and/or tutoring are not required to be provided by the college under current statute or regulations for Section 504 or the ADA and its amendments. In such cases, DSPS generally provides suggestions to students for securing support or may work with them or their advocates to complete volunteer agreement processes for assistants provided by other sources to assist the student. If the college chooses to provide certain services outside of the DSPS office (i.e., parking permits, or arranging for accommodations for community service classes or extra-curricular activities not related to a class such as the provision of interpreters for a student who is deaf in a debate club, etc.), these services cannot be counted as DSPS contacts with the students and DSPS funds cannot be used to support them. Academic adjustments, auxiliary aids, services and/or instruction should be available and provided in a timely manner, if needed, at all locations of the college, such as off-campus centers and the students enrolled exclusively in Distance Education courses. If the college operates a middle college or other programs for high school students, it is considered a best practice to delineate the responsibilities of the college and the secondary school through the development of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding which entity will arrange and pay for necessary academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services. In the case of Distance Education classes at other institutions, ensure the district has an MOU or contract with the entity providing the classes to ensure timely provision of academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services. In determining the most appropriate and individualized academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services, it is important that the decision is reached through an interactive discussion with the student and documented in the Academic Accommodation Plan. This overall planning for appropriate academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and/or services is commonly facilitated by certificated staff members such as a DSPS Counselor, Coordinator, LD Specialist, HTC Specialist or Alternate Media Specialist.
Why is the standard that the instructor believes will be lowered important to the course/program? Will the requested accommodation the academic standards of the course/program? Can a different method or requirement that will not be altered by the accommodation achieve the required academic or pedagogical result? Consult with peers on the DSPS listserv, CAPED or AHEAD for guidance. It is important to note that the fact that a requested accommodation has not been made before or is not typically being made, is not sufficient to constitute a fundamental alteration. The decision to assert a fundamental alteration and deny an accommodation should not be lightly. Institutions have found themselves in legal trouble for devoting insufficient thought to the conclusion that a requested accommodation should be denied. If the college seeks to be well prepared to address potential discrimination complaints, it is essential that a thorough, deliberative, fair, and well-documented process be undertaken to determine if a requested accommodation represents a fundamental alteration to the curriculum. Answering the above questions and documenting the process will allow instructors to establish that they have carefully evaluated the awarded accommodation and the course/program objectives. Failure to provide a reasonable accommodation to a student with a disability is a violation of law, putting in jeopardy an institution's federal funding. However, disability laws also require that students with disabilities meet the "essential," "academic," and "technical" standards of the class/program/college. Situation: A student who is enrolls in a math class and requests that the instructor verbalize what s/he is writing on the board or overhead. Fundamental Alteration or Not? NO. Under the law and regulations, the faculty member would be legally required (as well as ethically obliged) to make an adjustment in presentation of course material by verbalizing what is written on the board or overhead. Pointing and referring