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[conjugate]

My question is this: how have others of you dealt with a student whom you think is using a learning disability as an excuse for poor performance in a class?  In the course that I'm teaching this summer, I have a student with some fairly severe learning disabilities that have been documented by the university's learning disabilities services office.  I am more than happy to extend extra time on timed assignments and the like, but this student insists to me that his disability will also mean that papers will be turned in late and that it prevents him from participating in the discussion forum portion of the course.  My instincts tell me that this student is trying to take advantage of what is a legitimate disability.  However, I am neither trained nor qualified to make that evaluation. 

<snip>

For what it's worth, the staff at the learning disabilities services office seems to be on vacation.  I've called to see if they can clarify what my responsibilities as an instructor are, but they have yet to return my calls.

Well, the discussion portion of the class must be replaced somehow; and you need to make it clear that, extra time or no extra time, all work must be turned in by the time of the final exam (if you don't want to spend finals week dealing with this person's late papers trickling in on top of grading finals).

As far as the staff at the LD offices go, raise h*ll.  Talk to your chair and/or your dean; explain you need them to get back to you on this ASAP.  Ask for suggestions; can I expect the student to make up the in-class discussion by writing/recording/e-mailing comments on things other students have said?  If you send the student a list of points made in in-class discussion, how long would it take for the student to respond (maybe by voice recording) with a few well-thought-out responses to each?  I don't know how long it would take you to grade that sort of response, but if the discussion forum is required, the student ought to do something equivalent.  If the chair and the dean won't help you get in touch with the disabilities office, keep making noise.  What are they getting paid for?

But maybe I'm spoiled; our LD office sends student workers to me to pick up exams, schedules exams with extra time on their own premises, and has good honest proctors (or so I'm told).  I've never had to wait more than a day for a response, and I don't think you should either.

Another thought: If you are asked to waive some portion of the course, you should respond by pointing out that some of the Goals and Objectives and Indicators used in Assessing the course involve the portions you are being asked to waive.  That bureacratic gibble-gabble has to be good for something.  (Apologies to those who take all the Goals and Objectives and stuff as more important than class content.)

[blue_raja]

While completing my doc, I spent several miserable years working in a "learning assistance center".  I discovered there were two types of "students" who showed up at our doors: those who had learned how to manipulate the system to their advantage (typically wealthy and lazy, not disabled), and those who were so badly off that they should never have been admitted in the first place.

I do what one of the previous posters mentioned - if any student in one of my classes qualifies for "accomodations", then the entire class gets taht same "accomodation"  It is not fair to the other students that one gets preferential treatment.

[nerdasaurus]

While I realize that both types of students that blue raja describes exist, I would also remind her/him that there are many other students in the middle, who are just as bright as any student at Ivy U or SLAC, but who have a learning profile that is not best illuminated by the standardized tests that pass for proof of intelligence. It's not either/or. None of us are brilliant in every respect (except for perhaps Pedant) and neither are our students. We would all be better off as teachers and learners, IMHO, if we could broaden our definition of what it means to be intelligent as well as our accepted means for demonstrating mastery of a subject.

[tt_finally]

It isn't always easy to know when a student is scamming and when one has a legit. need, but my policy for dealing with students who have registered with DSS (disabilities support services) is:

1. Make the accommodations required by law and/or requested by DSS (which, by the way, has always been wonderfully responsive and helpful). 

2.  If a required accommodation creates undue difficulties in the classroom or if a student requests an additional accommodation, I work with DSS and the student to find a solution to the problem that is fair to the student, to me (I refused to transcribe tape-recorded "papers" for a student), and the class.  Sometimes technology can help--voice-recognition software, for example, for the student who physically couldn't write or use a keyboard--and sometimes I can find another approach to an in-class activity or assignment.  The key is placing responsibility on the student.  Scammers usually drop the matter (and sometimes the course) when they realize that although I'm willing to put in extra effort for them, I won't excuse them from meeting the learning objectives, but most of my DSS students have been amazingly willing to work when it is made possible for them to do so.  Several have been delightful to have in the class.

