Aug 31, 20266 min readUpdated September 5, 2026

Accommodations vs Modifications in an Ontario IEP

Accommodations change how your child learns. Modifications change what they are expected to learn. Here is how to tell them apart on an Ontario IEP.

Somewhere on your child's IEP is a list of subjects, and beside each one sits a short code: AC, MOD or ALT. Those three letters carry more weight than anything else on the page. One of them means your child is doing the same work with different support. Another means the work itself has changed. Parents are rarely told the difference at the meeting, and it can sit unexplained for years.

The difference in one sentence each

Accommodations are the special teaching and assessment strategies, human supports and individualized equipment your child needs in order to learn and to demonstrate learning. The ministry is explicit that the provision of accommodations "in no way alters the curriculum expectations for the grade level or course" (policy guide).

Modifications are changes made in the grade-level expectations for a subject or course to meet a student's learning needs. That can mean using expectations from a different grade level, or increasing or decreasing the number or the complexity of the regular grade-level expectations (same source).

So: accommodations change the how. Modifications change the what.

The three letters, and what each one commits the school to

Every subject or course in which your child needs accommodations or modified expectations, and every alternative program, must be listed in the IEP and marked as one of three things.

AC, accommodated only. Your child is working towards the regular grade-level expectations with support. Because the expectations are unchanged, the special education program section of the IEP template does not need to be completed for that subject.
MOD, modified. The expectations for that subject or course differ from the regular grade-level expectations. The IEP has to document what those expectations are and how they differ.
ALT, alternative. The learning goals are not represented in the Ontario curriculum at all. Life skills, social skills programs, personal care, orientation and mobility training and speech remediation are the ministry's own examples.

A subject in which your child needs none of the three is not listed in the IEP. Its absence is not an oversight.

The three kinds of accommodation

Accommodations must be sorted into three categories in the plan, and the ministry says this matters both for clarity among staff and for eligibility during provincial assessments.

Instructional accommodations are adjustments in teaching strategies. Graphic organizers, duplicated notes, note-taking assistance, assistive technology such as text-to-speech, chunked instructions, extra processing time, visual cueing, more frequent breaks.
Environmental accommodations are changes to the physical setting. Strategic seating, an alternative work space, a study carrel, reduced audio or visual stimuli, headphones, special lighting.
Assessment accommodations are adjustments that let your child show what they know. Extended time limits, verbatim scribing, oral or recorded responses, an alternative setting, chunking of assessment tasks over time, a reduction in the number of tasks used to assess a concept or skill.

Two rules are worth knowing. Accommodations described in the IEP should include only the strategies and supports that differ from what is regularly provided during classroom instruction, so a long list is not the same as a strong list. And all accommodations documented in the IEP must be made readily available to your child.

What actually changes when a subject is modified

Modified expectations are documented, not just declared. For an elementary subject, the modified expectations should show how they differ from the ministry curriculum, or specify the grade level they were taken from. For a secondary course, the IEP must indicate clearly the extent to which the expectations have been modified.

That last point has consequences. Depending on the extent of the modification, the principal determines whether achievement of the modified expectations counts as successful completion of the course and decides whether your child is eligible to receive a credit for it. The ministry requires that decision to be communicated to you and to your child (policy guide).

Reporting also changes. For a student working on modified expectations, the level of achievement is still shown as a letter grade or percentage on the Provincial Report Card. For alternative expectations, progress is normally reported through anecdotal comments on an alternative report that accompanies the report card, and letter grades are described as neither required nor advisable.

The grey area: fewer questions

Extra time is an accommodation. Reducing the number of tasks used to assess one concept is also listed as an accommodation. But decreasing the number or complexity of the grade-level expectations is a modification. The same phrase, "fewer questions", can land on either side of the line depending on whether the curriculum expectation being assessed is still the same one.

This is why wording on the IEP matters more than it looks. Ask which it is, in writing, subject by subject.

What to ask about each support

Which documented strength or need does this support address?
Is it used for instruction, for assessment, or both?
Is this something that differs from what the whole class already gets?
Which subjects are marked MOD, and what exactly was changed in each one?
For a secondary course, how far have the expectations been modified, and what has the principal decided about the credit?
How will progress be measured, and on which report will I see it?
Will these accommodations be available during EQAO assessments, worded the way EQAO words them?
When will the team review whether this is still working?

Go deeper

Our guide to how to get an IEP in Ontario goes further into how the two program options are chosen, what the ministry requires on the page for each, and how modified expectations interact with credits and the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. If the supports are written down correctly but are not showing up in the classroom, the guide to what to do when an IEP is not being followed covers that separately.

Frequently asked questions

Can my child have accommodations without modifications?

Yes, and this is the most common arrangement in Ontario. A subject marked AC means your child is working towards the regular grade-level expectations with support. Because the expectations have not changed, the special education program section of the IEP template does not even need to be completed for that subject. Accommodations in no way alter the curriculum expectations for the grade level or course.

Do modified expectations mean my child cannot get a credit?

Not automatically, and it depends on how far the expectations were modified. For each secondary course with modified expectations, the IEP must show clearly the extent of the modification. The principal decides whether achievement of those expectations counts as successful completion of the course and whether a credit is granted, and that decision must be communicated to you and to your child.

Is extra time an accommodation or a modification?

Extended time limits are listed by the ministry as an assessment accommodation. So is a reduction in the number of tasks used to assess a concept or skill. The line moves when the change is to the curriculum expectation itself rather than to how your child shows what they know. Reducing the number or complexity of the grade-level expectations is a modification, not an accommodation.

What does ALT mean on the IEP?

ALT stands for alternative expectations. These are learning goals that are not represented in the Ontario curriculum at all, such as social skills programs, personal care, orientation and mobility training, or speech remediation. In secondary school, alternative courses use K course codes and carry no credit. Alternative programs usually sit alongside regular or modified curriculum subjects rather than replacing them.

Can the supports in the IEP change during the year?

Yes. The IEP is a working document and should be adjusted when a strategy stops working. If revisions would significantly change your child's learning expectations or the level of accommodations and services provided, you must be consulted before those changes are implemented, and the consultation has to be recorded on the parent and student consultation form attached to the plan.