Occasional Absences

The Occasional Absences accommodation provides reasonable attendance flexibility when disability-related functional limitations that are episodic, acute, or unpredictable interfere with a student's ability to attend class. This accommodation is intended to address occasional disability-related absences. It does not provide unlimited absences, waive attendance or participation requirements, guarantee remote participation, or guarantee that a student can successfully complete a course regardless of the amount of instruction missed. Moreover, this is not an accommodation for sustained nonattendance. There is a point at which the amount of missed instruction, participation, or other course activity may prevent a student from meeting essential academic requirements and earning course credit, even when the absences are disability-related.

Student and Faculty Communication

Since course structures, learning objectives, participation expectations, and attendance requirements vary, implementation of this accommodation requires course-specific communication.

Students should notify faculty of a disability-related absence as soon as reasonably possible. When the nature of the disability allows advance notice, students are encouraged to communicate before the absence. OALA recognizes that some acute or unpredictable disability-related flare-ups may make advance notice difficult or impossible.

Students remain responsible for completing required coursework and obtaining missed course information, notes, announcements, and assignments. Faculty are not required to provide individualized instruction or re-teach content missed during an absence.

Determining Reasonable Attendance Flexibility

The ordinary attendance and participation expectations for the course provide an important starting point for determining how this accommodation can reasonably be implemented.

Relevant considerations include:

how many absences are ordinarily permitted before an academic consequence occurs;
how attendance or participation contributes to the course grade;
how frequently the course meets;
whether missed instruction or participation can reasonably be made up;
whether presence and participation are essential methods of instruction or assessment; and
whether additional absences would prevent the student from meeting an essential academic requirement.

For example, if all students may miss two class meetings before attendance or participation affects the grade, an individualized implementation of this accommodation might permit additional disability-related absences beyond those ordinarily allowed. Depending on the course, an anticipated parameter might be three or four absences before additional review is needed.

This example is illustrative only and is not a formula or Baylor-wide standard. The ordinary course policy provides an important baseline, but it does not automatically establish the maximum amount of disability-related flexibility that may be reasonable.

When Absences Become Substantial

Occasional Absences is not an accommodation for sustained nonattendance. As disability-related absences accumulate, there may be a point at which the amount of missed instruction, interaction, participation, assessment, or experiential learning prevents the student from meeting the essential academic requirements of the course.

A student who is missing a substantial portion of scheduled class meetings should not assume that continued absence can be accommodated simply because the Occasional Absences accommodation is active. At that point, the student and/or faculty member should contact OALA for individualized review.

The review will consider the student's disability-related barriers together with the structure and essential requirements of the course. Additional flexibility is not automatic. Depending on the circumstances, OALA may determine that additional flexibility remains reasonable, that an effective alternative should be explored, or that the amount of missed instruction has reached a point where successful completion of the course is no longer academically feasible.

Baylor and academic-unit attendance requirements, including minimum attendance standards associated with earning course credit, remain important academic considerations. However, OALA does not use a single numerical attendance threshold as an automatic substitute for individualized accommodation review.

When Attendance Is an Essential Academic Requirement

Attendance flexibility may be more limited when physical presence or participation is integral to the course. Relevant factors may include:

substantial in-class participation or interaction
laboratories, clinical experiences, practica, internships, performances, studio work, or field experiences
group or collaborative learning
sequential instructional experiences
experiences that cannot reasonably be recreated
required contact hours or directly related licensing requirements
circumstances in which further absence would prevent completion of an essential learning objective

These factors do not automatically exclude a student from consideration for attendance flexibility. Faculty who believe additional absences would modify an essential academic requirement or fundamentally alter the course should contact OALA for individualized review.

Disability-Related Absences Only

This accommodation applies specifically to absences caused by disability-related functional limitations covered by the student's approved accommodation.

Absences arising solely from other circumstances, such as bereavement, family emergencies, personal travel, work obligations, transportation problems, or ordinary illness unrelated to the disability, should be addressed through the same course, departmental, or Baylor processes applicable to other students.

Remote Learning

The Occasional Absences accommodation does not provide remote learning or remote attendance. It does not require faculty to provide Zoom access, livestream an in-person class, create asynchronous replacement content, provide individualized remote instruction, re-teach missed class meetings, or convert an in-person course into a remote or hybrid course.

A request to change the instructional modality of an in-person course is different from a request for occasional disability-related absences. Students who anticipate being unable to participate in an in-person course for an extended period should contact OALA and their academic program to discuss available accommodation or academic options.

Prospective Application

Accommodations are not retroactive. Approval of the Occasional Absences accommodation does not reset a student’s attendance record or erase the academic consequences of absences that occurred before the accommodation became active.

Students may request accommodations at any point during a semester, however, a newly approved Occasional Absences accommodation applies prospectively. It may not be used to retroactively excuse or reclassify prior absences, reverse attendance-related grade consequences, or otherwise avoid academic consequences that resulted from absences occurring before the accommodation was active.

If a student has already missed a substantial portion of a course before the accommodation becomes active, those prior absences remain part of the student’s course attendance history. The amount of instruction already missed may be considered, together with the structure and essential requirements of the course, when determining whether additional attendance flexibility can reasonably be implemented going forward and whether the student can still meet the requirements necessary to earn course credit. This is not an automatic numerical cutoff but, rather, it is part of the individualized review of whether the student can meet the essential academic requirements of the course prospectively with reasonable accommodation.

For questions regarding this accommodation or its implementation, please refer to the Occasional Absences Accommodation Policy or contact OALA@baylor.edu.

Occasional Absences