3.  If a student says he/she cannot do an essential part of the course b/c of a disability, and there isn't a work-around that makes it possible for the student to meet the learning objectives some other way, then I simply and sympathetically explain that the task in question is essential to the course objectives and must be done for successful completion of the course.  In a lit. class, for example, a student who claimed that his disability made it impossible for him to read in anything but a slow, laborious way still had to complete all required reading.  We had weekly writing assignments based on the readings, and it wasn't feasible to extend the deadlines, as another would be coming up.  I sympathized and offered suggestions. (Most of the required reading was available in audio format at the local public library, for example, so I recommended listening while commuting as a way of speeding up and reinforcing his reading comprehension; he wasn't interested.)  Whether unable or unwilling to do the required reading and reading-based assignments, he failed to do them and I transcribed the grade he earned. . . .

So, while I might try to suggest ways of making the assignment more feasible for the student or allow an equivalent alternative (given good justifications) that would be reasonably easy for me to administer & grade, I wouldn't excuse a student from the participation component of the discussion forum.  My legitimate disabled (or "differently abled") students have never requested that kind of discriminatory favor.

[trabb]

Thanks tt_finally and others.  I finally spoke to the Learning Disabilities office today, a full ten days after I first called them.  I know it's summer, but sheesh...:)

After much consideration, and taking into account the very helpful advice given here and by the LDS officer, I've opted to give the student a bit of extra time to get assignments turned in, though he will have to work out a way to keep up with the discussion forum portion of the course.  Speaking to the LDS officer convinced me that extra time, although not required by law, would allow this student to best demonstrate his knowledge and understanding of the material; furthermore, it seems that this student's disability is severe enough that giving him a few extra days wouldn't be unfair to other students in the course.

I know a lot of you would come up with a different solution, and I have some reservations about this course of action - mostly the "what's he going to do in the real world" concern.  I guess at the end of the day, I see my job as helping students to learn the material I'm teaching more than preparing them for the real world.  In any case, I've enjoyed the discussion, and it's been quite helpful.  Thanks all!

[smart_e_pantz]

I know a lot of you would come up with a different solution, and I have some reservations about this course of action - mostly the "what's he going to do in the real world" concern.  I guess at the end of the day, I see my job as helping students to learn the material I'm teaching more than preparing them for the real world.  In any case, I've enjoyed the discussion, and it's been quite helpful.  Thanks all!

Not at all.  I did the same thing with a student with a severe disability.  I offered her the opportunity to take extra time on her paper.  She opted to not complete the assignment in question and ended up with a grade in the class that would not transfer into any of the other schools in the college.  I saw her a semester later and she gloatingly told me that she had gotten a B in her English Comp class (the implication of course is that I was wrong in my assessment of her writing).  I told her "good for you" and wondered what would happen if, by some miracle, she managed to get accepted in to one of the other schools.

[avion]

CI

I can understand your problem with giving accommodations that will cause a student to have unrealistic expectations in the future.  Of course, as teachers, it is a responsibility to comply with the laws, and I believe that occasionally there may be legitimate reasons for such a request.  And, of course, we must comply regardless of what we believe regarding the legitimacy of such a request, given the edict of the diagnostic authorities.

Nonetheless, to me, I must admit there is something incongruous about extending these accommodations into advanced education (beyond K-12), where the focus should be on arming our students with as much of a competitive edge as possible.  The world is shrinking, and our global competitors are not crippling their work force in this manner.  This may sound harsh, but the problem is that what began as a well-meaning effort has mushroomed out of control and is indeed being used and abused by many. 

I love the idea put forth in this post about the professor who extends equal accommodations to the entire class to level the playing field when one or more of his students are granted such accommodations. 

