Teaching · Special Education

Move the room,
not the student.

A planner for special education teams: list students by code and need, sketch the room by dragging furniture onto a grid, see whether each seat works for that student, and print a modification plan with the drawing.

Open the plannerWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 100 items.

The planner

The worked example is a made-up grade 3 room with five students, including a wheelchair user whose route from the door is drawn on the plan. Your plan saves in this browser.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A modification plan for one classroom: students by code with their need areas, the modifications chosen for each area with notes and owners, a scaled room drawing with seat tags, and layout prompts showing what still needs a look.
Who it is for
Special education teachers, general education teachers with students on IEPs or 504 plans, occupational and physical therapists, teachers of students who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, and school teams planning a room.
Format
Browser tool. The room sketcher works with a mouse, touch or keyboard; the full grid is easiest on a tablet or computer. Prints the plan with the drawing; export and import a file to share it with the team.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat. For individual accommodations beyond the room, the site's accommodations finder is free.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Load the worked example, or start blank with your students' codes and the room size.
  2. Mark each student's need areas. Class-wide planning works with no students listed.
  3. Sketch the room: add doors, boards, furniture, noise sources and a seat tag for each student, and drag them into place.
  4. Read the layout prompts and move things until the seats work, then tick the modifications on step 3.
  5. Print the plan with the drawing for the team, and use the accommodations finder for supports beyond the room.

Open the planner

How the layout prompts work

The measurements behind each prompt.

Routes and turning space

The grid is in one-foot squares. For a student with a mobility need, the planner searches for a path from any door to the student's seat tag that stays at least 3 ft (36 in) wide the whole way, the minimum clear width for an accessible route in the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, and draws it in blue. It also looks for a 5 ft (60 in) turning space, the diameter of the turning circle in the same standards, that does not overlap furniture. Rugs, calm corners and markers do not block a route; desks, tables, shelves, cubbies and sinks do. Chairs without a seat tag are not drawn, so leave room for them.

Distance prompts

For vision and hearing, the planner measures from the seat tag to the nearest edge of the board and prompts at more than 8 ft. For hearing and sensory needs, it measures to the nearest door, sink or marked noise source and prompts at less than 6 ft; for attention, to the nearest door, window or noise source, prompting at less than 4 ft (3 ft for a window). These are starting points, not standards: the student's team, including the teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing or of the visually impaired, sets what each student needs. For classroom acoustics, ANSI/ASA S12.60 sets 35 dBA background noise and a 0.6 second reverberation time for most core classrooms.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Justice (2010). 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, sections 403.5.1 (clear width of an accessible route, 36 in), 304.3.1 (circular turning space, 60 in) and 308 (reach ranges, 15 to 48 in).
  2. Acoustical Society of America (2010). ANSI/ASA S12.60-2010 Part 1, Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools. Background noise and reverberation limits for classrooms.
  3. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. IDEA regulations, 34 CFR 300.320(a)(4): supplementary aids and services and program modifications in the IEP.

The worked example is made up. Layout prompts are a planning aid; they do not certify that a room meets the ADA or any other standard. Decisions about a student's accommodations belong to the IEP or 504 team. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.