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Case Study Paper: Insufficient Accommodations

Ellie Morris

Educational Psychology

Dr. Reinard

04/11/2023
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In every school, there is at least one child with some sort of disability, whether this be

physical or not. In this specific case study, we are dealing with a sixth grader named Justin who

has Cerebral Palsy. Justin’s teacher, Ms. Thurston believes in experiential learning instead of

learning out of a book, this led to her planning her yearly field trip to Meadows Creek Park,

where her students can walk the trails and explore the same terrain as scientists from the

university who studied local ecology. She wanted to make sure this field trip offered

accommodations so Justin could also enjoy the trip with no stress especially because of his love

for science, his teacher was reassured that there were accommodations for Justin until they

arrived.

When the class arrived at the field trip excited and cheerful to begin the hike they were

quickly hit with disappointing news. Ms. Thurston did everything she could to ensure that

accommodations would be provided for Justin, just to get there and figure out there was one

singular “accommodation” and that was to sit in the center and watch a film of the hike while the

other students participated. This infuriated Ms. Thurston because she doesn’t see this as an

accommodation, and she doesn’t want to in any way hurt Justin’s feelings. In my opinion, this is

not an equitable accommodation. If he wanted to watch a film, the teacher could have simply

looked one up for him to watch, he is not receiving the same privilege of seeing all the things

that the other students would when physically going on the hike. Accommodations such as a golf

cart, to ride Justin around the hike would be wonderful because it would give him the experience

of seeing what the other kids see and learning what the other kids are learning now instead of on

a screen. Many small other accommodations could be made to make it an overall better

experience for Justin.

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I would say it is Ms. Thurston’s responsibility to provide an experience for all her

students that are similar where no side is lacking, and they are all getting an amazing experience.

I think in this experience since they are already there, they may just need to let the rest of the

children go on the hike and let Justin watch the film, without making Justin feel like his

experience is less than that only because they are already there. If they knew about this before

arriving, I would say that the hike should’ve never happened if ALL students couldn’t effectively

participate in the hike. She should look for other different learning opportunities that do allow

every student to participate whether it is believed to not generate the same level of enthusiasm as

the hike at Meadow Creek Park would.

As Ms. Thurston approaches her students after talking with Ms. Parsons, she can use this

situation as a teachable moment for them. Ms. Thurston should use this as an opportunity to

expose students to the issues of accommodation. Though Justin might be embarrassed if this is

done in front of everyone, Ms. Thurston could address the issue anonymously without

necessarily pointing out which student is affected. Addressing accommodation should be done

with care and emphasizing that this is a result of the way society imposes “normalcy” on all

individuals

Since the class is already at the park and ready to begin their hike until it is found that

Justin can only watch a film of it and not join, Ms. Thurston could announce to her students that

plans have changed and either they break the class into sections, where one section goes outside,

and one group watches the film, or everyone stays in the center and watches the film. She should

also continue her discussion with Ms. Parsons and the park that the accommodations aren’t

acceptable, and they were incredibly disappointing, and how change must be made so something

like this doesn’t happen again.

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I enjoyed this case study as it brought more insight into things that people with

disabilities deal with daily. Accommodations everywhere must be made, not just any

accommodations, they must be effective accommodations for ALL.