By learning about the assistive technology that is available for online learning, special education teachers can explore options for providing access to accommodations remotely.

This post covers three different categories of accessibility features: Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text, and Readability.   

Text-to-Speech

Text-to-Speech (TTS) is an assistive technology which involves the computer or software reading the screen aloud to the user. Similar to the verbatim reading accommodation, TTS allows students with reading difficulties to access text. This allows students to focus on making meaning and comprehending what has been read:

Below are some of the free TTS extensions that can be utilized by special educators:

Read&Write Toolbar
Read&Write Toolbar, which is available as a Chrome extension, allows users to have words, passages, or whole pages read aloud to them.  It also has a built-in multi-colored highlighter, which allows the student to compile their highlighted text into one document to refer back to later.  Read&Write also has the ability of simplifying text on webpages through the removal of distracting ads and copy. 

Read Aloud
Read Aloud is also available as a Chrome extension and allows the user to highlight the text that needs to be read.  Students have the ability to push play/pause, stop, rewind, and forward.  It does not have as many options as the Read&Write Toolbar but is another option that can be considered. 

Natural Reader
Natural Reader allows students to select the text that they want to have read aloud.  It also gives the ability to highlight text as it is being read and will not read ads/distracting information. The extension is another TTS option for students and is also available on iOS and Android as an app.  

Speech-to-Text

Speech-to-text is a type of software that take dictated audio content and transcribes it in writing through a word processor.  This is especially useful for students who may have difficulty with typing, spelling, or difficulty with written expression.  Speech-to-text is often referred to as voice recognition software. 

Below are some of the free speech-to-text solutions that are available for special educators to use when instructing students with disabilities:

VoiceInVoice Typing
VoiceinVoice Typing is a Chrome extension that allows students to type on different websites, including email applications. Users first select the textbox and can then turn on the microphone in the extension toolbar to begin recording their typing.  Students would then turn off the microphone when they are done.  

Voice Typing in Google Docs
Students also have the ability to turn on voice typing in Google Docs.  Under tools they would turn on voice typing, which has a microphone next to it in the menu.  Using the microphone pop up that comes on they could then give access to the microphone and begin using the voice typing tool.  Students would then turn off voice typing by clicking the microphone.  

Readability

Readability is the ease in which a reader can understand text.  Readability can include the presentation as well as the content of written text.

Presentation:

First we will look at tools that change the presentation of text to increase readability for students with disabilities:

Mercury Reader
Mercury Reader is a Chrome extension that clears ads and other distractions so that students with disabilities can focus on the primary content on a page.  Users are able to switch between light and dark themes and change the size and type of font. 

Dyslexia Friendly Font
Studies have shown that there are certain fonts that may work better for students with dyslexia.  Special education teachers should may want to use sans serif fonts and minimize the use of italics when providing digital content to students.  Using a font size of 12 to 14 pts can also increase readability. 

Chrome has an extension, OpenDyslexic, that provides a font specifically for dyslexics.  Lexend is a font that has been added to G Suite.  This can be used by teachers when creating documents in Google Docs. 

BeeLine Reader (Limit 5 articles per day for free version)
BeeLine Reader is a Chrome extension that uses color gradient, or a range of colors, to guide a reader’s eyes from one line to the next.  This helps increase a user’s ability to read with ease and speed. The extension comes with a cost, but teachers are able to apply for free access for students. 

Reading Comprehension:

The tools below focus on how the content of text can be altered to make reading comprehension easier for students with disabilities:

Google Dictionary
Google Dictionary is a Chrome extension that allows students to double-click a word in order to view the definition in a pop-up bubble.  Students can also store words so that they can practice with them later. 

Rewordify
Rewordify is a website that simplifies difficult English which allows students to read and comprehend without frustration.  Special education teachers can use this to provide differentiated and adapted learning materials.  Students can use this when engaging with digital texts in order to have greater success with reading comprehension.  

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Overnight we have woken up to a “new normal” due to the impact of  the COVID-19 pandemic. Every day the situation seems to change and has resulted in extreme measures taken by our national and local governments all in an effort to keep us safe.  

