Modified Curriculum for Autistic Students in Ontario

Ontario defines accommodations as special teaching and assessment strategies, human supports, or individualized equipment that enable a student to learn and demonstrate learning. A subject or course identified as accommodated only remains directed toward regular grade-level expectations. Examples include extra time for tests or assignments, preferential seating, and assistive technology.

Modifications change grade-level expectations to meet a student's learning needs. They may use expectations from a different grade or change the number or complexity of regular expectations. Subjects and courses requiring accommodations or modifications, and all alternative programs, must be listed in the IEP and identified as AC, MOD, or ALT. Alternative expectations address knowledge and skills that are not represented in the Ontario curriculum.

A modified secondary course is not automatically a credit course or a non-credit course. Depending on the extent of the modification, the principal determines whether achievement of the modified expectations constitutes successful completion and whether the student is eligible for the course credit. The decision must be communicated to the parents and student.

The Ontario Student Transcript manual uses M in the note column for modified curriculum expectations that do not lead to a credit. It uses N/A in the credit column for a course with modified or alternative expectations that did not lead to a credit. The draft's broader statement that modified courses are marked MOD on the transcript is therefore not retained.

The Ministry's guide states that Ontario Regulation 181/98 requires consultation with parents, and with the student if age 16 or older, during IEP development and review. The parents and student must receive a copy when the IEP is completed. They must also be consulted before significant revisions to learning expectations or the level of accommodations and services are implemented.

The current certificate below the OSSD is the Ontario Secondary School Certificate, not the Ontario Certificate of Education named in the draft. On request, the OSSC may be granted to a student leaving secondary school at age 18 without an OSSD after earning at least 14 credits, including 7 compulsory and 7 optional credits. A student leaving at age 18 without meeting the requirements for either the OSSD or OSSC may be granted a Certificate of Accomplishment.