Information for Parents
Access Services recognizes the important role parents play in a student’s life. In the K-12 public education setting in the United States, schools are legally obligated to provide a free and appropriate public education through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. In college, students seek accommodations through the Americans with Disabilities Act. This means students must self-identify as having a disability. Employees of Minot State are also bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prevents the sharing of Academic and financial information with parties other than the student. To protect student privacy and promote self-advocacy in students, Access services will not discuss student accommodations without the student present. However, if the student wishes to have support people at his/her their meeting, that is welcomed. If you would like to help your student prepare for his/her/their meeting, consider the following:
- Does your student have access to his/her/their/documentation to substantiate his/her/their disability?
- What accommodations did he/she/they use in high school?
- Does the student understand the expectations in his/her/their/syllabi? Do these documents present any tasks that may need accommodations?
- Is the student aware of local disability resources?
Students are expected to bring all materials needed for exams and quizzes that are not already provided by the instructor including scantrons, calculators, pencils and whiteboards etc., to the Access Services testing center. If scantrons are handed out the day of the test in the department, it is the students’ responsibility to bring a blank scantron with them from the department.
Extended time for testing is meant for the purposes of taking the test only. No studying will be allowed once the testing appointment time has begun.
Tests must be scheduled 3 business days in advance.
Tests must be sent or given to Access Services by the instructor directly.
Tests must be turned into the instructor by Access Services.
Testing is monitored by both camera and video systems. Access Services has the right to share the pictures and recordings with the department.
If students are eligible for flexibility accommodations, they will not be valid until the student completes his or her flexibility form and meets with Access Services to create a flexibility plan for every course which flexibility is deemed reasonable.
If utilizing flexibility attendance accommodations, it is the responsibility of the student to communicate with the faculty member to obtain the notes, instructions and presentations for the course. If the instructor and the student are having difficulty facilitating this, they should contact access.services@minotstateu.edu.
Students must renew their accommodations every semester.
If any changes need to be made to a student’s original accommodation letter during the semester, the student will notify Access Services immediately and meet with the Access Services coordinator to discuss those changes before they are put into place.
No accommodation will be made until proper medical documentation is supplied to Access Services to substantiate the requested accommodation.
Provide documentation of your disability. This can be from a medical provider, mental health professional or vocational rehabilitation counselor. Even documentation from a patient portal would be sufficient as long as it has a diagnosis on it with your name from the treating facility.