One of the safety measures taken was the closing of schools to help with “flattening the curve.”  With orders to stay home and the closing of schools, many special educators are feeling overwhelmed by the expectation to continue with providing instruction during such crazy circumstances. 

As special educators, we already have one of the most challenging jobs in education, but now we have been thrown into a situation where we are navigating a digital learning environment.  This is all while taking on the nearly impossible task of providing some sense of normalcy for our students who have suddenly become homeschool students. We are trying to learn how to use virtual platforms, many of us without thorough training and without the ability to explicitly teach our students how to interact with us and eachother online.  

On top of this, we have to consider the barriers to technology access that many of our students may face.  We can’t assume that every one of our students has access to a working device, internet, adult support, etc.   

Another consideration that we have to make is our parents.  Many are in situations where they may have to work during the day, either inside or outside the home, and simply aren’t able to supervise instruction for their kids.   

As providers of specially designed instruction, we also have to think about things such as routines, avoiding regression, data collection, documenting services, and IEP deadlines. General education teachers and students are going to suffer from this, but students with disabilities are much more at risk of having a significant and long-lasting impact from the current state of education..  

Because of all that our community is contending with these days, I wanted to compile resources and strategies that may give special education teachers ideas on how to get through the next few months of teaching students with disabilities in a digital environment. 

Setting Up Your Workspace

Before you even dive into the technology aspect, you want to make sure you have a workspace that is going to be conducive to working from home.  If you are lucky enough to have a dedicated office or space for working, then you are already off to a great start.  

For many, lessons are now going to have to take place at a small desk, a kitchen table, bedrooms, or anywhere that we can find a clutter-free, presentable environment.  Try to find a place where you are going to be comfortable sitting for an extended period of time and where you can limit the number of distractions.  

Technology

To recreate some of the instructional methods that you utilize at school, such as modeling for students, there are some tech tools that can help streamline your instruction.  Most laptops and tablets come with a built in camera, but for some it may be worth it to purchase a separate web cam.  

Some may also choose to use a headset when creating videos or engaging in virtual learning and meetings.  Anything that has a noise cancelling feature has been a life saver for me when trying to work in a busy household. 

At this point I think that most are familiar with Zoom and Google Hangouts, which give you the capability of sharing your screen with attendees. To provide modeling of math content where you want to write directly on a document, you can use a tablet or you can look into a stand alone drawing tablet that connects to a PC. 

Free software that can be used along with a drawing tablet would be Sketchbook.  If you don’t have access to a drawing tablet, then you can also check out the Chrome extension Page Marker, which allows you to draw on any webpage that you have pulled up in your browser.  

Screen Recordings

Something that we may want to consider for students with disabilities, is creating actual recordings of lessons or examples in either subject area.  This would be one way of providing accommodations and modifications to students in a virtual environment. 

Unlike hosting a live session, students with disabilities are able to view the video in their own time, pause the video to take breaks or for extended time, rewind the video for repetition, etc.  You can also differentiate your videos based on student need or choose to provide content in short bite-sized chunks for your students. 

In order to record your screen to create lesson videos, Chrome has an extension that can be added called Screencastify  This could be a good option if you are just wanting to try out screen casting, but the free version of this program comes with limitations.  These limits include a 5 minute limit on recording and not having access to the program’s full functionality. 

An alternative would be the use of Quicktime which provides an option for recording your screen.  For recording lessons, I have had a lot of success with Camtasia, which provides the ability to capture your screen.  The software is pricey, but they do offer a free trial and a significant discount for educators. 

Virtual Learning Platforms

There are several online platforms that are offering discounted or free access for teachers and students.  For Reading, consider checking out Learning A-to-Z which has a variety of platforms that support reading goals.  Epic!, which provides access to a variety of books, videos, and audiobooks that support a variety of subjects, is providing free access until the end of the year. They also have books that are “read alouds”, which can act as an accommodation for students with disabilities.  Achieve3000 is offering some of its programs that support literacy to schools for free and also has free printables that can be used as a supplement at home. 

