Pre-college

In the Phoenix Reading Project, Jerry Powell, a special education teacher at Sugar-Salem High School in Sugar City, Idaho, is using scan/read technology to help his students successfully complete reading assignments and exams in their core academic classes. Students with a variety of disabilities that include learning disabilities, health impairments, hearing impairments, autism spectrum disorders, and developmental disabilities have had increased access to textbooks and other printed material because of the hardware and software Mr.

Too often conference attendance benefits only one teacher and his/her students. A team of special education teachers from the Fife School District, however, took concrete steps to maximize the benefit of attendance at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Convention and Expo. They sought to learn and apply strategies for including students with disabilities in general education science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes in their schools.

Mary McBride, a K-5 special education teacher at Dundee Elementary School in Dundee, Oregon, noticed that some of her students were struggling and falling behind during writing and research assignments. These students were able to understand complex information and verbalize responses, but had trouble processing printed information and/or translating their thoughts into written work. Ms.

Mary Moore, a third grade teacher at Jason Lee Elementary in Richland, WA, is using technology to actively engage all of the students in her diverse classroom. She has students with a wide range of characteristics with respect to hearing abilities, health, learning, and English language proficiency. For some students, these differences qualify as disabilities; for others, English is their second language.

Kellie Rhodes, a high school science teacher from Orofino High School in Orofino, Idaho, strives to make her labs accessible to all students. With the support of lab equipment obtained through funding from an AccessSTEM Minigrant, students with and without disabilities are finding science in Ms. Rhodes' class to be more hands-on.

The World Wide Web provides a great source for locating summer camps in your corner of the world. Using a search engine, you can search for items like "summer camp for kids with disabilities" or "accessible summer camps" and be provided with myriad options.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was signed by President George W. Bush on January 8th, 2002. The legislation attempts to improve the performance of America's primary and secondary schools by increasing accountability standards for states and school districts, providing parents with more flexibility in choosing schools, and promoting the use of educational practices based on scientific research.

While there are no specific time lines, some professionals recommend that students be re-evaluated at least every three years or whenever there is going to be a "significant change in placement." The campus 504 committee should reconsider the student's plan every year to make sure that his or her accommodation plan is appropriate, based on their current schedule and individual student needs. The accommodation plan may be revised during the school year if needed.

Examples of how you can adapt specific science activities from a general curriculum can be found in a joint project between DO-IT and MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement). For each activity of each book in the MESA series, DO-IT staff created a list of suggested accommodations for students with specific disabilities.

National testing services are required by law to provide reasonable accommodations, and most have information on their websites about how to document a disability and request accommodations. However, students and their advocates must get all documentation prepared well in advance. The review of required forms and notification of approval or denial of accommodations for national exams can take several months.