Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

There are nine disability categories recognized by the State Chancellor's Office. They are:

1. Acquired Brain Injury: Deficit in brain functioning resulting in loss of cognitive, communicative, motor, psychological and/or sensory/perceptual abilities
2. Developmentally Delayed Learner: Below average intellectual functioning and potential for measurable achievement in instructional and employment settings
3. Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Total or partial loss of hearing function which impedes the communication process essential to language, educational, social, and/or cultural interactions
4. Learning Disability: Average to above-average intellectual ability and severe processing deficit(s) and severe aptitude-achievement discrepancy (ies) and measured achievement in an educational or employment setting
5. Mobility Impairment: Serious limitation in locomotion and/or motor function
6. Mental Health Disability: A persistent psychological or psychiatric disorder, emotional or mental illness that adversely affects educational performance
7. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Students with a persistent deficit in attention and/or hyperactive and impulsive behavior that limits the student's ability to access the educational process.
8. Autism Spectrum: A neuro-developmental disorder that causes limitations in social, academic, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
9. Blind and Low Vision: Students with a level of vision that limits the students ability to access the educational process.
10. Other Health Conditions: This category often includes all other verifiable disabilities and health-related limitations that adversely affect educational performance but do not fall into any of the other categories. Other challenges include: conditions having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems. Some examples are: Epilepsy, heart conditions, HIV-AIDS, cancer. Prior elementary and/or high school special education or 504 plan students are often counted in this category until LD testing or other appropriate testing is completed

(Source: Title V Regulations, Article 3: Sections 56032-56042)

The first step is getting them connected to the Disability Services office by phone, email, or in person, or by filling out our online application. The Disability Services staff will assist the student with getting the necessary information required.

Required documentation verifying the disability must be obtained from the appropriate professional such as, a school IEP/504, a medical doctor, psychologist, etc. The Disability Services office will assist with acquiring this information if necessary.

The Director/Counselor of Disability Services determines appropriate accommodations through an interactive interview with the student and in accordance with the student's documentation of their verified disability and the student's functional limitations.

No, some students with disabilities have chosen not to receive services from the Disability Services office, or they have not met the eligibility criteria for services.

It depends on how long you have been away from COS and the program. If it has been within the last two academic years, your file may have been placed in the inactive file and can easily be retrieved. If you have been inactive between 2-7 years, your file information has been archived and we can retrieve it. After seven years, your information is shredded, and new paperwork will need to be completed in its entirety. With inactive and archived files, some paperwork may need to be completed again to re-activate your file. Come to the Disability Services office in Eddy Hall on the Weed Campus, call us at (530) 938-5297, or email us at DS@siskiyous.edu to get the process started.

COS' Disability Services offers learning disabilities testing in accordance to the Chancellors Office Learning Disabilities Eligibility Services Model (LDESM). This process is free to eligible students. The testing involves intake screening and interview, along with cognitive, processing, and achievement testing. Results are shared with the student in an additional meeting along with eligibility criteria and authorizing needed accommodations for qualified students.

The application to the Disability Services program is ongoing. A student may begin the process at any time. The office is open 12 months out of the year, and it is advised that the student begins the process as soon as they begin the registration process if they are new to COS.

All faculty are required to put a statement about accommodations in their syllabus or first day handout to inform students about their right. You can use a statement like this: "Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the Disability Services at (530) 938-5297, or visit Eddy Hall 101 to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities."

Yes, you are. Students with disabilities are protected by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504. This law requires that qualified students with disabilities get equal access to an education and not be discriminated against in their pursuit of this education. Authorized accommodations are done by a qualified Disability Services professional in accordance to students’ documented, verified disability and the educational limitations it imposes.

No, you are only responsible for reasonable accommodations if requested. If you have not received a formal notice of accommodations from the Disability Services office, you may want to encourage them privately to go to the Disability Services office to join the program and get reasonable accommodations.

Test accommodations are authorized by the Director/Counselor of Disability Services or designee based upon the student's functional limitations and the documentation of the disability. Some of the testing accommodations include but are not limited to: extra time for a test (often time and a half), a reader or scribe (a person who writes answers verbatim), a computer, Braille exam, enlarged exam, digitalized exam allowing for dictation software), and minimal distraction space.

The Disability Services office works to provide testing accommodations in a systematic and secure way. Students with this authorized accommodation must come into the office to schedule their test at least 3 days in advance. This provides the ability for the Disability Services office to ensure the testing room has minimal distractions, that the instructor is notified in a timely manner to bring us the test, and that the test is scheduled around the time the class is also taking the test. No student is able to take the test without the appropriate accommodations authorization and identifications are verified prior to taking the test. Students are monitored with cameras in the testing room, so staff can continuously view the student(s) while taking the test. Honorlock is on all of our student computers if they are taking an online test. No personal belongings are allowed in the testing room, other than what the instructor has noted on the instruction sheet that the student can have. Upon completion of the test, the test is returned almost immediately to the instructor. Disability Services staff will work to resolve any problems that may arise and will notify the instructor.