As always, Khan Academy, is a free program that can be utilized to support with mathematics instruction across grade levels.  Zearn is a free math program for grades K through 5 that follows Eureka Math’s scope and sequence. 

Curriculum Associates (creators of i-Ready) is providing free printables for reading and math across grade levels K through 8.  Students who already have access to i-Ready can also access their accounts from home. Abcmouse, which is geared towards students in grades K through 2 is currently free for teachers.  MobyMax and Learnzillion are also offering free access for teachers and both provide access to math and reading content that can be used to supplement your lessons. 

Communication

Tobii Dynavox, the makers of Boardmaker, is currently offering free communication resources.  Boardmaker is also offering free resources, including a free 90 day trial for their Boardmaker Online software.  Sounding Board is a free iOS app that can be utilized on an iPad or iPhone.  You can only download it in the iTunes store. 

Data Collection 

easyCBM has a free version of it’s assessment and data collection platform that teachers can access.  Some assessments would have to be administered via a one-on-one conference, but there are others that you can assign to students online.  Formative is a platform where teachers can create their own online formative assessments for students for.  The company is also currently offering premium memberships for free through districts and schools. 

Go Easy on Yourself

Lastly, as you navigate this new learning environment, remember to go easy on yourself, your students, and even your school leadership.  None of us are used to teaching and learning in this environment.    

Try to keep up with your district’s expectations, even though some may seem unrealistic at times. If something isn’t working, try it out first so that you will have the data and experience to provide feedback further down the road.  

The post Teaching Special Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic appeared first on Teach Special Education.

Creating a quality goal with correctly scaffolded objectives can take a lot of time and effort, so I want to show you one way in which you can break down this process into a series of manageable steps.   But before we dive into how exactly to go about writing goals and objectives, first let’s look at how IEP goals are defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act:

(II) a statement of measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals, designed to–

(aa) meet the child’s needs that result from the child’s disability to enable the child to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum; and

(bb) meet each of the child’s other educational needs that result from the child’s disability

When creating academic goals for students, it is important to ground the goals in the grade level content standards. This provides students with access to grade level curriculum as stated above.  For many districts who are working with the Common Core State Standards, it is also important to base grade level goals on how students are functioning within relation to these grade level content standards.  

Step 1. Identify the Standards that Meet the Student’s Needs

The first step in this process involves identifying the standard(s) that should be addressed.  You can start by identifying the grade level standards for the student. These standards have already broken out by grade level and have been organized by domain within this document.

By reviewing the student’s Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance, you can determine which standards the students may have the most difficulty with. Additional data sources can be utilized to assist with identifying standards that the student needs focus on.

Teachers should then prioritize the standards based on those that would have the greatest impact on the student’s progress towards grade level.   For math, one consideration could be around the mathematics content at the student’s current grade level. Major content in the area of mathematics is defined as the major work for the grade level, which means that these are the areas in which teachers will spend most of their time throughout the year.  

Special educators can choose to focus on these areas when creating IEP goals since we know that these are areas that will be focused on heavily during day-to-day instruction. To learn more about this please follow this link: https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Focus_in_Math_06.12.2013.pdf

For English Language Arts, you want to really think about the standards that are going to support your student in being a successful, lifelong reader.  For each student that will be different based on individual need, but major standards that come to mind as being high leverage are those that focus on main idea and details, using evidence from a text, and writing an argument.  

Also, many times we need to think about how to leverage basic phonics and writing mechanics skills that many of our students may require support with.

Step 2. Set Performance Target

The next step would be to set the performance target. You can utilized the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance in order to determine the baseline performance, historical rate of growth/progress, accommodations, and necessary supports needed to make the grade level content accessible for the student.

By deconstructing the standard and determining which components will promote student success, a individualized performance target can then be set.  

For example, in math,  you may want to see a student demonstrate success through completion of a teacher generated worksheet with 80% accuracy over the course of 4 to 5 trials.

Step 3. Develop a SMART IEP Goal.

Special education teachers should ensure that they are keeping in mind what the acronym SMART stands for when developing goals:

S – Specific: The goal is focused by content (i.e. the standards) and the learner’s individual needs.

