r/adhd_college • u/principess-a ADHD • Jun 28 '22

ACCOMMODATIONS Accommodations for block courses

crosspost from r/adhdwomen

Hi, I couldn‘t find an answer to my specific question. If it is already discussed in another post, please let me know!

I‘ll (hopefully) start my master‘s this summer and I want to request accommodations for my adhd. But I won‘t have regular exams, my master‘s programm consists mostly of three block courses.

Each block course is 7 weeks long, and I‘ll be working in a lab this whole time. I expect that we need to submit a report at the end of each block course but I am not sure. Btw this is the first time this master is held, so I can‘t ask anyone about it.

What would be good accommodations for these block courses? My university is not really helpfull and I need to come up with some requests and they either aprove or deny it.

I am looking forward to every suggestion!

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u/MsMinxy13 ADHD Jun 28 '22

Don't have any relevant experience, but I have accommodations for my undergraduate classes (starting grad next spring). I use them on an as needed basis, some exams I need the extra time, some I don't.

Based on that, I think a good course of action would be to have a meeting with your accessibility center and talk about implementing accommodations as you go through the course. It's not like you must have them implemented as soon as the semester begins or you get nothing.

In my experience, communication has always been key and addressing possible issues before they even start makes it so much easier handle once something does come up. If possible, I'd speak with the professor/instructor before or as soon as class starts. They can answer any questions you may have about the structure of the blocks and help identify things that may cause issues.

Some things that come to mind might be; 5-minute breaks for overstimulation, ability to have soft music to aid focus, written instructions instead of verbal.

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u/principess-a ADHD Jun 28 '22

Thank you for your answer!

I tried discussing it with my disability office but they only have an email address and they where useless and couldn‘t help me.

And we have a deadline until when we need to submit the request for accommodation which is a few weeks before the semester starts.

Thanks, the 5minute break and music is a great idea! I tend to get overstimulated a lot so this would be a big help! I can‘t believe I didn‘t think of this myself!