Subject: Office of Student Disability Services

Greetings Faculty and Staff,

Hopefully you were able to enjoy the wonderful weather that we have had all summer.  With our fall semester starting, I am writing to offer some support from the Office of Student Disability Services (OSDS) for working with students who have disabilities attending classes here at EIU.  The following list is not exhaustive of what you may encounter, but has been developed with intentions to improve support both for you and our students.  In addition to the list, I have attached our brochure that we provide to all faculty members, which is also available on our recently updated websitewww.eiu.edu/disability/.

Issues that you may encounter when working with students with disabilities:

• A student requests accommodations to utilize during your course, but does not have an official letter of accommodation from OSDS.

  • Ask the student if they are registered with OSDS. 

    • If the student is registered with our office, request that she pick up her accommodation letter from our office.  Then, instruct the student to schedule a time to meet with you to go over the letter to ensure that the accommodations are met.

    • If the student is not registered with OSDS, refer him to our office by providing our contact information.  You may let him know that in order to receive the requested accommodations, he must first be registered with OSDS, provide appropriate documentation, and receive a letter of accommodations from OSDS.

• A student has provided a letter of accommodations, but did not schedule a time to speak with you to go over the accommodations.

  • Inform the student that she is to schedule a time to meet with you to go over the accommodations.  Remind her that the accommodations are very general and that you will need some clarification as to how the two of you will work together collaboratively to ensure that the accommodations are met.

• A student has been approved for use of a note taker in your class.

  • Students who have note taking accommodations will need to pick up No Carbon Required (NCR) paper from the Office of Student Disability Services (OSDS) to give to you.

  • You should ask for a volunteer note taker at the first class in which you are aware of this need.  You may also want to have a back-up in case of absences.

  • The volunteer takes notes on the NCR paper and gives the copy to you, and you will then give the copy to the student with this accommodation.  Please try to provide notes in a confidential manner.

  • Students sometimes prefer to secure their own note taker. They may ask a friend in the class or find someone who is taking thorough notes.   

  • The Director of Student Disability Services is willing to write a letter of appreciation for the volunteer note taker when recommended by the instructor.

• You have a student who requires an alternate testing location, extended time, or other testing accommodations due to a disability.

  • You may utilize a location that you have available that is free of traffic that may interrupt the testing process (this includes phones ringing, students entering for other purposes, and hallways). 

  • You may utilize the testing center that is located in Ninth Street Hall.  The following link includes information regarding the testing center:  www.eiu.edu/acatest

  • It is up to both you and the student to determine which location is utilized.

If you have any questions, please make sure to utilize our website at www.eiu.edu/disability , email us at jwalters@eiu.edu, or call our office directly at 581-6583.

Thank you for working with our office to help make students as successful as possible.

Sincerely,

Kathryn WaggonerDirector, Student Disability Services