M – Measurable: Performance target is clearly stated and an appropriate measure is selected to assess the goal.

A – Attainable: Based on the student profile, it is determined that they have the ability to meet the performance target.

R – Relevant: Relevant to the individual student’s needs.

T – Time-bound: The goal is achievable within the time frame of the IEP.

Step 4. Develop SMART Objectives aligned to the selected IEP Goal.

There are three ways in which you can develop scaffolded objectives:

1. Sequential benchmarks that demonstrate increasing fluency, independence, or accuracy

2. Components of the goal

3. Prerequisite skills

I prefer to develop objectives utilizing specific skills or components of the grade level, standards-based goal.  I find that by breaking down the content into workable chunks, I can develop lessons over a period of time that builds up to a grade level standard.  

When reviewing general education curriculum, one can see that teachers are rarely tasked with tackling an entire standard within one lesson. To expect a special education student to tackle an entire standard in one goal or objective is also pretty unrealistic.   

At times, it may be necessary to create scaffolded objectives to provide students with prerequisite skills from the current or previous grade levels that support the standard that the grade level goal was based on.  The data may indicate that many of your students need the standards deconstructed in this way, in order for them to be successful in meeting the grade level standards-based goal that has been developed.

When  following the steps listed above, I was able to create the following IEP goal for a third grade student:

By____ when given a teacher generated problem set, manipulatives, and a prompt, Student will interpret whole number quotients of whole numbers by drawing a picture and describing a context that indicates the partitioning of a total number objects into equal shares as measured by 80% accuracy on at least 4 out of 5 trials.

When really unpacking the standard and digging into the content, I decided that I would create four scaffolded objectives that would support the student in meeting their grade level goal:

By____ when given a teacher generated problem set, manipulatives, and a prompt, Student will interpret whole number quotients of whole numbers by drawing a picture and describing a context that indicates the partitioning of a total number objects into equal shares as measured by 80% accuracy on at least 4 out of 5 trials.

By____, when given a teacher generated problem set and a prompt, Student will interpret whole-number quotients as the number of objects in each group when partitioned into equal groups by drawing a picture and providing an explanation with 80% accuracy on at least 4 out of 5 trials.

By_____, when given a teacher generated problem set, manipulatives, and a prompt, Student will represent a situation with a division expression with 80% accuracy on at least 4 out of 5 trials.

By ____, when given a teacher generated problem set, manipulatives, and a prompt, Student will represent a division expression with a situation by drawing a picture and providing an explanation with 80% accuracy on at least 4 out of 5 trials.

When I really think about the deconstructed standard and review student weaknesses,  I may find that instead of breaking this standard out by the grade level content covered, I may need to include another goal that supports prerequisite skills that I will address prior to going into this standard. 

When considering the example above, we have to ask ourselves, is the student ready for division even with the supports included in the goals and objectives? Would it make more sense for me to attack addition, subtraction, and multiplication first?  

This is where the individualization comes into play and where you really have to be strategic in how you write the annual goal.   Every IEP goal should be specific to the individual, but it helps to have a process to follow to make creating these goals a bit easier.  

To save even more time, please visit my TPT store where you can find hundreds of prewritten IEP goals for Common Core English Language Arts and Math.

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Over the past few years, there may have been a heightened focus around Universal Design for Learning within your school or school district.  As time goes on, and it becomes more apparent to policymakers at the district, state, and national levels, that all students learn differently, there has been a greater emphasis on meeting the needs of ALL.  In 2008, the Higher Education Opportunity Act defined UDL:

Universal Designed for Learning Defined

The term UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING means a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that:

(A) provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and

(B) reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and  challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are limited English proficient.

Universal Design for Learning is a set of three principles which provide all students with the ability to learn.  It is based on neuroscience, which indicates that our brains are wired to learn information through different pathways, which control the “What”, “How”, and “Why” of Learning.

Three Principles of UDL

In response to this brain research, the three principles of UDL were developed which are Multiple Means of Representations, Multiple Means of Action and Expression, and Multiple Means of Engagement.  Each of these three principles has three guideline, for a total of nine guidelines. This can all be found in a nicely organized graphic organizer which can be found here.

