"FRANTZ, SUE" wrote: > > Hi all, > > Imagine the following hypothetical situation. > > A student enrolls in your intro to psych and human sexuality courses. The > student is believed to be autistic and is attending class with a > facilitator. Your college does not have a policy on Facilitated > Communication (FC), but prefers to evaluate each case individually. > > You're aware that several professional organizations, e.g., American Academy > of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, American > Association on Mental Retardation, American Psychiatric Association, do not > view FC as an appropriate technique. > > The letter of accommodation from your institution's counselors states that > the use of the student's own facilitator is an appropriate accommodation for > in-class work and test-taking. > > What do you do? >
Hi Sue, It does not seem unreasonable to request a different facilitator who is not familiar with the course material for test taking and other graded assignments. After all, the facilitator is just serving as a conduit, right? One could then hypothetically avoid the debate over whether facilitated communication works or not. Rather one could argue simply the possibility of unintentional bias that should be avoided in a test taking situation with an alternate facilitator. The availability of a "test situation facilitator" would be an accommodation that could then be available for all of the student's courses. Certainly, time could be spent initially outside of the classroom environment for the alternate facilitator and student to become familiar with each other. This solution would seem to meet the university's perceived legal obligation to provide an accommodation even if it is highly questionable. It would also maintain the integrity of the testing situation. My bet is that the student and their parents however might come up with a list of reasons why this would not work. However, if they fail to agree, your university might be more supportive of your position. Best wishes, Linda -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Book Review Editor, H-Genocide Associate Professor - Psychology Coordinator - Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO 63119 Main Webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
