What are examples of science lab accommodations for students with disabilities that impact learning and/or attention?

Since each student's accommodation needs are unique and the student is often most knowledgeable about effective accommodations, be sure to talk with the student about what accommodations they might need.

Some specific accommodations that might be useful to a student with disabilities that impact learning and/or attention in a science lab include the following:

• Provide a lab partner.
• Allow extra time for set up and completion of lab work.
• Use a combination of written, verbal, and pictorial instructions with scaffolding.
• Demonstrate procedures and allow students to practice.
• Build-in frequent brief breaks.
• Give preferential seating to avoid distractions and minimize extraneous stimuli.
• Allow students to use a scanning and speaking 'pen' to scan and read written materials.

This list is from the DO-IT publication Making Science Labs Accessible to Students with Disabilities.

For more examples of accommodations that can be made in science labs consult the DO-IT Knowledge Base article What are examples of accommodations in science laboratories? and Accessibility in the Laboratory, published by the American Chemical Society.