Tutoring

Students with disabilities, like all students at Laurier, can engage tutors at their own cost to support their learning. Students registered with Accessible Learning do not need approval to hire anyone to tutor them for as few or as many courses as they wish.

Finding a Tutor

Visit the Tutor Connection Program at Student Success, a program that connects tutors and students.  

Contact Student Success at studentsuccess@wlu.ca for information.

Note: Accessible Learning is not involved with screening, training, or supervising tutors secured through Student Success. Students are responsible for paying the tutor, confirming that the tutor meets their needs, and ending an agreement if they are dissatisfied with the service.

Accessibility-Based Tutoring

Some students with disabilities need tutoring to help them access the learning environment.  Unlike regular tutoring, the primary focus of accessibility-based tutoring is removing access barriers that occur when a student's disability interacts with some inaccessible feature in the learning environment. 

Examples of accessibility-based tutoring include:

• A student with a learning disability in math may need specific tutoring in required math courses to fully access their program.
• A student with low vision taking a course that uses lots of visual information may need a tutor to present the same information in an accessible format.
• A student with hearing loss taking a language course may need tutoring to access and learn audible elements of the course.

Accessibility-based tutoring is not intended to improve one's grades, although many students do perform better once access barriers are removed. Accessibility-related tutoring can also provide time-limited, remedial training in areas where the student's disability hindered skill development. For example, some students with learning disabilities in written expression may need time-limited training in generating and organizing ideas for written assignments.

Accessibility-based tutoring is not:

• Ongoing editing or writing support.
• Extra help in difficult, challenging, or dense courses where no access barriers exist.
• Replacement for a student's own learning and studying.
• Compensation for inadequate motivation or study skills.

Qualifying for Accessibility-Based Tutoring

Speak with your accommodation consultant if you think you need accessibility-based tutoring. They will review your disability documentation and ask you questions about the access barriers you experience in your courses. 

If you qualify for accessibility-based tutoring, and you need help finding a tutor, you will be referred to the Student Success tutoring service. 

Remember: Accessible Learning does not screen, train, or supervise tutors. You are responsible for determining if a tutor meets your needs.

Bursary Support

Some students may be eligible for bursary support to help offset accessibility-based tutoring costs.  If you qualify, your accommodation consultant will assist you with completing the required documentation. You will also be required to complete an Accessibility Learning Tutoring Service Agreement.

If you qualify for bursary support, your tutor must issue you receipts.  You will be required to follow instructions from Student Awards for submitting these receipts to confirm that:

• You used the bursary funding to pay your tutor
• The total of your tutoring receipts matches the amount of your bursary funding.