What are examples of science lab accommodations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing?

Date Updated
04/09/21

Since each student's accommodation needs are unique and the student is often most knowledgeable about effective accommodations, be sure to talk with the student about what accommodations they might need.

Some specific accommodations that might be useful to a student who is deaf or hard of hearing in a science lab include the following:

  • Provide a lab partner.
  • Allow extra time for set up and completion of lab work.
  • Give preferential seating to avoid physical barriers and assure visual access to the instructor, demonstrations, and captioned videos.
  • Provide written instructions prior to lab activities.
  • Have visual lab warning signals (such as strobe fire alarms) installed.

This list is from the DO-IT publication Making Science Labs Accessible to Students with Disabilities.

For more examples of accommodations that can be made in science labs consult the DO-IT Knowledge Base article What are examples of accommodations in science laboratories? and Accessibility in the Laboratory, published by the American Chemical Society.