Inflexible Curriculum

What has been found when analyzing the typical curriculum that is used in today’s classrooms, is that they are often inflexible in nature.  We expect students to meet grade level benchmarks, but do not take into account that students are coming to us with differing backgrounds, needs, learning styles, etc.  The point of UDL is to proactively think through these learning differences when materials, assessments, methods, and learning goals are created.

Instead, we oftentimes try to retrofit lessons to meet the needs of our students on the backend.  While customizing lessons to meet the needs is a worthwhile planning activity, we may not have to do so with the same level of intensity, if we accounted for learning difference more so during the onset lesson development (or even better, during curriculum development).  

UDL is a Proactive Approach

Additionally, if we met the needs of more of our students during initial instruction, this could even result in less of a need for intervention and possibly even special education services.  Also, when teachers, both general education and special education teachers, plan with UDL principles in mind, they often find that there is overlap with many of the strategies that are outlined in student IEPs.

The National Center on Universal Design for Learning has many great resources around the history and theory behind UDL.  This website also has many resources to support with implementation.   

If you are looking for a resource that can help you get started with implementing UDL in your classroom, then I would recommend checking out this book: Universal Design for Learning in Action: 100 Ways to Teach All Learners.

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Specially Designed Instruction Defined

Specially Designed Instruction, or SDI, is defined as “adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children.” 34 CFR §300.39(b)(3).n

As educators, we utilized SDI to bridge the achievement gap of students with disabilities from their current levels of performance to the current grade level expectations and standards.  For many educators the grade level standards or expectations are set by the Common Core State Standards.

SDI within a Tiered System of Supports

Specially designed instruction is best delivered within a multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) or Response to Intervention Framework.  For most districts, these frameworks are broken into three tiers.

SDI within Tier 1 

Tier 1 is defined as Universal or Core Instruction and this refers to the grade level content and curriculum.  Most students receive services and instruction within general education and are assessed using the grade level content standards for the grade in which they are enrolled.  

The goal is for majority of students within your school or district to be successful and have access through quality Tier 1, core instruction, with few needing additional tiers of support.   Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, strategies can be proactively implemented within Tier 1, to clear barriers to learning for all students, including students with disabilities. 

Specially designed instruction can be used to provide students with disabilities with access to this core, universal instruction.  This done mainly through the use of accommodations and supplementary aids and services. 

SDI within Tier 2

Tier 2 is defined as supplemental, small group instruction that is necessary for a few students who are having difficulty with a specific skill or standard.  Specially designed instruction occurs within these small, targeted groups within Tier 2.

An example of a Tier 2 small group would be a small group that is pulled to review the use of the partitioning strategy in order to support with comparing fractions.  If two students with IEPs have the use of manipulatives for mathematics outlined in their IEP, then the use of math manipulatives would additional support that the teacher would need to include along with the direct strategy instruction to support the progress of her special education students.  

SDI within Tier 3

Tier 3 is defined as sustained, intensive intervention that is required to close the gap for students who are struggling, usually because of a lack of instruction in a particular area.  This intervention is individualized based on student need.

Specially designed instruction at this level is also sustained, intensive intervention, but this is due to the impact of a student’s disability.   The strategies and pedagogy can be very similar at the Tier 3 level, with specially designed instruction being specifically outlined in a student’s IEP.

Specially Designed Instruction and the IEP

All of the information that we should consider to appropriately plan and implement SDI is contained within a student’s IEP.  The IEP should clearly articulate what type of adaptations are to be made to the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction in order to ensure access to the general curriculum.

It is important to remember that teachers should be deliberate and conscious with their instructional planning. Expectations for students with disabilities should remain grounded in the grade level standards, with the goal being two-fold: to provide access to grade level standards while also remediating skills deficits.

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First, let’s define product as it relates to differentiation.  Products are what students produce and how they demonstrate new learning as a result of instruction.

Many times, the curriculum documents that are provided to teachers, require students to demonstrate their knowledge through writing lengthy paragraphs or essays.  For students with learning disabilities, this can prove to be a challenge dependent on their needs.

