Emotional disability
Our school has given a student accomodation due to the amount of stress the student is under in her personal life outside of her school life. She is taking medication for the stress and without the medication the student cannot perform. She brought in a Doctor's note and we have been asked to give the student more time to accomplish her clinical tasks and one-on-one time with an instructor. How prescriptive can the health care specialist be in regard to identifying the disorder so we can structure the accomodations?
As an Instructor, I hear more students with emotional disabilities, not seeking the proper medical attention, as an Instructor I spend as much one on one time, to enhance their trust,
to overcome their not focusing on class work.
Sharon,
I am not sure what your position is -- whether you have some kind of general responsibility for students with disabilities at your institution, or whether you are asking this question as one of this student's concerned instructors. If you are the former (that is, you are gathering information for the campus as a whole), it might be appropriate to gather more information from the health care provider to assure that the support you are providing is appropriate. But as an individual instructor, it wouldn't be appropriate to be asking detailed questions of the student or the health care provider about the nature of the disability. It is probably enough to know the impact.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
