If you have a student in your class who requests accommodations:

• Ask the student if he or she has applied for services with the Disability Resource Center (DRC).
  If NO:
• Refer the student to the DRC so that the disability can be documented and appropriate accommodations determined.
  DRC office location: Room 5801 (near Parking Lot 5A)
  DRC office phone: (650) 949-7017
  
  If YES:
• The student should give you a Confidential Academic Accommodation Notification listing the student's individual accommodations.
  (or)
• Ask the student to obtain the Academic Accommodation Notification from the DRC.

If the student is registered with the DRC and specific accommodations are listed, talk with the student about how best to provide those accommodations.

If you have questions:
Call the Disability Resource Center at (650) 949-7017.
or contact Margo Dobbins, DRC Coordinator: dobbinsmargo@foothill.edu
650 / 949-7038.

• Request verification of a student’s eligibility for any requested accommodations. Such verification will be in the form of an Academic Accommodation Notification, written by a professional from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) and delivered by the student. For on line classes, the notification will be emailed mailed directly to you. The DRC is the only office designated to review disability documentation and determine eligibility for appropriate accommodations. Faculty may not view this documentation.

• Expect the student to initiate accommodation requests.
• If the student is taking their tests at the Disability Resource Center, expect the disability services to administer exams in a secure and monitored environment.

• Identify and establish essential functions, abilities, skills, and knowledge of their courses and evaluate students on this basis. Students with disabilities should meet the same course expectations as their peers.
• Use a syllabus statement and class announcements to invite students to disclose their needs. A fact sheet on syllabus statements is available by clicking this link.
• Act immediately upon getting a student's request for accommodations by contacting the disability services' office (if unsure about request), by providing the service or by meeting with students to complete test accommodation paperwork. These forms facilitate exam accommodations and should be completed by the student and faculty member collaboratively. If you have questions, contact the disability services' office on your campus.
• If a student needs alternative media, please provide the disability services' office with syllabi, textbooks, course packets etc, well before classes begin (5 weeks prior to the start of the quarter is recommended) in order for students with disabilities to use alternative media when all other students have course materials. With such timely consideration, students with disabilities who have alternative media needs for accommodations and instructional access will be best served. Converting print materials is both labor and time intensive. Alternative media may be print material in Braille, scanned onto discs, or enlarged. Contact Steve Sum, Alternative Media Specialist: 650/ 949-7673.
• Work to ensure that all audio-visual materials used in class are accessible (e.g., that videos shown are subtitled/captioned for students with hearing impairments and that the DVD/VCR equipment used has subtitle/captioning capabilities.
• Consider incorporating principles of Universal Design for Learning in your teaching. A fact sheet on Universal Design is available from disability services or at http://ada.osu.edu/resources/fastfacts/Universal-Design-FF.pdf .

• Treat and protect all disability-related information as confidential medical information. For example, keep printed items, such as test accommodation forms or emails regarding student disability-related information in a protected location.

• Clearly communicate your testing procedures with the student and with the disability services’ office by completing test accommodation forms upon request.
• Consult with students with disabilities and the disability services’ office in providing appropriate accommodations.

PLEASE NOTE: Faculty do NOT have the right to ask students if they have a disability. For those students with documented disabilities, faculty do NOT have the right to ask about the nature of the disability. However, if students choose to disclose their disability, this information must be treated confidentially.

• Students who have been authorized by DRC to tape record lectures have signed an agreement not to tape statements of a personal nature, release the recording, or otherwise infringe upon the publishing rights of the instructor.
• If you have questions about the appropriateness of the accommodations requested, or how best to administer the accommodations, please contact the DRC for further clarification. The faculty/staff member should continue to provide accommodations while the issue is being resolved. DRC: (650) 949-7017 or 7332.

