Program Practicums, Internships and/or Field Placements

Students with disabilities may be involved with internships, field work placements, practicums or student teaching as part of their academic program. Because these placements may require special consideration and coordination with community entities, SDS must be made aware of any particular accommodation requests for a particular placement on a case by case basis and include various academic departments as part of the coordination process.

If a student requires an accommodation during their field placement, it is the student’s responsibility to request them in advance. Because the student may not fully realize the need for accommodation and/or they may not have a sense of what the internship setting will specifically demand, SDS recommends that the student should initiate a meeting as early as possible prior to placement during which information about internship expectations might be shared so that once better informed, the student might be better prepared on what they need to initiate as part of their placement needs. The student can initiate this process by submitting the Practicum/Internship/Field Placement Accommodation Request Form

Most importantly, the student must initiate early discussions with the academic unit and/or SDS in order to plan for accommodations since the nature and/or implementation of accommodations may vary across agencies. In addition, academic units may begin early agency involvement as part of the process for identifying needed accommodations with an external agency site.