1. Meeting the Needs of Special Needs Students in the Distance Education Setting
Maureen Waller, MSN, RN

2. Important Points for Educators
There are legal foundations to support consideration of special needs students in distance education
Educators should be driven to accommodate the needs of special learners; such accommodations improve the course for all students
Accommodations should be built in at the beginning rather than added

3. Legal Foundations IDEA Act
Free appropriate public education to individuals with physical, cognitive, social impairment
Includes individuals with speech, hearing, vision and language issues
Behavioral and emotional issues are included

4. Legal Foundations
Expanded to include early intervention and preschool programs
Includes parent Support

5. Types of Accommodations
Physical
Learning
Visual
Hearing
Emotional

6. Challenges to Special Learners
Accessing written materials
Performing activities outside of the course structure
Clearly seeing items in online formats
Watching/listening to media added to online formats without captions
Synchronous activities

7. Strategies for Educators
Build accommodations into the course
Be available to students—frequent online communications
24 hours turn around for questions
Allow extra time for assignments as needed
Make syllabus available online early so that students can determine if they can be successful for the course assignments

8. Strategies for Educators
Encourage special needs students to utilize special student services and resources through the educational institution
Develop learning activities to meet the learning styles of all students
Provide a variety of learning activities to accommodate the strengths of all students

9. Strategies for Educators
Most importantly, educators should make accommodations in their Face-to-Face and online courses to promote the success of all students. There are laws telling educators we need to make accommodations, but educators should want to build courses that will promote the success of all students, no matter what format the courses are offered in.