Solutions:
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Apps for Concentration
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Apps for Memory
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Calendars and Planners
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Checklists
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Color Coded System
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Cubicle Doors, Shields, and Shades
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Environmental Sound Machines / Tinnitus Maskers / White Noise Machines
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Extra Time
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Flexible Schedule
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Form Generating Software
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Full Spectrum or Natural Lighting Products
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Job Coaches
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Job Restructuring
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Marginal Functions
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Modified Break Schedule
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Noise Canceling Earbuds
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Noise Canceling Headsets
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On-site Mentoring
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Recorded Directives, Messages, Materials
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Reminders
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Sound Absorption and Sound Proof Panels
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Speech Recognition Software
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Sun Boxes and Lights
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Sun Simulating Desk Lamps
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Timers and Watches
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Written Instructions
Apps for Concentration
Vendors and Products
Apps for Memory
Calendars and Planners
Calendars and planners that can be used for keeping track of deadlines and other important information.
Vendors and Products
Checklists
Some employees may require a checklist to keep them on task and on schedule due to memory or attention deficits.
Vendors and Products
Color Coded System
Individuals with certain developmental disabilities can benefit from having color coordination applied to their office products and files to help them organize.
Cubicle Doors, Shields, and Shades
Attachments for office cubicles to enhance privacy and reduce external noise.
Environmental Sound Machines / Tinnitus Maskers / White Noise Machines
Environmental sound machines, also known as sound conditioners, help block out extraneous noises that are often found to be distracting. They can also be used to reduce stress in the work environment. Devices can include those that create persistent masking sound to relieve stress from tinnitus and otherwise drown out unwanted sounds.
Vendors and Products
Extra Time
Some employees may need extra time for their projects and tasks to accommodate their mental and developmental disabilities.
Flexible Schedule
Employees who experience limitations in concentration may need a flexible schedule in order to work optimally during hours of increased attentiveness. Flexible schedules can also be used to have a period of mental rest in order to refocus and reorient into his/her work. Examples of a flexible schedule would be adjusting starting and ending times of the workday, combining regularly scheduled breaks to create one extended break or dividing large breaks into smaller segments, and allowing work to be completed during hours when the employee is most mentally alert.
Form Generating Software
Form software is a way to scan and create electronic forms with ease. Though word processing software and graphics software have options that allow forms to be created, software designed specifically for creating forms is often more user friendly and efficient. Software products are available at local office supply/electronic stores.
Full Spectrum or Natural Lighting Products
Individuals who experience eye strain or fatigue may benefit from natural light. If it is not possible to situate the worker near a natural light source, alternative lighting may be an accommodation solution. Full Spectrum Lighting or Full Spectrum Light Filters (for covering fluorescent lighting) may reduce glare from overhead lights by simulating a natural light source and blocking ultraviolet rays. To learn more about this type of lighting and to select an appropriate lighting source for the situation, please contact the following vendors and manufacturers.
Vendors and Products
Job Coaches
Job coaches are individuals who specialize in assisting individuals with disabilities to learn and accurately carry out job duties. Job coaches provide one-on-one training tailored to the needs of the employee. They may first do a job analysis to identify the job duties, followed by developing a specific plan as to how they can best train the employee to work more and more on his/her own until completely self-sufficient and able to perform job duties accurately and effectively without assistance.
Vendors and Products
111 Staffing
ADD Coach Academy
ADD Consults
ADDed Dimension Coaching
ADHD Coaches Organization
International Coach Federation
Life Strengths
Omni Advocacy Services, Inc.
The Coach Connection, LLC
Thrive with ADD
Job Restructuring
Job restructuring is a form of reasonable accommodation which enables many qualified individuals with disabilities to perform jobs effectively. Job restructuring as a reasonable accommodation may involve reallocating or redistributing the marginal functions of a job. However, an employer is not required to reallocate essential functions of a job as a reasonable accommodation. Essential functions, by definition, are those that a qualified individual must perform, with or without an accommodation.
An employer may exchange marginal functions of a job that cannot be performed by a person with a disability for marginal job functions performed by one or more other employees.
Although an employer is not required to reallocate essential job functions, it may be a reasonable accommodation to modify the essential functions of a job by changing when or how they are done.
