Title

Postsecondary inclusion through academic accommodations: Attitudes, experiences, and perceptions of college students with learning disabilities and faculty

Date of Award

2003

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling and Human Services

Advisor(s)

Alan D. Goldberg

Keywords

Postsecondary inclusion, Academic accommodations, College students, Learning disabilities, Faculty

Subject Categories

Education | Educational Psychology | Special Education and Teaching | Student Counseling and Personnel Services

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes (i.e., comfort, expectations), experiences, and perceptions that students with learning disabilities and their professors had toward specific academic accommodations. A factor analysis was run on student responses to the question of their expectations regarding accommodations and faculty responses to the question of their comfort with specific accommodations. Both factor analyses yield three factors. The first factor, evaluation alternatives, emerged for both groups. The students' second and third factors were educational process and perceptual assistance. The remaining faculty factors were auxiliary assistance and extra time. Students expected accommodations that aided them with their information processing. They reported that the most beneficial accommodations were those that gave them extra time for examinations and aided them with their writing difficulties. Faculty reported greatest comfort with accommodations with which they were familiar, took little effort to implement, and benefited all students. The most difficult accommodation for the faculty to implement was providing alternative examination formats while the easiest accommodation to implement was allowing lectures to be tape-recorded. In regard to gender, female students expected and female faculty were more comfortable in providing selected accommodations than their male counterparts. Faculty members with more experience teaching students with learning disabilities were more likely to provide alternative forms of assignments and examinations. Students and faculty differed significantly in their perception of writing accommodations; students perceived writing accommodations as maintaining academic standards while faculty questioned the fairness of writing accommodations.

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