Teaching Students with Disabilities
Good teachers know that all their students bring unique and interesting abilities
to their classrooms, and effective teachers seek ways to bring those abilities to light.
The Americans with Disabilities Acts (ADA) have encouraged colleges and universities
to develop policies for making students with disabilities a respected and involved
part of their educational missions. But for teachers, that means having to think more
carefully about how their pedagogies and classroom policies help and/or hinder students
with various disabilities. The links below offer suggestions for how to transform classroom
activities and attitudes in order to welcome all students into the learning space of
the course. Faculty at ISU are encouraged to be familiar with specific ISU
policies regarding the rights of students with disabilities.
Approaches to Teaching Students with Disabilities
- Approaches to Serving Students with Disabilities (Wisconsin)
- Links to six reports on how different campuses around the country have effectively
met the needs of students with disabilities.
- A Systematic
Approach for Assisting Students with Learning Disabilities in Postsecondary Education (Peggy
Waller and Carol Puffer, LD Online)
- Good Teaching
Practices for Students with Disabilities (Washington)
- Resource Guides For Faculty (Heath
Resource Center, GWU)
- This site includes several short "guides" for helping faculty understand
disabilities and their roles and responsibilities. Specific disabilities discussed
include brain injury, blindness, deafness/HOH.
- Teaching Students
with Disabilities (Berkeley)
- A series of tips on working with students who may have various disabilities, including
visual or auditory impairments, attention deficit disorder, etc.
Disability Support Centers at Colleges and Universities
- Association of University Centers on Disabilities
- Center for Persons with Disabilities (Utah
State)
- Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (Baylor)
- Center on Human Policy (Syracuse)
- Disability Support Services @ U of
North Dakota
- Disabled Students Center @ Santa
Monica
- Office of Disability Concerns (ISU)
- Regional Center for College
Students with Learning Disabilities @ Fairleigh Dickinson
- Teaching Resources @ UIUC
Other Resources
- Accessible Web Design (Wisconsin)
- College Freshmen with
Disabilities: A Biennial Statistical Profile (Heath RC)
- Disability Accommodations in Science
Education (WVU)
- Disability Guidelines Statement
Regarding ADA (UND)
- Learning Strategies Database (Muskingum)
- Teaching Students with Disabilities (Yale)
