Elizabeth Tuvell
TLS 318
Professor Betts
September 22, 2015
Unit 4 Reflection
Throughout my schooling career I’ve encountered a lot of disability accommodations,
some for myself but mostly for classmates. One of the biggest ones I have seen in school is extra
time on tests. I have noticed that many students just need that little bit of extra time to ensure that
they can perform to their best ability. Most of the teachers that I had, had no problem making
sure that the students who needed extra time received that extra time. However, there were some
teachers that were not as accommodating and that ended up really effects the students and their
performance on tests. My sister for example, she has severe dyslexia and has a really hard time
taking tests in the time allotted. She needs the extra time to make sure that she is reading each
word correctly and understanding what the test is asking. She has had multiple teachers in the
past who have not allowed her to have extra time, even though it states in her IEP that she needs
the extra time, and it ended up really affecting some of her grades.
I think that giving students extra time works really well for them as long as they are
taking the extra time seriously. I can understand from a teacher standpoint that some students use
their extra time because they can tend to goof off while taking their test, thus not using their time
wisely. I have seen this done while I was volunteering in the classroom and so I can personally
understand some hesitation. However, for the students that really need it, I think it can be quite
affective. For instance, I look at how my sister improved her grades immensely when she was
given the extra time to complete her tests and that shows me that it can be successful for some.
Another common thing that I have seen in classrooms is having the teacher wear a
microphone so that when they are talking their voice is amplified for any students with hearing
impairments. There was one girl that was in my Biology class in high school who had lost most
of her hearing in an accident. She really relied on all of her teachers using these microphones so
that she could hear everything that our teachers were saying. I personally do not have any
hearing impairments, but I also found this helpful for me in my classes. Sometimes when I am
writing notes and listening to someone talk I can have a hard time multitasking. I end up not
hearing everything said or not writing down everything that I intend to write. However, I know
that there can be issues with this as well. The teachers need to make sure to charge the battery for
the microphone pack, they also need to remember to wear the pack at every class that the student
is present who needs it.
All in all, I think that using the microphone does work really well when it is used
correctly. I think that it is really effective for both people with hearing impairments and even
people without hearing impairments. It really makes students pay more attention when they are
hearing something at a higher sound volume. It is kind of hard to not be focused on what
someone is saying if you are hearing it rather loudly. I can also see the downside of it. If there is
a technology issue or a teacher forgets to charge the microphone it can make it difficult for the
student with a hearing impairment to get all of the information out of that class period.
In conclusion, I have seen many different accommodations for people with disabilities
and I think that there are positives and negatives to all of them. I thought of these two
accommodations when reading through some of the websites listed because I saw a couple of
articles about making sure accommodations are met. I think that is so important because it can
really affect a child’s education if they are being denied their accommodations.