommodation and modification are two distinct learning techniques that are commonly used in the classroom to help enhance the learning outcomes of persons who are visually impaired or who speak a foreign language.
Every individual in the modern world, regardless of physical or mental condition, has the right to an education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) require that all impaired students be given appropriate accommodations to support their education (Khouri et al., 2019). Children have varying capabilities and abilities to grasp new information. This is considerably worse for kids with cognitive issues, and their instructor must devise other specific teaching strategies for this group for them to absorb the lesson contents (Khouri et al., 2019). For example, it has been discovered that children with ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning and behavioral issues battle feelings such as foolishness, insanity, and sloth. As a result, educators must address these concerns in a way that promotes an engaging atmosphere. A skilled instructor would not separate pupils based on their ability and would avoid using derogatory words when referring to troubled children. This is significant because harsh language inhibits and hence interferes with children’s learning abilities.
Accommodation for children with special needs is required in the majority of learning institutions since these programs enable pupils to overcome barriers to successful learning. Whether it is informed of instructional or testing modifications, the change in teaching delivery by instructors is by far benefiting both regular and special needs students. Abedi et al. (2020) identify some of the classroom accommodations that assist impaired pupils in matching the performance of their peers. The accommodations identified for visually challenged children include audio versions of the text, big print material, and braille materials, which have enhanced their performance. Various populations that require specific teaching strategies include children with other learning difficulties, such as the inability to read text. Some of the strategies that have assisted this vulnerable demographic include the distribution of audiobooks and the availability of text-to-speech software. Accommodation strategies have assisted children with ADHD. According to Abedi et al. (2020), frequent pauses during lesson delivery are one approach to improving the academic performance of children with ADHD. Other study investigations on the subject have also agreed that directly marking answers in the exam booklet as opposed to using bubble replies enhanced ADHD recall.
Finally, children with orthopedic impairments are an important category of pupils who need accommodations to help them study. This is a group that has difficulty writing down replies during learning and evaluation periods. The use of oral response and voice-to-text software has been determined to be the most effective technique to assist these children to learn (Abedi et al., 2020). This is true because, despite their incapacity to write, the children can see and hear the course content thanks to voice-to-text software. Furthermore, allowing oral comments during assessment has enabled us to evaluate these children because they are unable to finish written assignments correctly.
Finally, children with impairments and those who do not speak English require additional care to help them learn. To match their ordinary children’s performance, vulnerable children with impairments such as ADHD, deafness, loss of sight, and other cognitive difficulties require specific teaching techniques that increase their learning. Digital text, visual hints, audiobooks, speech-to-test software, and frequent pauses during courses are some of the accommodations and modifications described in this study.
References
Abedi, J., Zhang, Y., Rowe, S., & Lee, H. (2020). Examining Effectiveness and Validity of Accommodations for English Language Learners in Mathematics: An EvidenceāBased Computer Accommodation Decision System. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 39(4), 41-52. Web.
Chen, L. (2019). Are Learning Interaction or Assessment Accommodation Implementation Critical in Improving the Learning Performance for College Students with Special Needs. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(9), 131-145. Web.
Goodwin, K., Farquharson, K., Yeager Pelatti, C., Schneider-Cline, W., Harvey, J., & Bush, E. (2020). Examining the Quality of Individualized Education Program (IEP) Goals for Children with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Communication Disorders Quarterly, 43(2), 96-104. Web.
Khouri, M., Lipka, O., & Shecter-Lerner, M. (2019). University faculty perceptions about accommodations for students with learning disabilities. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 26(4), 365-377. Web.