Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! Please check out our accommodation emails page, which includes instructions to login to the a11y faculty portal of our database and view a list of your students who have requested accommodations.

In addition, if you have a TA, department administrator, or someone else that you're asking to coordinate testing accommodations for you, you can login to the faculty portal and click "Add Instructor" at the top, right of the page. Adding them as an instructor will allow them to login to our database and view all your students' accommodations as well.

If you have questions or would like us to walk you through the faculty portal, call us at 603-646-9900 or email Student.Accessibility.Services@dartmouth.edu. If your portal-related questions pertain to utilizing our A11y Testing Center, call us at 603-646-6520 or email Testing.Center@Dartmouth.edu.

Your student is eligible to receive time and a half (the time the class has for the exam + half of that interval). Assume x is the amount of time you have allotted for your quiz/exam for the class. Therefore, an SAS student approved for 1.50x should receive 1.5 hours for a test that rest of the class receives one hour to take. A student approved for "Extra Time 1.50x" therefore does not receive additional time and a half; they receive time and a half total.

If you have concerns about providing additional time or other testing accommodations for SAS students, our Testing Center is happy to help.

First, thank you for administering a take-home exam, as these generally provide (all) students with much-needed flexibility and allow students with disabilities approved for extended time on timed tests to have that time built in. The short answer is therefore that extended time does not usually apply to a take-home exam.

That said, if a student requests extended time on your take-home, SAS is required to evaluate each situation individually. Therefore, please consult with the SAS advisor listed on the student's accommodation email. For instance, if you anticipate your test to be time-intensive and it has a quick turnaround time (e.g., you anticipate most students will spend around 8 hours on the exam and it is due in two days), we might suggest some time extension. We would  likely recommend some amount of extra time if a student is approved for more than 1.5x and/or there are additional components of your exam that may be more time-intensive for a student with a disability (e.g., if additional research/reading beyond what is assigned for the course is required to complete the exam and the student has a reading disorder). Even then, for a take-home, this extra time is seldom the direct application as for timed tests. (In other words, we wouldn't typically recommend that a student with 2x on timed tests would receive 4 days on a 2-day exam, maybe just 8 additional hours if needed.)  

In general, we recommend informing students with extra-time accommodations that you consulted with our office (if you have done so) and learned that extra time is typically considered to be built into take-home exams but that the students should notify you and SAS in advance if they have any concerns about the completion timeframe. If they do reach out, we'll work with you and the student to determine what is appropriate and practicable.

First, thank you for adopting this unversal design for learning practice in your course. It addresses a wide array of student needs. For many SAS students approved for extended testing time, especially smaller intervals such as 1.25x or 1.5x, the time you build in for the class may indeed be sufficient.

However, it is not appropriate to inform your SAS students approved for extended test time that they will not receieve it since you have built it in for everyone. An Office of Civil Rights case on this very issue found that disabled students' extended testing time should be based on the amount allotted for the class. Therefore, if you provide everyone 2 hours for what you estimate to be a 1-hour test, an SAS student approved for extended testing time should have their additional time based on the 2-hour timeframe. Granted, many SAS students will not need this much time, but we need to make allowances for it.

Rather than be discouraged from incorporating the inclusive teaching practice of providing more testing time to the whole class, please let us know if the Testing Center can assist by administering extended-time tests for your course. Moreover, if students approved for extended test time have not followed up with you after requesting their accommodation emails to discuss implementation, it's fine to ask if they think the time you're providing will meet their needs or if they'd like to plan for further additional time.

Please refer to our Testing Center pages, especially our Alternative Testing FAQs. You are also invited to email the Testing Center or call (603) 646-6520 with any questions or concerns.

Technology allows students to more independently compete their work. For instance, a student with dysgraphia or limited use of their hands can usually take their own notes, but not if they are required to hand-write them. Similarly, a student with ADHD who might miss occasional content can take their own notes with audio supplementation that faciliates them with returning to their notes to fill in gaps. Although a peer note-taker could be hired for these students, most of us have our own style of taking notes and would find our own notes more meaningful than someone else's. Moreover, it can feel disempowering to have to rely on others for access.

Consider also students who have difficulty reading (because of a reading disorder or visual impairment, for example). Many of these students rely on written material in electronic format and text-to-speech software that reads aloud to them. Asking these students to print articles to bring to or read in class therefore does not provide them access and could create an uncomfortable environment in which they fear being called on to read aloud.

We are aware that many professors with no-technology policies make exceptions for students with disabilities, which can help, but this model is also not ideal because it outs students with disabilities in the class. Moreover, many students will drop classes or avoid asking professors to make a technology exception for their accommodations because they don't want to offend their professors or out themselves.

However, there are often simple solutions. If you have concerns about a student's screen distracting classmates, a privacy filter/screen cover can address this issue. For concerns about recording, please see our other relevant FAQs.

Notifications about recording have been developed and vetted by the Dean of Faculty, OGC, and SAS for these very purposes. In addition, when an SAS student is approved to audio-record class as an accommodation for their disability, they electronically sign and are required to comply with the terms of the fair-use policy each quarter. The fair-use policy and the notifications to faculty and students regarding recording can all be found on Permission to Audio-Record.

In lieu of making an announcement that an SAS student may be recording the course (which is not required and can make SAS students feel unwelcome in your course), please consider including the recording statements referenced above in your syllabus and/or on your Canvas site. Please contact SAS with any questions or concerns. See SAS' ORC entry for additional information regarding recording.

Students who qualify for notetaking technologies such as Smartpens or Glean need to make their own recording in order to sync the audio with the notes they take in real time. These technologies do not have the ability to import a pre-recorded track.

