What is the difference between accommodation and adaptation in special education?

Answer 1

In the Tomlinson model of Differentiation, accommodation and adaptation are both forms of modification for individual student learning.

When you accommodate for an individual student, you do not change the learning targets, but you do change how the learner is expected to achieve the target. For example, while other students are asked to read a chapter from a textbook, one might accommodate for a student with a vision disability and have them listen to an audio recording of the chapter. They are still expected to know the chapter content, but how they learn the content is modified.

Adaptation includes modifying the learning target for an individual learner. For example, when most learners are provided with and asked to read an informational text that is at a grade 6 to 8 reading level, one might adapt the content for an individual learner, providing them with, and asking them to read, an informational text at the grade 4-5 level. In the case of adaptation, the learning target is modified.