#the op though
One issue with accommodations and modifications in school, is that it can often be hard to avoid stigma. Kids don’t usually like being singled out or doing things conspicuously differently. Also, nondisabled kids often resent it when disabled kids are allowed to do things that they are not allowed to do.
Further, one frequent objection to accommodations is “but if I let one kid do this, then all the other kids will want to.”
Sometimes that’s true — and, often, the best solution to that problem is to just let all the kids do whatever the thing is. Sometimes there’s no good reason to restrict access to something. Sometimes changing the rule works better than making exceptions to it.
One way that something works to correct this problem is to make some of their accommodations available to other kids who would like to try them. The kid who has a documented need for accommodations probably isn’t the only one who would benefit from them.
And even aside from that, it’s good for kids to explore the world and experiment with different ways of doing things. This is a good way to learn that difference is normal, and that doing things differently is a basic fact of life.
For instance, if one kid needs to use manipulatives for math, maybe try making manipulatives available to all the kids.
If one kid needs a large print worksheet, maybe make a few large print copies and let kids try doing it that way.
If one kid needs to chew stuff, maybe make things available for other kids to chew.
If one kid needs to use fidget toys, maybe make them available to all the kids who would like to try it.
If one kid needs to type, and you have the resources to make that available to other kids too, maybe let them try doing assignments that way. And let the kids that works better for continue to do it.
And, beyond that, it helps to get in the habit of providing different ways to do things even when there isn’t a kid who needs them as a specific accommodation.
Not in the sense of “take a walk in the disabled kid’s shoes”, this is not a disability simulation. The point shouldn’t be empathy building, and it should not be presented as being about the disabled kid. The message is “there are a lot of legitimate ways to do things, and it’s ok to experiment and figure out what works for you, even if most people don’t do it the same way as you”.
You can’t always do this, and you can’t always do this for everything. When you can, it helps, a lot.
It’s also a good opportunity to teach kids that “fair” doesn’t mean “all the same”. Teach them that all people are individuals and do not all get the same thing, they (should) get the aids they need to work at the same level as other people. Accommodations are not treats and ‘presents’ or ‘prizes’, they are things that help people work within society. John needs glasses doesn’t mean all kids should have glasses, Mary needs speech-to-text doesn’t mean all kids need it (although that would be handy since reading tends to be retained a lot longer than listening).
Pointing out how people are different is a good thing to teach kids - so they don’t grow up with the idea that we’re all interchangeable cogs in a machine.
A possible activity for starting a conversation about this (if you have time to actually address the thing itself) is to have everyone take off one shoe and then distribute them back to the students randomly so everyone ends up with an odd pair, some will have a shoe that’s too big, some will have too small, some will just look like an odd pair, etc… The idea being that there are things in the world (accommodations) that are the “right shoe” for every individual (some need glasses, some need hearing aid, some need mobility aids, etc etc) and it’s just a matter of matching up with the thing you need. Maybe some necessary aids aren’t invented yet, maybe one of the students will be the person to invent something that will help a specific disability. “See a need, fill a need” like Bigweld said (in Robots).
My mom used to be a teacher, and she had some dyslexic students who would have benefited from coloured lenses, but they were too embarrassed/shy to wear them, so instead they got coloured plastic wallets and had them available on every table and any kid who wanted to could put a work sheet in a coloured wallet if they wanted to read something that wasn’t black on white.
