Comprehensive Program Review
1997-1998

Services for Students with Disabilities

a. General Description

Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) provides academic accommodations to students with disabilities as defined in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Academic accommodations allow students to have equal access to education. Accommodations are granted based upon medical and/or psychoeducational documentation of the disability provided by the student.

b. Target Audience

Primary Target Audience:

• Students with disabilities
• Faculty/Staff

c. Delivery of Services and Programs

• Academic Accommodations

Each student registered with SSD is assigned to an Accommodations Counselor. Students are required to make contact with their Accommodations Counselor every semester they seek accommodations. Students are encouraged to make contact with their Accommodations Counselor within two weeks of the beginning of the semester. During the meeting, the Accommodations Counselor will complete an intake (for new students only), register the student (if qualified), review provisional or existing documentation (if necessary), review the student's current course load, entertain requests for specific accommodations from the student, grant or deny requests as appropriate and compose letters of notification to the student's instructors for classes for which accommodations are granted.

Students are instructed to deliver the letters to their instructors and discuss their accommodations and disability (ies) as appropriate. Accommodations Counselors encourage students to work with their instructors to determine how the accommodations will be met. The Accommodations Counselor encourages students to be their own best advocate. The Accommodations Counselor will get involved in the students' relationships with their instructor only as specific situations arise.

• Non-Programmatic Accommodations

Non-programmatic accommodations are accommodations, which do not fall under the purview of a specific program such as testing or interpreting.

SSD offers non-programmatic accommodations when appropriate. These include but are not limited to:

• Letters of Support
• Full-Time Enrollment Exception
• Course Substitutions
• Early Registration
• Preferential Seating
• Alternative Format Materials
  • Braille
  • Electronic Text
  • Large Print
  • Books on Tape
• Copies of Overheads
• Note Takers
• Recording Lectures
• Possible disability-related absenteeism
• Outside Help referral (tutoring services)

A student's eligibility for any of the above general accommodations is determined by the student's Accommodations Counselor and is based upon the student's disability documentation.

• Interpreting Services

SSD offers sign language and oral interpreting services for students with disabilities that warrant this type of accommodation. These services are offered at no cost to the student as long as the services are academically related. SSD will advise a student or an organization how to obtain interpreters for non-academic activities. However, payment for these services is the responsibility of the entity offering the activity.

• Testing Services

Testing accommodations are usually granted in the form of extended testing time. Each student is assigned a test multiplier by their Accommodations Counselor which is multiplied by the regular length of time for each class. This product results in the total allowed testing time for that class. The most common test multiplier is 1.5.

In most cases, a reduced distraction environment is concurrently granted with extended testing time. This accommodation is satisfied in the SSD testing center, which affords the student a brightly-lit study cubicle and an exceptionally quiet environment. The room has a maximum capacity of 12 students. The testing room has video-monitoring equipment.

In some cases (e.g., when a student uses adaptive equipment, a scribe or an interpreter), the student may require a private room in which to test. These students are placed in staff offices as available. In the case of a student using a scribe, the scribe may not be a student, student's attendant or tutor.

A designated associate staff member acts as testing coordinator, and is responsible for the administration of testing services.

• Adaptive Technology Services (ATS)

Adaptive technology is the process of providing equal access to information using technology. Students are referred to the ATS lab and given an adaptive technology assessment in the following manner:

Although the ATS lab is open to all students, staff, and faculty, only students who are currently registered with SSD may take advantage of extended services. These services include:

• Books-On-Tape
• Electronic Text
• Text-to-Speech
• Voice Recognition
• Alternative Formats
  • Braille
  • Large Print
  • Text-to-Speech
• Specialty Keyboards
• Specialty Mice
• Screen Reading Software
• Scanning Services
• Screen Magnification
• Word-processing hardware
• Adaptive Software
• Adapted Workstations
• Wheelchairs/Electric Scooters

d. Marketing of Services and Programs

SSD markets its services in a variety of ways. These include:

• Contacts with prospective students through the Website, at New Student Conferences, and from letters sent to the Regional Day School Programs for the Deaf
• Publications
  • Whoop!Start (Student Handbook)
  • Catalogs (Undergraduate and Graduate)
  • New Student Conference Handbook
  • SSD Informational Brochures
  • A Guide to Working with Students with Disabilities
  • Interpreter's Handbook
• Informational Sessions

SSD conducts informational meetings for the academic deans, faculty, classes and seminars. An informational seminar is held annually at the Dallas Academy, Dallas, Texas. Each New Student Conference contains a block of time for incoming students to meet with the staff in SSD on a walk-in basis.

e. Collaborative Efforts

Intradepartmental Collaboration:

• Student Life Orientation

University Collaboration:

