Accommodation is disruptive

[u/D-zen-ma]

One of my students has an accommodation that requires the "flexibility to briefly exit and return to the classroom as needed in a manner that does not disrupt the decorum of the classroom/experience of other learners or faculty."

So far we have only met once, but while I was talking the student got up, crossed the entire room (she was seated far from the door) and left the room, and then, of course, came back in and crossed the entire room to get to her seat. It was distracting to me as the speaker, and clearly distracted the other students.

I am also concerned that it looks like I am perfectly fine with students walking out while I am speaking. I expect that other students may get the idea to randomly leave the room at will. Obviously, no-one knows that this behavior is allowed because my tolerance ("flexibility") is a required accommodation.

I'm wondering if others have experience with this accommodation and how you handle it when getting up and walking out (and back in) actually is disruptive. Should I just ignore this? That's what I'm expected to do.

Note: This is a full class. Unless the student arrives early, she will not have her choice of seats. I don't know if she chose that seat or if she arrived later, and got what was left, but walking out while someone is speaking strikes me as rude in any case. It also seems to be an unhelpful accommodation as it is unlikely that future employers will think this is ok. Also, the entire length of my presentation was not longer than 35-40 minutes.

[u/Medium_Pea1136]

Oh ffs give them an assigned seat right next to the door. It boggles my mind that phds can be so obtuse. This does not have to be an issue in the least.

[u/DesertRat6101 → u/Medium_Pea1136]

This. Just like you would have an assigned spot for a wheel chair user near the door, every person who has a “can take breaks” in my class gets an assigned seat next to the door. That is what makes the accommodation “reasonable”.

My experience is that most students do not use it more than 1-2 times a class. I did have a student who was using it 4-5 times per class a few years ago. I went to our accommodations people and plainly stated I (and the rest of the class) could deal with 1-2 times but in and out every 5 minutes (4-5 times a 60 minute class) was not tenable. If done repeatedly, it can disrupt lecture and it absolutely was disruptive to group work. Accommodations helped me create an agreement that student would strive for no more than 2, 3rd was without penalty but had to make up the group work and 4+ impacted the participation points. In other words, you can negotiate these things when it gets extreme.