What Are Accommodations and Modifications?

Aspects of the individualized education program (IEP) include specialized instruction, accommodations, and modifications. Accommodations and modifications are not the same, although some people use the terms interchangeably. Accommodations are changes and supports provided to enable access to the same school work and education as other students. A modification means the school work or education for a given student is different from what the other students in the class are doing. Accommodations and adaptations are the same thing. Some examples of accommodations include the following:

• Captioning or subtitles on class videos or clips;
• A copy of information that will be displayed on overhead, whiteboard, or chalk board;
• An assigned note taker (students who are D/HH may have to look at interpreters or written content, which means it can be challenging to split focus for notes);
• Strategic seating to allow your child to sit where they are best able to hear and/or see the teacher, classmates and/or interpreter, moving seats depending on the lesson or activity;
• Extended time on testing or assignments;
• Assistive technology;
• An assigned educational interpreter.

Accommodations may also include changes to the classroom environment, presentation of instruction, and assessments in order to provide full access to students who are D/HH.

Modifications include changes to the level or expectations of an assignment or environment. Examples of modifications include:

• Outlining instead of writing an essay for a particular project;
• Using an alternate book or material for a topic being taught;
• Word bank of choices for answers to tests when others do not have that option;
• Reworded questions to match your child’s language level;
• Providing a calculator for tests when it is not an option for other students;

Please note: Each individual student is different and may require more or less accommodations or modifications than listed above.

Accommodations and modifications can be identified and justified through assessments and evaluations. For example, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) requires a comprehensive eye exam within three months of receiving special education services. The results of this eye exam may indicate that a student needs to sit in the front row in order to see the board (accommodation). Or, the results of an audiological evaluation can indicate that an appropriate accommodation to provide access to education is a Frequency Modulation/Digital Modulation (FM/DM) system. The multi-factored evaluation report may be another source of data to justify accommodations or modifications. Lastly, the “Guidelines for the Assessment and Educational Evaluation of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing,” provides various assessments that may be used as data to plan accommodations and modifications.

Want to learn more about the differences between accommodations and modifications?
Understood.org details the differences here.

Hear from parent advocate Amanda Morin on the difference between accommodations and modifications, and how each one impacts your child's experience in the classroom