SAS staff welcome conversations with faculty and Deans to ensure proper coordination of special arrangements for the student while maintaining the integrity of course requirements. The following list of services is a sample of services and accommodations most frequently provided. It is not all-inclusive.
- Assessments for and provision of assistive computer technology
- Classroom accommodations (e.g. wheelchair accessible location, seating priority, etc.)
- Examination & testing modifications (e.g. extension of time, distraction-free testing location, use of laptop/computer, etc.)
- Materials in alternative formats (e.g. large print, Braille, Books on Tape, etc.)
- Notetakers
- Readers and Visual Interpreters. A Visual Interpreter describes graphs, charts and print materials that cannot be reasonably presented otherwise to a student who is blind.
- Referrals to other campus and community services
- Scribes and transcription services
- Interpreting and real time transcription services for students with hearing disabilities
- Orientation and mobility assistance in residence and on campus for students with visual disabilities
- Wheelchair accessible door to door shuttle service to points on campus provided by the University’s Special Services Transportation
SAS pays and manages casual and student employees for notetaking; high volume, long term scanning; visual interpreting; scribing and transcribing services. Through SAS, the University has a membership with the “Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic,” a national public service offering many academic textbooks on tape. Where textbooks and course packets are not available through this service, SAS employs readers and loans the necessary equipment to provide this material on tape-recorded medium.
Occasionally, SAS may coordinate with a faculty member to pay for time limited and task specific teaching assistant/fellow services. Other services requiring specific and specialized skills are provided under contractual arrangements with a variety of community resources.
SAS utilizes the expert consultation of Yale School of Medicine’s Center for the Study of Learning and Attention when a student exhibits evidence of a possible learning disability. Follow-up can result in arrangements to test for a learning disability and recommendations to support academic performance.
SAS participates with Yale College in the process necessary for an undergraduate student to petition for a foreign language waiver. The Director, after meeting with the student and speaking with the student’s Residential College Dean, can make a referral for testing to the Center for the Study of Learning and Attention. The results of the testing process are added evidence to the material and petition process required by the determining body for a foreign language waiver, the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing. This testing can be provided for graduate students in departments with a foreign language requirement.
SAS does not have access to a student’s transcript or GPA. SAS does not nor cannot monitor individual student class attendance or tardiness unless made known by an instructor, the student or the student’s Dean. Reports on attendance problems and assignment delays should be reported first to the student’s Dean.
SAS does not have the authority to grant extensions on assignments or rescheduling dates for exams. This is the authority of the student’s Dean.
SAS does not offer tutoring services to students. This can be offered, at Yale College, through the student’s Residential College Dean. Arrangements for tutoring may be available with the Professional Schools through the school’s Dean of Academic Affairs.
Information kept on file on each student who requests accommodations and/or has approved accommodations is kept confidential. The information is not merged with the student’s general transcript or other documented information. Cumulative accommodations received by each student at Yale University are not indicated on the individual student transcript and are not released without the individual student’s written permission to any party.
SAS has no influence on the Admissions process for a prospective student acknowledging a disability other than a general advisor on the services that should be available in the application process. SAS is available and welcomes general inquiries from prospective students about anticipated services. When a student is admitted and accepts, special arrangements in housing (as required) and immediate and long-term academic supports can be planned.