The best way to find out about students' needs is to encourage them to talk to you during your office hours to ensure confidentiality. It is illegal to ask students to identify themselves to you in an open forum or to request a list of students with disabilities in your class. A more effective method is for you to:

• Include a statement in your syllabus encouraging students to contact you early in the term. For example, "If there is a student in this class who has a need for test-taking or note taking accommodation, please feel free to come and discuss this with me." Take early and gentle initiative in seeking an ongoing dialogue with the student about ways in which you can be supportive.
• Encourage students to develop the independence and self-advocacy skills that will help them outside the classroom while in college and beyond.
• Take care to make eye contact and to encourage participation and questions. Assist the student in teaming up with a classmate to obtain copies of notes. Permit the use of a tape recorder in class.
• At the start of each class, provide a brief review of the previous session and an overview of what is to come.
• Provide a written outline of the lecture to guide the student and to make more apparent its structure when discussions diverge from it.
• Take care to include time for questions, discussions and requests for further examples.
• Verbally describe diagrams, charts, and graphs.
• Provide print copies of PowerPoint or other presentations.

To best serve our deaf and hard of hearing students and comply with federal and state laws please adopt and use only closed-captioned or subtitled videos in your classes. Captions and subtitles allow deaf and hearing-impaired students to read the dialog and descriptive narration on television and video screens. Foothill Library now has a policy of not ordering non-captioned videos. Our mutual goal is to remain compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act that requires providing equal access to educational participation, materials, and technology for all students. If you absolutely must use non-captioned videotapes in your classes contact the Alternative Media Specialist (AMS) for help.

If you have questions:
Contact Steve Sum
Alternative Media Specialist (AMS) (650) 949-7673,
sumsteven@foothill.edu, Room 5710.

DRC Test Proctor, Joyce Henderson-McLeod 949-7672 hendersonmcleodjoyce@foothill.edu

The purpose of Testing Accommodations is to assist faculty in providing accommodations to students with documented disabilities. Test accommodations give students the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of course content. The Disability Resource Center Coordinator, Counselor or Learning Disability Specialist determines eligibility and specific accommodation requirements based on verification of disability and assessment of student’s educational need. Possible accommodations may include reduced distraction environment, extended time, readers, scribes, alternative text (Braille, large print etc), use of computer, calculator, spell check, or other adaptive technology. Our goal is to work in partnership with you in providing appropriate, and reasonable accommodations for your students.

The amount of extended time is usually one and one-half times the amount allowed for non-LD students. More time will be allowed if the lD Specialist determines the necessity, based on the student's diagnostic assessment results and their learning disability.

An environment as free as possible of distracters, either visual or auditory that would inhibit a student from concentrating and attending to the exam with results reflective of their knowledge of the subject matter.

• For a blue-book essay exam, the student will use a word processor instead of longhand. OR,
• The student can record their essay into a tape recorder. and either transcribe it directly after, turn just the tape into the instructor, or both, depending on the requirements of the instructor.
• For fill-in or short answer questions, the student can dictate the answers into the recorder, then write the answers in before turning the exam in to the instructor.
• A DRC assistant may read exams questions to the student (reader).
• A DRC assistant may write answers as dictated (scribe).
  DRC assistance follow a strict protocol of reading and scribing exams and answers exactly as written or dictated by the student. No additional input or answers are provided to the student.

1. Student must meet with the DRC Coordinator or Learning Disability Specialist to review student’s file and determine eligibility for test accommodation.
2. 1^st week of class: Student brings Confidential Academic Accommodation Notification letter of eligibility to instructor. Students are advised to ask for a private meeting with the instructor to discuss their accommodations.
3. 1 week before each exam: student schedules quiz/test date and time, and picks up Test Accommodations Delivery Sheet and brings these to instructor.
4. Day of the exam: arrive on time with proper materials. DRC does not provide scantrons.
5. After student takes the test, he/she hands it to the DRC Test Proctor.

1. Instructor brings the test and completed, signed Test Accommodation Delivery Sheet to Rm. 5801 on or before the date of the test. (An after-hours drop box is located by the entrance). The purpose of this form is to provide delivery and exam information (time allotted, materials allowed) to the test proctor. Tests may also be faxed or e-mailed to DRC.
2. Instructor picks up the completed exam from DRC, or, upon request, DRC delivers to instructor's mailbox in his/her department office.
   Important: Students are not allowed to carry exams to and from the DRC without written consent by the instructor.

1. Provide appropriate accommodations as prescribed by Disability Resource Center Specialist.
2. Work with instructor to assure timely arrival and delivery (completed) exams.
3. Proctor exams to ensure test security and academic integrity.