How to Make Math Accommodations Effortless in Your Classroom

Teachers get pulled into IEP meetings to give their perspective on the student’s progress, strengths, and weaknesses in their class. After everyone gives their perspective, the meeting turns into a whole bunch of confusing educational and psychological jargon. 

As regular education teachers, we don’t get a lot of training on special education just in our undergraduate degree programs. We’re pretty much left to figure it all out along the way. 

In math, accommodations, modifications, and adaptations are commonly used interchangeably, when in reality, they all have their own meaning and purpose in the classroom. In this case, adaptations is the overarching term for both accommodations and modifications.

Looking for more strategies for making accommodations in your classroom? Check out the blog posts ↓

1. The Secret to Successful High School Math Centers
2. Four Must Have Math Strategies for Visual Learners
3. How to Use Real Life Applications of Math to Get Your Students Thinking Critically

Common Math Accommodations

1. Alternate testing room
   • Students with sensory or attentional challenges really benefit from being in a quiet space and a different environment.
2. Extra time for assignments
3. Available support teachers
4. Notecards or reference sheets for quizzes and tests
   • Some students may struggle with memorization or task initiation, so teachers can allow select students (or entire classes) to create a resource that they can reference during an assessment.
5. Preferential seating
   • This could look like sitting at the front of the room or next to a support teacher

Common Math Modifications

1. Leveled classes
   • There may be slower paced or alternate classes that special education students can take while still being able to earn the same credit.
2. Simpler math problems
   • For example, if the class is learning about solving equations, the student who needs modifications may solve problems with variables only on one side of the equation rather than both. 
3. Alternate spelling/vocabulary list
4. Sectioning different types of questions on a quiz
   • Explicit directions for each question is essential for helping students complete work independently and figure out where to start.

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