Twice this week I was approached by instructors who were told by a student that I had approved them for accommodations on an upcoming exam. The problem was, the instructors had not received the Accommodation Notice I sent out to confirm. Suspicious, indeed.

Although these things would rarely occur, certain scenarios could explain the lack of communication between my office and yours: email ending up in a SPAM folder, change in instructors since notices were sent, or perhaps your name was mistakenly omitted from my list, just to name a few.

Here are some steps you might take if this happens to you:

• Check your email to see if you may have overlooked the Notice of Accommodation. They are all sent via our NMC email system. If it’s not there, have the student see me.
• Ask the student to show you their copy of the Accommodation Notice. Students are always cc’d on the original email. If they can’t produce their copy, have the student see me.
• Contact me to check on the status. Believe it or not, students have been known to claim accommodations without ever meeting with me to make a request. Some do not realize that services must be requested each semester, others may be testing the system. Again, suggest they actually talk with me.

It almost sounds to me like I am writing a piece on parenting advice! So that our children (students, in our case) can’t play one of us against the other communication is key.

If you wonder why I would have told a student they could have their best friend read the math exam aloud for them in the Testing Center, in an unsupervised room, with no time limit, or that I approved an unlimited number of absences from your course–just ask. It’s likely I said no such thing. Can’t blame a kid for tryin’, right?

As always, I am at your service.