• Athletics (academic advising)
• Physical Plant (physical accessibility)
• Parking, Traffic and Transportation Services (parking and transportation needs)
• Registrar (full-time enrollment exceptions)
• Residence Life (on-campus housing accommodations)
• Academic Colleges/Departments (class accommodations and course substitutions)

Community Collaboration:

• Texas Rehabilitation Commission
• Texas Commission for the Blind
• Texas Commission for the Deaf
• Texas Text Exchange Consortium
• Volunteer Reader Program

f. Evaluation and Assessment

• Accessibility Survey - Information acquired from the Physical Plant detailing building and facility accessibility. This information is updated annually and available in hardcopy and on the web.
• Interpreter Semesterly Evaluations - each semester, staff interpreters are evaluated by students and instructors using their services.  These evaluations are used to improve interpreter services.  For example,  new procedures for notifying instructors of deaf students in classes was pursued.
• Statistical Reporting - SSD generates comprehensive semester statistical reports covering numbers of registered students, disability classes, number and type of accommodation requests, breakdown by college, major, classification, number and duration of testing accommodations, etc.  These statistics are used to balance the SSD staff caseload, report to college deans, and identify needed areas in training. 

g. Resources

Personnel

• Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities- Oversee the daily operations of the disability services program. Directly supervise 4 full time and 1 part-time professionals, 2 associate staff members, and 2 staff interpreters. Monitor program budget. Responsible for providing service and case management to a caseload of students with disabilities; specific to this caseload is the provision of services for all deaf students.
• Accommodations Counselor- Provide case management for students with disabilities. Participate in case staffing. Follow the course of students throughout the semester. Provide information and problem-solving resources to the student as well as the faculty. Provide information to the TAMU community on disability issues.
• Staff Interpreter- Provide sign-language interpretation for students who require such services in an academic setting. Provide information and referral resources relating to interpreting services and issues.
• Testing Supervisor - Administer test to students taking test in SSD. Coordinate the pick up and return of the exams. Enter all exam dates in the computer.
• Coordinator of Adaptive Technology Services - Oversee adaptive technology program for students with disabilities. Provide support to students who use adaptive technology. Supervise ATS student assistants and Project Coordinator - TTE. Oversee ATS capital equipment budget purchases and long-term strategy. Provide technical information and referral to the TAMU community. Develop new adaptive technology strategies.
• Project Coordinator of the Texas Text Exchange - The Project Coordinator will see to the day-to-day operation of the TTE and generally be responsible for its progress and development. The coordinator will also travel to key locations across the state to train consortium members to use the TTE. Other duties include maintaining the TTE website, administering the membership, and updating the membership on technologies that will effect electronic text.
• Student Assistant - SSD - Pick up and return all exams taken in SSD. Perform general office duties such as faxing, answering phones, typing, etc.
• Student Assistant - ATS - Administer the ATS laboratory and assist students in the use of the lab. Create alternative formats of text material through scanning and recording. Perform office management functions. Participate in ATS lab quality assurance and protocol/procedure development.

Other Resources

• Computer Information Services (CIS) Funding - responsible for a grant of money ($25,000/yr. for three years) which was used as startup money for the ATS lab. This money was initially given for a period of three years and has been extended based on an annual review by the Associate Provost for Information Technology.
• Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) - used as a resource for books on tape, SSD own an institutional membership to RFB&D which provides books-on-tape to all students with qualifying disabilities and is offered free of charge.
• Gary Gray Memorial Emergency Contact System (GGMECS) - funded through a grant from Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gray, the GGMECS provides wireless radio transmitters for students with physical and/or health impairments that may be used in the event of an emergency situation to contact emergency personnel. The program provides four transmitters that may be used during scholastic semesters on-campus and are monitored 24 hrs./day by university police.

h. Primary Obstacles

• SSD does not have a formal comprehensive marketing plan which limits program accessibility and effectiveness
• The SSD office is divided physically among two buildings. This presents problems related to communication, duplication of office resources (both personnel and supply), and confusion for the students who use SSD services.
• Limited space to provide adequate library and resource space, storage, adaptive equipment storage and lack of much needed study space for students.
• SSD library budget is inadequate given the high cost of disability related educational materials, and the low dollar amount budgeted for this item.
• Testing facilities are inadequate to insure a "reduced distraction environment," and there is a need for individual testing services such as scribing.
• There are no campus-wide TDD devices.
• There is a lack of qualified substitute interpreters in the area.   These interpreters are frequently difficult to obtain on short notice. For example, when a staff interpreter is ill, the cost of hiring substitute interpreters is high, and the university does not have a method of hiring contract interpreters, even though the overwhelming trend in the interpreting profession is to work as a contractor. 

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