Frequently Asked Questions for Faculty and Staff

Students must provide documentation of a disability and engage in a deliberative process with a OAA Staff to be approved for accommodations. Accommodations are personalized to meet the needs of individual students and not all students will receive the same accommodations, even if their disabilities are similar.

All students must provide documentation demonstrating the need for academic accommodations. Documentation may be from a medical provider or mental health professional, a high school IEP demonstrating a history of special services, or verification of a specific disability.

Students who have been approved for accommodations will receive a Accommodation Letter from the OAA indicating which accommodations they’ve been approved for. You are only required to provide the accommodations indicated on the Accommodation Letter. The Accommodation Letter is only valid for the semester/year indicated on the letter. If a student provides you with an outdated accommodation letter, please refer him/her to the OAA to update their documents.

No, you only need to provide accommodations as indicated on the Accommodation Letter. You can refer the student to the OAA to update accommodations if he/she believes that revisions need to be made. On occasion, the OAA staff will need to work with you directly on providing specialized/complex accommodations not indicated on the accommodation letter.

If you believe that a student’s accommodation violates a fundamental aspect of your course, please contact the OAA Director as soon as possible to discuss your concerns.

While we always encourage students to use their accommodations, ultimately, it is their choice whether to do so. As you would any of your students, you can also encourage students to use campus resources, including accommodations. You can refer the student to the OAA.

Accommodations are not a guarantee for success; these are set up only to "level" the playing field for students with disabilities. You can encourage the student to use campus resources (CSA, Writing Center, Math Emporium, or TRiO) and also refer the student to the OAA for additional support.

The Testing Center is located on 2^nd floor of the Guerrieri Student Union, Room 228 (Office of Access & Accommodations).

Only students with OAA approved testing related accommodations are eligible to use the Testing Center.

Yes, faculty may accommodate students directly. Generally, the OAA administers exams because faculty prefers the OAA to arrange accommodations. Since the most common accommodations are extended time and an environment somewhat free from frequent distractions, faculty often make arrangements themselves. One major advantage of accommodating students directly is that the instructor maintains control over the exam and students have direct access to the instructor during the exam. As long as a student receives the appropriate accommodations, faculty are free to arrange for accommodations. OAA staff is available to consult with faculty regarding the implementation of a student’s accommodations.

No, the secure On-Line Test Request Form (link above) is the method for scheduling accommodated exams. Spontaneous, unstructured and informal requests can result in miscommunication, lack of details, and mishandled exams. In order to ensure the testing space, security, and integrity of every exam, the OAA needs a reliable and consistent process to track and monitor every request.

The OAA advises students with approved testing related accommodations to speak to faculty and complete their online test request form at least 3 business days prior to assessments. The OAA has limited space available for testing, sufficient advance notice is needed to ensure to reserve testing space, delivery to convert exams to an alternative format, if needed (i.e., Word document for use in Zoomtext, Kurzweil software apps, audio, large print), print the exam, match exam with proctor envelope, and get the exam to proctor and location. The OAA proctors over 1,700 exams each year for students with disabilities. Upon approval of the student’s request, faculty should send tests to the OAA at least  1 business day in advance of test date. During finals, we ask faculty to send tests  3 business days in advance due to the high volume of tests during that time. 

Faculty can make changes on their OAA Testing Accommodation Agreement through the AIM-Instructor Portal. For questions, please contact the OAA.

Please contact the Office of Access & Accommodations (OAA) at (410) 543-6087/email: accommodations@salisbury.edu or visit in-person in the Guerrieri Student Union, Room 229.