Disability awareness: providing accommodations to the OPS student body

By Aaron Fair

Photo taken from accessibleicon.org

“A student with a disability can either have an IEP, individual education plan, or a 504 plan—which will also provide accommodations” says Charlene Duncan, OPS Director of Special Services.

With a 504 or an IEP, school staff, the student and loved ones meet to assess the needs of the student and establish a list of accommodations so that academic requirements can be met.

“It’s a team effort,” says Duncan.

OHS students can contribute by becoming a student mentor through the Unified Club. By becoming a student mentor, OHS students can partner with disabled students throughout the year to train for the Special Olympics. This gives students with disabilities an opportunity to be accepted within a community, be courageous and simultaneously maintain a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

While these accommodations are extremely important, the school environment can still often be very overwhelming for disabled students. As a result, some extra accommodations may be needed so these students can be successful. 

“We do have some sensory rooms, quiet rooms, calm down rooms if you will—different sites call them different things. We have some motor rooms as well so students can go into the motor room and they can work on a stationary bike, or we have a big barrel that they can roll in—there's all kinds of stuff. We have things that we can throw on them to help them calm down.” Duncan continues, “[Upstairs, in the highschool] they have a calm down room as well. And so if the student’s [overwhelmed] … some other accommodations that we can do is … preferential seating—maybe it’s up close by the teacher, maybe it’s in the back of the room so they can get up and pace.”

OPS does not have a defined list of accommodations because every student has different needs. However, OPS is willing to work with students and families to create an environment in which students are fully capable of learning.

504’s, IEP’s, student mentors and sensory rooms are just some of the accommodations that OPS provides. OPS is a very accommodating school with many opportunities given to students to learn despite their disabilities.