The “Guidelines and Operational Directions for Interventions for Students with ASDs and Disabilities,” developed by the Departmental Working Group on Specific Learning Disorders, outlines best practices and operational methods through which it is possible to implement for the benefit of students with Specific Learning Disorders and disabilities:

• more extensive and timely contact with faculty to enable students to represent their learning needs throughout the course of study and for better enjoyment of course offerings, including with respect to assessment stages;
• The submission of requests for assessment testing supports (L. 17/1999; L. 170/2010; DM July 12, 2011).

Definitions

Assessment test refers to university profit exams (written, oral, computer-based, etc.), tutorials and other forms of assessment of the student’s acquired knowledge and skills.

Students, in this document, are referred to:

• to students in possession of the valid and updated diagnostic certification referred to in L. 170/2010, the State-Regions Agreement of 07/27/2012 and related regional provisions.
• To students who hold the certifications:
  • handicap, even in a situation of severity (Art. 3, co 1 or co 3, L. 104/1992);
  • Of civil disability with recognized percentage.

Accreditation means the delivery, and subsequent verification, of the certifications already mentioned at the Office of Specialized Tutoring (UTS).

By support, we mean the dispensatory or compensatory measures for students with DSA, as referred to in Ministerial Decree July 12, 2011 and the attached MUR Guidelines, or the provisions of Section 2 of Article 2 of Law 17/1999, which may be granted to students with disabilities to take a university assessment test.

Lecturers

All faculty members post information for students with DSA and disabilities on their courses’ moodle channels, in particular:

• ways to get in touch to receive guidance and information on specific teaching in relation to one’s learning needs;
• The list of supports allowed for the assessment tests of each teaching.

Students

To submit requests for exam supports (e.g., additional time), students must first accredit themselves by submitting their documentation in the manner specified by the Office of Specialized Tutoring (UTS) tutorato.specializzato@uniroma4.it.
The student may simultaneously request, in the manner and timeframe specified by the UTS, that teachers be informed of his or her DSA/disability certification, including for the purpose of intending to avail of exam supports.

Each student is required to check what supports are allowed for a specific teaching on the teacher’s moodle course, paying attention to the indications related to the activation request (e.g., time deadlines, possible documentation).

The request for the supports to take an assessment test should, therefore, be sent by e-mail to the teachers of the specific teaching, always including the UTS (tutorato.specializzato@uniroma4.it) in the knowledge copy.

Requests for supports should be sent only through the student’s own institutional e-mail address, according to the timeline indicated by the teaching on moodle; requests received later will not be considered.

Office of Specialized Tutoring (UTS)

• Tells students how and when to get accredited at UTS.
• Sends teachers of the university’s courses of study an updated list of names of accredited students who have requested to report their certification and be eligible for examination supports.
• Gives support to lecturers in drafting direct information to students, such as on the moodle course of their own teachings.
• Disseminates information to students necessary to maintain accreditation in relation to the validity and duration of the certifications they submit and to facilitate contact with faculty.
• Disseminates information on how students can request assessment test supports.
• In the presence of special needs and requests represented by a student, collaborates with the Dean’s Delegate for Disability, DSA, and Inclusion Support to carry out instructional mediation with affected faculty.

“Allowable” and “permissible” media

Additional time for written and oral tests is a permissible support, always allocated to accredited students who request it.

The professors of each teaching indicate, on their course in moodle, the additional supports admissible upon request to accredited students, selecting them from those listed below, consistent with the content of the specific educational activity, its objectives and the peculiarities of the attached assessment tests.
The criteria for granting certain supports may then be specified, as well as the deadline for their request.

Eligible media:

• Option to request replacement of the written with an oral test;
• Presence of a reader for the written test;
• Use of a non-scientific calculator;
• request to articulate the exam into multiple tests to be spread over different dates/appeals;
• fruition of a form;
• Use of diagrams/maps during the assessment test;
• possibility of using tables/images without comments and caption.