Unit 5: How well do my accommodations work?

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Unit 5 is about assessing the effectiveness of accommodations. Assessing accommodations is essential for making decisions about them and for explaining their benefits to other people (self-advocacy). 

Teachers and other school professionals know how to measure the effectiveness of instructional interventions. Educational testing and progress monitoring are used to measure skills gained over time. IEP goals have very specific quarterly benchmarks and data collection strategies. But it is not common to measure the effectiveness of accommodations. Accommodations are often decided without any prior determination of effectiveness. They are often written into an IEP or 504 Plan without any future monitoring plan. So, even teachers may not be familiar with how to measure the effectiveness of accommodations. 

But there are established techniques for evaluating the effectiveness one type of accommodation, assistive technology. The basic technique is a simple pre/post comparison. A concurrent pre/post comparison (before versus after during a short window of time) is a valid way to measure the effectiveness of accommodations because accommodations change the environment not the person. Progress monitoring over time is not necessary because the effect of an accommodation under controlled conditions is immediately observable. It either works or it doesn’t. The person is not gaining new skills. The person is doing the task a different way (e.g., using assistive technology or personal assistance) or the rules are changed (e.g., extra time on task). Keeping everything else the same, you can measure the effect of an accommodation on a person’s performance in a short period of time. Of course, additional data points are beneficial. But the additional data points should consist of additional pre/post comparisons. For more information on the concurrent pre/post comparison technique, read Chapter 8 of the Illinois Assistive Technology Guidance Manual. 

Students are introduced to the culturally familiar concept of a before-and-after comparison (e.g., before and after make-over photos). They learn to apply this pre/post comparison to their accommodations through several short story examples. They are then encouraged to try a pre/post comparison on one of their accommodations. 

This can be risky if the stakes are high. Testing the effect of not using an accommodation could risk a bad grade. The way around this is to simulate the activity. A pretend version of an activity can be shorter and not count for a grade. If you are familiar with curriculum-based measurement tools, you know about short task simulations. For example, curriculum-based measurements simulate verbally answering reading questions, responding to a timed math skills worksheet, or responding in writing to a story starter. For some types of activities, simulations are effective alternatives. However, it can be difficult to adequately simulate activities like test-taking or writing a five-paragraph essay. You will need to guide the student to set up a feasible pre/post comparison. 

In the end, the goal of the unit is for students to communicate the effectiveness of their accommodations to other people. One of the 39 indicators is “to provide feedback to service professionals about the effectiveness or usefulness of AT devices.” This indicator is important for self-advocacy if the right to an accommodation is challenged. Ideally, the student would be able to say something like, “This accommodation helps me to _____. I know this because when I don’t use this accommodation, the result is ______.”

• Before starting this course you must complete the required prerequisite course: Unit 4: How do I adjust the demands of my career?