Marginal Functions
The modification and/or removal of marginal functions from a position is an example of a reasonable accommodation. Essential functions are those job duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation.
From The ADA: Your Responsibilities as an Employer by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission -
Factors to consider in determining if a function is essential include:
whether the reason the position exists is to perform that function,
the number of other employees available to perform the function or among whom the performance of the function can be distributed, and
the degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function.
Your judgment as to which functions are essential, and a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing for a job will be considered by EEOC as evidence of essential functions. Other kinds of evidence that EEOC will consider include:
the actual work experience of present or past employees in the job,
the time spent performing a function,
the consequences of not requiring that an employee perform a function, and
the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.
Modified Break Schedule
Some employees can benefit from taking their breaks at a different rate than what may be considered standard by their employer to accommodate certain conditions, symptoms and habits they have in order to perform their job at their optimal level.
Noise Canceling Earbuds
Earbuds that reduce or cancel noise making it easier for workers to focus on the task-at-hand.
Vendors and Products
Noise Canceling Headsets
Noise canceling headsets and headphones designed for listening tasks use a combination of passive soundproofing and type of technology called active noise control to reduce exposure to unwanted background noise and improve the signal to noise ration when listening to music or another sound source through the headset. Headphones and headsets of this type usually have a small battery door built into one of the ear cups.
When purchasing a noise canceling headset, be sure that you are purchasing the correct type for the task at hand. Some headsets that are advertised as having noise canceling microphones are intended for speaking rather than listening tasks. These only have noise cancellation in the microphone portion of the headset and do not have a battery on the ear cup.
Vendors and Products
- Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones
- Bose® - QuietComfort® 25 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones (SMSG)
- Sennheiser - HD 4.50 BTNC Wireless Over-the-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones
- Sony - Noise-Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones
- Sony - WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphones with Google Assistant
On-site Mentoring
A mentor is a person who not only helps an employee with a disability learn a job, but also helps the employee adjust to workplace culture. For example, a mentor might help an employee develop appropriate social skills, learn workplace rules, and improve problem-solving skills. Often times a mentor is an experienced coworker who has knowledge of the workplace and the job rather than an outside service.
Recorded Directives, Messages, Materials
Individuals with reading or memory deficits may have difficulty reading or remembering memos, directions, meeting notes, and other print information. Tape recording the information allows the person with the disability to listen to the information instead of reading the information. Tape recorders can be purchased at local electronics stores.
Reminders
Individuals with memory deficits may benefit from cueing and reminder devices to help them remember important tasks, daily chores, taking medication, etc.
Vendors and Products
Sound Absorption and Sound Proof Panels
Most noise that is transmitted through a wall from one side to the other is airborne; this includes sounds made by TVs, stereos, voices and loud music, especially bass. This noise can be quite loud if the sound source is close to the wall. By soundproofing the party or common wall, the sound produced on your side will stay on your side and little or no noise from the other side will pass through. You can achieve wall soundproofing by installing our noise blocking products for walls. Another common noise problem is absorbing sound and reducing echo or reverberation within a room. You can achieve an acoustically enhanced room by installing our sound absorbing products for walls to improve acoustics.
Vendors and Products
Speech Recognition Software
Individuals with physical, cognitive, sensory, and learning impairments may have difficulty accessing computers. Traditionally, a computer user accesses a computer with a standard point and click mouse and a QWERTY keyboard (named for the top left-hand side of the rows). The computer takes the information that is inputted and processes it. Individuals with physical, sensory, or developmental limitations may not be able to use these standard input devices effectively and may benefit from using speech recognition. Standard computer input devices are keyboards made for typists who use two hands and ten fingers; speech recognition software is made for computer users with a variety of limitations, including individuals with no hand or finger movement.
Vendors and Products
Sun Boxes and Lights
Lights and lamps that simulate the natural light of the sun at adjustable rates of brightness.
Vendors and Products
Sun Simulating Desk Lamps
These desk lamps simulate the natural light of the sun at adjustable rates of brightness.
Vendors and Products
Timers and Watches
Watches and other devices with programmable alarms and timer programs.
Vendors and Products
Written Instructions
Some individuals benefit from having directions and other instructions provided in writing. Example of this would include communicating through email when possible, providing transcripts of meetings, using agendas for trainings, and having checklists for tasks that need completed.