Accommodations and Modifications Cheat Sheets

About this resource

What's inside this resource

Do you have trouble knowing the difference between accommodations and modifications?

Do you struggle with knowing just the right ones to choose for your student?

These Accommodations and Modifications Cheat Sheets will help you understand the difference between accommodations and modifications and gives examples of each and breaks down each one into more detail.

A color copy and a grayscale copy are included

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Directions:

Print and Use to learn the differences between accommodations and modifications as well as have a resource bank of each to help you write your IEPs.

What's included

A cover page describing the set as "4 Printable cheat sheets to help special educators become more confident"
A "Where to begin?" decision sheet with seven escalating questions, each after the first opening "If not..."
A "What's the difference?" sheet defining an accommodation as a change in how a student learns and a modification as a change in what is taught or expected
An "Examples of Accommodations" sheet grouped under Presentation, Timing, Scheduling, Response, Organization, Setting, Assignments and Curriculum
An "Examples of Modifications" sheet grouped under Curriculum, Behavior and Testing
A clue-word box listing eleven words — alteration, change, simplified, difference, redoing, alternate, refashioning, remaking, reduced, remodeling, resubmitting — that most likely indicate a modification is being made
Each of the four sheets appearing twice in the file, giving two printable versions of the same page

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Teaching tips

Work the "Where to begin?" questions in order at an IEP meeting; each step assumes the previous one was answered no, so skipping ahead loses the least-restrictive logic the sheet is built on
Keep the examples sheets beside the goal-writing template — categories such as Response and Setting give ready wording for what a support actually looks like in a classroom
The clue-word box is quick training for a team: if a proposed support is described with words like simplified, reduced or alternate, it is probably a modification rather than an accommodation
The Curriculum heading appears on both example sheets with different entries, so read across both when a curriculum-level support is under discussion

Skills covered

Distinguishing accommodations from modifications — the comparison sheet defines each in one line and names what each changes, so a team can settle the term before choosing a support.
Working down a support ladder — the decision sheet steps from full participation with peers, through adapted materials, adapted expectations, partner or small-group work, intermittent adult help and direct adult help, to a parallel activity.
Selecting supports by category — accommodations are sorted into eight headings including Presentation, Response, Setting and Organization, so a support can be matched to the barrier it removes.
Recognising language that signals a modification — a clue-word box lists eleven terms, from alteration and simplified to refashioning and resubmitting.
Drafting IEP paperwork with concrete wording to hand — entries such as "Take a test in several timed sessions or over several days" and "Pass/no pass option" can be lifted straight into a plan.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How does the decision sheet help settle which support to choose?

It runs a ladder rather than a list. The first question asks whether the student can take part in the activity in the same way as grade-level peers; each of the six that follow opens "If not" and loosens one thing at a time — adapted materials, then adapted expectations and materials, then partner or small-group work, then intermittent adult assistance, then direct adult assistance, and finally a different, parallel activity.

How are the example supports grouped on the two examples sheets?

By what the support changes. Accommodations sit under Presentation (the way information is given), Timing, Scheduling, Response (how a student relays information), Organization, Setting, Assignments and Curriculum. Modifications sit under Curriculum, Behavior and Testing. Curriculum appears on both sheets with different entries, which is where the accommodation-versus-modification line is easiest to blur.

What is the clue-word box on the modifications sheet for?

It gives a quick language test. Eleven words — alteration, change, simplified, difference, redoing, alternate, refashioning, remaking, reduced, remodeling and resubmitting — are listed as the terms that most likely indicate a modification is being made, so a support described in those words can be classified on the spot.