Also, many students just do not prefer to write as a means of demonstrating their knowledge.  By offering a variety of methods for students to use to demonstrate their knowledge around a topic or skill, teachers increase student confidence and engagement.

Examples of Differentiating Product  

One example of differentiating products, would be to provide students with tiered assignments that range in complexity and are based on each student’s readiness level.  Some students may have assignments that have different levels of scaffolding, such as simplified wording of a question, boldface or italicized font, addition of visuals, or a few number of questions that they are required to respond to.  

Another example of differentiating products would be for a teacher to give students choice in how they demonstrate their new learning based on learning style.  For example, if a student needs to demonstrate mastery of identifying story elements, a teacher could have them write the next chapter of a book, act out a portion of the text, draw a map that depicts the setting, or create a missing poster that describes the character in detail.   

Students who are good with technology may want to produce a powerpoint or video that demonstrates that they have an understanding of the content from the lesson.  They also may be benefit from using a word processor to construct a paragraph or essays in relation to a topic.

Differentiating Product as Strategy for Special Education Teachers

There are many differentiation strategies that can be utilized in the classroom to support students with disabilities accessing grade level content.  By allowing each student to express their knowledge in a way that focuses on their strengths, we are giving students with disabilities a greater chance at having more success with demonstrating mastery in all content areas.

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Definition

First, we can start out by defining process as it relates to differentiation.  Differentiating process involves looking at how the students make sense of or master the content that has been taught.  After a teacher has delivered the content to the student, they want to allow for a variety of opportunities for students to engage with the content by applying their knowledge and essential understandings.  

Examples of Differentiating Process

Because students with disabilities come to us with a variety of learning profiles and readiness levels, it is important that we provide multiple opportunities for them to to make sense of content.  One example of differentiation of process would be for students to engage in a turn and talk or a debate over a particular concept.

Processing information verbally and having the opportunity to share ideas with others, is a solid way for students to push each other in thinking critically around a topic.  While many students may benefit from processing information verbally and auditorily through conversation, other students may benefit from having a chance to process independently through drawing, creating a diagram, or journaling.   

When reading a lengthy text or excerpt, we may want to have students complete a close read and annotate in order to assist them with tracking their thoughts in preparation for a writing task.  Graphic organizers can be used in math to assist students with learning a lengthy mathematical process, by chunking steps and making them more manageable.

Graphic organizers are also a great for students to organize information that they have learned from a text, audio, or video about a certain topic.   When building up to a major task, such as an essay or presentation, directing students to keep their graphic organizers and notes in a notebook can assist them with processing at a later date as well.

A Strategy for Special Education Teachers

By moving away from a one-size-fits-all method of having our students engage in learning activities, we are able to provide access to the  general education curriculum to all students, regardless of whether or not they are a student with a disability. Because of this, it is important for special education teachers to differentiate the ways in which students process new learning.  

Click here to receive your free copy of our Differentiated Instruction Planner!

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Definition

First, let’s start with how exactly we define content.  Content is what you teach and what you expect your students to learn.  For many special educators, the content is grounded in the Common Core State Standards.  

School districts and individual schools typically have a curriculum in place for teachers to use as a roadmap for delivering grade level content.  It is then up to the teacher to ensure that all students are given access to the content by creating lesson plans specific to the students in each of their classes.

Assessment

Before a teacher can begin to look at differentiating content for a student, it is important that some form of pre assessment or analysis of data occurs related to the content to be taught.  Many times information about how a student is performing in a particular content area or on a particular grade level standard is included in the Individualized Education Program or data has already been collected during beginning of year assessments.  

Assessment information should be used in order to determine if the student is missing in foundational or prerequisite skills related to the new learning.  If this information is not readily available, then it may be necessary for a teacher to create a pre-assessment to determine the student’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the content.  

Addressing Prerequisite Skills

If a special education teacher finds that there are gaps in the learning or that cause the student to be unable to engage in the grade level instructional material, then it may be appropriate to approach the content at the student’s instructional current level.  

