Educational Accommodations: Best Practices for Academic and Clinical Faculty
Background and Purpose: Academic and clinical faculty are frequently uncertain about their ability to negotiate, verses prescriptively follow, outlined accommodations for qualifying students under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Differing demands and expectations between the classroom and clinic often creates the need for clear delineation of accommodations. However, communicating with students, clarifying accommodations, affirming performance thresholds, and ensuring student readiness for authentic practice can be quite challenging. Given the substantial increase in students with accommodations, the need to determine a lawful approach that is both supportive and developmental for students is essential. Under the direction of legal and disability experts, academic and clinical faculty will gain the knowledge to build a strong foundation upon which to administer fair and rigorous physical therapy education.
Case Description: Nearly 10% of each admitted cohort of students to a large university’s physical therapist education program now receive academic accommodations. A formal, interactive, and two-pronged process was implemented by the DPT Program Director and Disability Support Officer to ensure student support without compromise to academic rigor or departmental resources.
Outcomes: The interactive process created a rich learning environment for the involved parties. Students were challenged to consider learning in light of professional demands, a conceptual layer not typically in existence in traditional undergraduate settings. Simultaneously, faculty were challenged to reconsider operations through new lenses, including examination timing and scheduling, classroom etiquette, and clinical education practices. More efficient and creative strategies to support students in meeting the Technical Standards and Essential Functions were proposed, approved, and consequently implemented with great success to date.
Discussion: This session will detail the interactive process used with students when implementing classroom and clinic accommodations. Attendees will gain insight into how traditional accommodations can be modified to both support the student’s need for learning as well as the program’s needs for progressing student skill towards mastery within professional contexts.