What are examples of accommodations for students with low vision in science labs?

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 low vision in a science lab include the following:

• Provide a lab partner.
• Use plastic instead of glassware.
• Allow extra time for set up and completion of lab work.
• Modify safety procedures.
• Give verbal descriptions of demonstrations and visual aids.
• Provide large-print instructions and illustrations.
• Use raised line drawings or tactile models for illustrations.
• Have large-print laboratory signs and equipment labels.
• Connect a video camera to a computer/TV monitor to enlarge microscope images.
• Make available a hand-held magnifier or binoculars.
• Provide a large print calculator.

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.