What is Accommodation

Something supplied for convenience or to satisfy a need (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2009)

An alteration of course materials to allow a person with a disability equal access.

A behavioral response to worldview threat that involves adopting or absorbing some aspect of the threat in order to mitigate the threat itself.

An accommodation is a change that removes a barrier for people with disabilities to learning or getting work done

Alters the way a student learns or is assessed.

A change in the process through which the student reaches a goal; often involves some sort of tool or scaffold.

Adjustment made to satisfy the need of a student or students in the learning environment.

Altering the presentation, response, setting, schedule, or timing of an assessment to meet the needs of an individual learner without altering content.

Modification of existing cognitive structures when encountering a new task or stimulus. It is the process of developing new structures, categories or subsystems when faced with a new situation. The established knowledge structures or behaviors remain but are differentiated by introduction of new subsystem.

An accommodation is a specific support practice or technology application in the teaching/learning process designed to meet the needs of an individual with a disability so that they can access college campuses and academic content. Accommodations are not modifications in course content or requirements but methods to support students with disabilities in effectively accessing materials and meeting expectations. Examples of common accommodations include availability of audiobooks, extended time or alternate locations for testing, American Sign Language interpreters, and voice-to-text or text-to-speech computer programs.

The act of comprehending new experiences by integrating old schema into a new object.

The modifications in communicative behavior made by individuals during interaction. Accommodation may include changes to verbal, vocal and non-verbal behaviors. The process of accommodation may occur as an intentional communicative strategy or may occur without the conscious awareness of the individual; it is motivated by the desire to be liked. Accommodation can be manifest as convergence (adopting the communicative behavior of another) or divergence (behaving stylistically different from another to maintain our differences).

A settlement or compromise.

A specific change that allows an individual with a learning challenge to enjoy equal access to educational opportunities. Accommodations are usually provided reactively, in response to requests from students via campus units, such as disability-services offices, who act as advocates.

Compliance to specialized disability legislation that provides for alterations.

The adjustment of the eye to keep things in focus on the retina as the distance changes.

The process in which the eye changes optical power to maintain focus on an object at varying distances. This is measured in diopters and decreases predictably with age.

A change to the environment or curriculum without changing the objective.

An adjustment made or service provided so that an individual with a disability can access a physical environment, activity, or service. Examples include sign language interpreters, materials printed in Braille, and extra time on exams.

A modification to the delivery of course content, method of collecting student performance data, or architecture and furnishing of a learning space.

A practice or procedure that provides a student with equitable access to content and is intended to reduce or eliminate the effects of a disability, without lowering academic or behavioral expectations.