I have personally seen students use this advantage in classes that will determine the pecking order for entry into extremely competitive arenas like medical school.  I have personal knowledge of a PhD student in electrical engineering at MIT using this to gain advantage over fellow students on an exam.  I'm sorry, but the "real world" argument has traction here.  When does the accommodating end?

And one not so small factor that few wish to address is how this affects the other students in the class, those who may be a rung or two below the accommodated student, in line for entry into the top medical school?  The focus is entirely on what can be done for the student who has requested the accommodation.  I think also that if these accommodations were extremely rare, to me it would be more credible.  Unfortunately, as a student and as a teacher, my (admittedly anecdotal, but consistent) experience has been that it is rarer to see a  class without at least someone making the request, than not, even in hotly competitive disciplines.

[microbe_doc]

There have only been a few times that a student has brought an official request for accommodations.  In those cases I did not notice any great advantage to the students grade as a result of the accommodation, rather they ended up either doing the same or worse than if they had followed the same guidelines that the other students did.  When students generally wait until the last minute to write a paper or other assignment, they generally wait until the last minute regardless of when it is.

[francie_]

I have personal knowledge of a PhD student in electrical engineering at MIT using this to gain advantage over fellow students on an exam.  I'm sorry, but the "real world" argument has traction here.  When does the accommodating end?

For this particular person, I'd say accommodations will end when he/she asks the tenure review committee for time-and-a-half on the tenure clock.

From my experience with officially documented LD's, I haven't seen any egregious abuses of the system, although I'm sure there are.  I think it's important to keep in mind that certain accommodations are vitally necessary when there is a physical limitation.

I'm curious though how accommodations at the Ph.D. level would create an unfair advantage, unless there was heavy competition for funding?  I could imagine this might be a problem at large state universities where many are admitted but weeded out after a year or two, but not in top programs where students as a rule are fully funded for multiple years.

[larryc]

My favorite student of all time was learning disabled.  He'd had a stroke in his early 20s (!), was partially paralyzed one one side, shuffled down the hall with a leg brace.  Parts of his brain needed to rewire themselves, he spoke very haltingly, always looking for but unable to find the next word.

He barely passed the first class he took with me, but got better with each class. I worked with him, giving him more time or alternate assignments but holding him to the same standard of learning the material. He took every class I teach and majored in my discipline. He was a profoundly decent young man with an upbeat attitude and became a favorite of our department. He never got a single A to my knowledge, but ended with mostly high B's. Oh how we cheered him at graduation.

Today he is an interpretive ranger at a national park, loving life.  He calls me every year around Christmas.

The point of the story is that disability accommodations are not just some big scam or a nice idea gone wrong.  They are an important and sometimes rewarding part of our jobs.

[voxprincipalis]

After much consideration, and taking into account the very helpful advice given here and by the LDS officer, I've opted to give the student a bit of extra time to get assignments turned in, though he will have to work out a way to keep up with the discussion forum portion of the course.  Speaking to the LDS officer convinced me that extra time, although not required by law, would allow this student to best demonstrate his knowledge and understanding of the material; furthermore, it seems that this student's disability is severe enough that giving him a few extra days wouldn't be unfair to other students in the course.

Document everything, particularly your extra-generous accommodations. This should be agreed to in writing and signed by you, the LDS officer, and the student.

You don't want to be fudging any accommodation-related issue in any way that could be perceived EITHER positively or negatively by EITHER the student with a disability or by his peers ("Dr. Trabb gave Jimmy extra time on his assignments even beyond what his disability requires! That's not fair and I'm going to the dean!").

I once had a blind student who wanted to fulfill an interdisciplinary requirement by taking my interdisciplinary humanities class. Among the components of this class were viewing a piece of visual art and watching a film and a dance performance. There was no possibility of accommodation, so she had to choose a different course to fulfill the requirement. I can't imagine what made her even try to take my class, unless she was counting on only having to do 40% of the work and passing anyway. I'm not saying she was deliberately trying to scam me necessarily, only that there is sometimes the perception that accommmodations = "free pass out of required work."

VP