Glean does allow students to import PowerPoint slides, however, and the technology works significantly better when these slides can be uploaded prior to the student recording and typing notes during your lecture. If you share lecture slides with your class, therefore, please consider doing so ahead of class (at least for a student approved to record lectures).

A notetaker is hired to provide notes as a reasonable accommodation for one or more qualifying students with disabilities in a class and is paid accordingly. SAS' responsibility is to ensure that qualifying students receive access to quality notes in a timely fashion. We sometimes struggle to identify notetakers in a class, and this would likely be more challenging if the notetaker were being hired to serve as a notetaker for an entire class. This added responsibility would, in turn, require SAS to pay notetakers more money.

SAS is hiring fewer notetakers since most disabled students are able to and prefer to take their own notes using assistive technology. If you would like a set of notes available to all students, consider asking for different volunteers to take notes each class. You could even post the notes on Canvas to keep the guest notetaker's identity private if desired.

Generally, no. Concussions and other injuries do not usually rise to the level of a disability that requires accommodations. However, SAS provides access to a number of technologies and resources that often provide immediate assistance to these students and includes other guidance on its injuries and temporary conditions page. Therefore, please direct your students to this page first.

As you'll note on this webpage, depending on the impact of the condition or if the injured student needs a personal connection, referral to another support office may be appropriate. You don't have to make this determination, though, and can refer a student to the Assistance Request Form due to Temporary Conditions if desired. If SAS ends up providing a service to the student (such as administering an exam in its Testing Center) or the student's condition proves more severe or longer lasting, SAS may ask the student to apply and support the student.

First, please consider referring the student to the Academic Skills Center (ASC). Most students do not have disabilities or qualify for academic accommodations; on the other hand, almost all students will benefit from one or more of ASC's services. Moreover, especially if a student has not expressed concerns to you about their academic performance, a referral to SAS may be unwelcome.

Especially if a student has expressed concerns to you and indicates that they have consistently engaged with tutoring or other ASC and campus resources, it is important to connect what classroom behaviors/performance and concerns you are seeing to why you suggest the student approach SAS. Avoid speculating (e.g., "I think you may have a disability") or making general statements ("You're going to struggle in this major"), and err on the side of expressing concern and asking questions. For instance, you might start by saying, in private,

• "I notice that your answers on tests are typically correct but that you almost never finish your tests. Is this new, or has it been an issue in the past?"
• "I've noticed you've seemed tired/stressed/etc. in class and I wanted to check in with you to make sure everything is okay?"
• "What aspects of this class do you find challenging/easy, or what do you wish was different about the class to make it better for you?"
• "Tell me about your study approach to this class. Have you explored any additional resources to assist in your classes?"

In response, students will often open up and provide an opportunity for you to refer them to SAS' Where to Start page, which highlights academic/wellness resources that are open to all students, information about being screened for a disability, and other guidance. You are also always welcome to contact SAS for guidance about how to approach a situation, and we appreciate it when you do especially if a student articulates any barriers to registering with SAS.

The condition flare statement is intended to affirm that a student has a condition that is variable in nature and as such, the student can't always predict when they may need occasional flexibility.  Most students approved for this accommodation can recover from a flare in 1-2 days and will have a flare no more than 2-3 times/quarter. We word the condition vaguely because the student can't predict the exact flexibility that may be be needed or when, and SAS cannot know in advance the specific requirements of your course (and therefore, what flexibility may be practicable). 

In general, we advocate leniency (without penalty) as long as a student's requests fall within the guidelines of 3 instances per quarter and no more than 2-day extensions AND the student fulfills the responsibilities of the condition flare accommodation:

• The student contacts you to notify you of a flare,
• Copies their SAS advisor on their request for flexibility, and
• Does so prior to the deadline (which is usually possible—SAS would let you know if the student became incapacitated and it was not).

SAS asks the student to copy SAS on the email (and you to reply-all in your response) so that we are

• Readily available for consultation for you and the student
• Aware if an easy resolution to the request for flexibility has been reached or if our assistance may be needed
  • You are always invited to reach out to the advisor separately to consult in the event of any questions/concerns
• Able to monitor if a student is indeed having occasional flares or may be in need of additional support from SAS, an undergraduate dean, or case manager regarding possible intervention

If you already build into your course that students can have 3 excused absences, this should generally cover the attendance component of the condition flare accommodation. In other words, a student approved for condition flare is not automatically entitled to 3 excused absences in addition to those that all students are allowed. If a student approved for condition flare cites a flare in more than 3 instances in a quarter, please contact SAS.

If you are curious, the students approved for this accommodation may have a chronic health condition, psychological disability, or other condition that cannot be reliably stabilized, or they otherwise experience periodic episodes associated with it. In addition, medications for these conditions, especially if changes in dosing or medication type need to be made, may produce unforeseen side-effects. Please do not ask the student about the nature of their disability, however.

No, this is often not the case. Here are a few things to consider.

• Is the request something you would agree to if any student requested it? If so, go ahead and grant it. Moreover, if you think it would be helpful for all students in the class, consider offering it to everyone.
• If the request is not something you would grant to any student, it is all right to say "no" because it is not one of the student's listed/approved accommodations.

You may also want to suggest that the student follow up with their SAS advisor about their request; however, this does not mean SAS will automatically grant their request. Moreover, when it is unclear to SAS if a particular accommodation request would be reasonable in the context of your course, we often contact you for more information about your course in order to evaluate the accommodation request as part of the interactive process.

Likewise, we invite you to contact SAS and share your syllabus and/or other details about your course as well as questions or concerns you may have prompted by the student's request. Ideally, contact the advisor who sent you the accommodation email for the student, or email SAS to get connected to the appropriate student advisor.