List of 3 items.

• Academic Accommodations

  Wesleyan lower school will offer the following accommodations within the classroom if they are consistent with specific recommendations included in the student’s psychoeducational evaluation:
  
  

  Physical Accommodations

  • Preferential Seating (near teacher, between well-focused students, away from distractions i.e. windows, hallways, etc.)
  • Extra seat or table space for expanding work area when possible.

  Instructional Accommodations

  • Extended time (not to exceed 50% of the original time) on timed quizzes, tests, and exams.
  • Permission to use notes (verified by the teacher) as a supplemental source of information to a student’s own personal notes (note-taking buddy to fill in gaps).
  • No penalties will be given for spelling errors on in-class writing assignments, essays, tests, exams, and quizzes. Assignments will be graded on content. When grading content, the teacher should be able to identify/sound out the word as it is written. If the teacher cannot, the student will be asked to identify the word. If the student cannot identify the word, it will be considered incorrect.
    • This is only granted to K-12 students who have been diagnosed (by a licensed/school psychologist) with a reading disorder/dyslexia, written expression disorder, or a phonological processing disability, and whose written psycho-educational report recommends a spelling accommodation.
    • Spelling errors noted in MCL courses may receive a deduction of a maximum of five percent.

   

  Behavioral Accommodations

  • Cueing procedures (i.e. nodding to student, gently placing hand on student’s shoulder) privately agreed upon with the student to help maintain focus
  • Additional appropriate movement throughout the classroom (ie, brain break) when possible

• Program Components

  Classroom Counseling

  Co-curricular counselor lessons are provided by the lower school dean of counseling and student services and the lower school counselor. Topics include:

  Digital Citizenship

  Personal Safety

  Listening Skills

  Making and Keeping Friends

  Conflict Resolution

  Empathy

  Respect
  Growth Mindset
  Responsibility 
  Choices and Consequences
  Managing Worry

   

  Small Group Counseling

  Small Group Counseling is available on an “as needed” basis and is problem and growth-centered.
  
  

  Individual Counseling

  Individual counseling is available to help guide students toward productive action at school and at home and assist students in problem solving.
  
  

  Consultation

  Working with teachers, parents, administrators, and other educational specialists.

• Student Support Team

  The Lower School Counseling Program offers consultation for teachers and parents to analyze the ways that individual students learn and succeed at Wesleyan. This service often occurs through the SAS (Supporting All Students) process. A support team may be initiated by parents, teachers, or faculty members. Teachers meet once a month with Nancy Jones, lower school dean of counseling and student services, for SAS meetings. The lower school principal often attends these meetings.
  
  

  At a SAS meeting, a student’s progress is discussed from several relevant viewpoints, including: his or her academic, behavioral, social, and emotional perspectives. Our goal is to find out where and how a student is succeeding and where any gaps in success are occurring. We brainstorm possible interventions that may help close those gaps, so that teachers can return to their classrooms with ideas in hand to help keep students on the right track.

  
  We frequently contact parents to obtain additional information or to coordinate additional steps to support each and every student. Many parents choose to share information obtained from outside tutors and/or psycho-educational evaluations. This is invaluable to us, as we are then able to make the appropriate accommodations based on your child’s specific needs. Accommodations may be physical, instructional, or behavioral. Accommodations and/or modifications will be available to Wesleyan students who have the following required documentation of learning disabilities:
  

  • A psycho-educational evaluation completed within the last five years
  • Achievement, IQ, and/or Aptitude Test data completely listed within evaluation
  • A specific diagnosis
  • Recommendations for services and/or accommodations for the classroom

  It is our goal to utilize all available information while maintaining confidentiality as much as possible to plan for the success of each Wesleyan student. We welcome and appreciate your input as we make those plans, and look forward to working with you and your child.