Academic Services

If a student is approved for accommodations through SAS, they will hand deliver a formal letter to you that provides information on their approved accommodations.  If you have questions about how to implement a student’s accommodations, we encourage you to first check out our Faculty FAQs on our website.  If you still have questions, please contact SAS at access@brandeis.edu or call the Academic Services main phone line at 781-736-3470 to request to speak with a SAS staff member.

Yes. The accommodations in the accommodation letter have already been approved by SAS. It is not appropriate to ask a student if they need the accommodations, or to disclose their conditions/disabilities.  If you are concerned about the appropriateness of an accommodation that is mentioned in the letter or have questions about how to implement the accommodations, you can contact SAS (access@brandeis.edu) or call the Academic Services main phone line at 781-736-3470 to request to speak with a SAS staff member.

SAS is always happy to talk with faculty who have accommodation questions. If you have questions, you can contact SAS (access@brandeis.edu) or call the Academic Services main phone line at 781-736-3470 to request to speak with a SAS staff member.

A student must hand deliver their accommodation letter to you, before you are obligated to provide them with their approved accommodation/-s for your course.  If a student requests an accommodation for your class without first providing you with a letter, you can remind the student that they must give you a copy of their accommodation letter from SAS. 

The current accommodations in a student’s letter are approved according to each individual student’s request and documentation.  If a student asks you for an accommodation, and that specific accommodation is not listed in their letter, you are not obligated to provide it.  Instead, please direct the student to contact SAS.  If you ever feel unsure about your obligations as a faculty member, please do not hesitate to reach out to SAS by either calling the Academic Services main phone line at 781-736-3470 or emailing us directly at access@brandeis.edu. 

If you suspect that a student may be struggling with a disability in your course, a good first step would be to speak to the student in private to ask about the difficulties that they are specifically encountering in your course (i.e. clarification on course content, challenges with the format of the course, etc.)  

While it would be inappropriate to ask the student outright if they have a disability, it would be beneficial to connect the student to meet with SAS.  Additionally, you can encourage the student to utilize other resources offered through Academic Services including academic advising and BUGS peer tutors.  If you have any questions on how to have this conversation with a student, please reach out to SAS by either calling the Academic Services main phone line at 781-736-3470 or emailing us directly at access@brandeis.edu.

Faculty are always required to keep a student’s accommodation letter confidential.  Please refrain from any inappropriate disclosure of a student’s disability information in front of others, including faculty, staff or students.  For many students with disabilities, disclosure is a highly personal and sensitive matter.  If you have any questions, issues, or concerns, we encourage you to reach out to SAS (access@brandeis.edu).  

Student Accessibility Support (SAS), in consultation with the Committee for the Support of Teaching, has created the new syllabus statement which is more welcoming to a student with a disability in your class. Please include the following in your course syllabus (in bolded font): 

Brandeis seeks to welcome and include all students. If you are a student who needs accommodations as outlined in an accommodations letter, please talk with me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as you can. I want to support you.

In order to provide test accommodations, I need the letter more than 48 hours in advance. I want to provide your accommodations, but cannot do so retroactively. If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting accommodations, please contact Student Accessibility Support (SAS) at 781.736.3470 or access@brandeis.edu.

Please see the faculty resources tab under FAQs for more guidance on how to support students with disabilities.

A student with a laptop for class notetaking accommodation may need to use various technologies (i.e. laptop, tablet) during class to be able to process and learn course content in the classroom. This accommodation will be clearly mentioned in their accommodation letter. 

If a laptop is an approved accommodation for a student, it is reasonable to provide that accommodation for a student registered with SAS.  An honor system can be worked out with the student requesting the accommodation, to use the device strictly for academic use.

In order to maintain confidentiality of the student’s disability, the instructors are encouraged to make an exception to the “no-device” policy in their syllabus with the following language:  "Exceptions for the use of a laptop may be granted for compelling reasons at the discretion of the instructor."

If a student presents you with an official accommodation letter from Student Accessibility Support (SAS) and has communicated with you about requesting their approved exam accommodations/-s at a minimum of 48 hours in advance of the exam, then the instructor is required to provide the student with their accommodations. If you need any support in providing exam accommodations, please reach out to Student Accessibility Support (access@brandeis.edu). 

Final exams are administered through the Office of the University Registrar.*  Accommodations like extended test time that follows the scheduled three hour exam block, early start of exams, and low distraction exams are proctored by the Registrar’s Office in the Kutz classrooms.

*Please note that the format for final exams for Fall 2020 may look different. Please contact SAS if you have further questions at access@brandeis.edu. 

Students and instructors should discuss ahead of time an extended time accommodation, especially if an extended time accommodation for an exam in your course presents a conflict with a scheduled class that follows immediately after.  A mutually agreed upon alternate time should be provided, whether it be having the student begin the exam early or scheduling at a completely different time.

Extended time accommodations for evening exams, by mutual agreement, are often provided by starting the student before the regular start time.

Students are instructed to provide you with their accommodation letter at a minimum of 48 hours in advance of their scheduled exam. If the student delivers their letter on the day of the exam, it is on the instructor’s discretion whether to provide the exam accommodations. However, we encourage you to provide the accommodation if you are reasonably able to do so. 

If you are not able to do so, please acknowledge the accommodation letter and let the student know that you would be able to provide that exam accommodation to them moving forward for the semester.

Accommodations are not retroactive.  A student is required at minimum to provide you with their accommodation letter 48 hours before their exam. Therefore, a student should not wait until they receive their grade to provide you with their accommodation letter, or ask to retake the exam with their accommodations.

Exam laptops are wifi disabled devices which are provided by Student Accessibility Support for students who need them as an accommodation on their exams. We ensure strict exam security on these laptops. The students approved for an exam laptop are allowed to pick up these laptops from our office only 20 minutes before their exam. The instructors can provide the exam as a paper copy or digitally via a flash drive (in case of students who are blind). The students are asked to return the laptops immediately to our office after the exam. We will email the exam to the faculty member as we receive them. 

At times, when the exam lasts beyond our office hours (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm), we will arrange with the faculty member or TA of the class to hold the laptop for us which we will pick up the following day. We, thank you in advance for your support in ensuring exam security for your courses.

We encourage you to check out our one-page Guidance for Brandeis Faculty in Supporting Students with Disabilities here. 

If you need any further support in providing classroom or exam accommodations, you are also welcome to reach out to Student Accessibility Support (access@brandeis.edu). 

SAS provides workshops on a wide range of topics in a variety of formats to fit your needs.  For example, when requested, we can offer a workshop to faculty and department coordinators on how to create accessible course documents and PDFs.  

If you would like to schedule a workshop with SAS on how to create accessible course materials, please contact access@brandeis.edu.