For example, if you are going to be engaging in a sixth grade math lesson on ratios and proportions, the student may need a series of pre-lesson that covers foundational skills such as fractions, multiplication, and division prior to engaging in the content at their grade level.  By planning for these skills deficits up front, a teacher is able to ensure that the student has greater access to the content at their current grade level.

Differentiated Materials

Another strategy for differentiating the content would be to utilize a lower level text for instruction in order to deliver a English Language Arts lesson.  If a student’s IEP indicates that they are reading on a third grade level, but the grade level text is on the eighth grade level, then it may benefit the student to have access to a text a third grade level.  

If the content standard and lesson objective involves identifying main idea and details in an informational  text, then the student can still engage in activities related to the eighth grade content standard. However, instead of using a text that they are unable to read, it may be better to assess their ability to independently identify main idea and details using a lower level text.

A Strategy for Supporting Students with Disabilities

Differentiating content can be a great way for special education teachers to support students with disabilities.  By incorporating differentiation strategies into your daily lessons or sharing with general educators ways in which they can differentiate content for students with learning disabilities, special education teachers can ensure that the needs of their students are being met across all settings.  

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Without this knowledge, we are not going to be able to keep our students engaged in learning, which can result in the achievement gap widening for many students with disabilities.  Since learning styles and interests are the areas which are frequently overlooked by school teams, I am going to share a few tools that can support you in getting to know your students in these areas.  

With this information, you will be able to create lessons that are not only truly differentiated, but also engaging for your students.

Learning Style

This learning style inventory not only gives you information about whether a student is an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learners, it also provides the teacher and student with information about preferences in different areas such as memory, responding to new situations, and distractibility.  This inventory was based on work by O’Brien in 1985, but still is relevant for today’s teachers and students. It is longer, so may need to be chunked or read aloud for younger students

This learning style inventory by Stetson and Associates is similar to the previous one, but is geared towards elementary students.  

Interests

This is actually a career inventory that is used in Texas to start elementary students with thinking about post-secondary goals.  It is multiple pages and has a lot of great information and different activities for students to engage in around college and career readiness.  Although this is a bit more involved, there can be a lot of value in taking the time to complete this with students in either upper elementary or even middle school.  This would be especially useful for communities where post secondary goals may not be topic of conversation outside of school.

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Differentiated instruction is a framework for teaching that enables teachers to know their students well so that tasks and learning experiences can best meet every student’s individual needs.  Special education teachers that use the differentiated instruction for special education students create lessons based on various assessment measures. Differentiation can not truly take place until teachers know their students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles.

By knowing students well, teachers are then able to make content accessible to all students through the use of different instructional strategies.  Teachers may also may plan around grouping students that have similar abilities and interests, or they may build heterogeneous groups to allow students to build upon other’s strengths.

Teachers can differentiate content, process, product, and learning environment based on the information that they have gathered from assessing their students (link to getting to know your students).   

Content

The idea here is that the teacher needs to differentiate the content to offer various activities for students.  For most, content is grounded in grade level curriculum and grade level standards (i.e. Common Core State Standards).   Those students that aren’t familiar with the lesson material at their current grade level can complete lower level tasks so that prerequisite skills can be covered prior to the start of the lesson.

This is a powerful method for supporting students with learning disabilities in accessing general education curriculum who may have gaps in content knowledge.   In a standard-based classroom, it may make sense to cover pre-requisite standards from previous grade levels that will aid the student in being ready to engage in the grade level material.

Process

Visual, kinesthetic, auditory content can easily be combined to deliver a more vibrant and vivid learning experience. Offering support based on individual needs can be a huge plus here.  

Tiered learning assignments and tasks are a great way to vary the process of how the student accesses the content.  Also, providing audio books, pictorial supports, or manipulatives are other great ways to differentiate the process for students.

Product

A thing to keep in mind here is that every student comes with their own learning style and therefore teachers should not get stuck in having students put pencil to paper to demonstrate what they have learned.  Teachers should consider how they can give students with learning disabilities the opportunity to act out, verbalize, use pictures or drawings, or technology as a way of demonstrating their knowledge around a topic.

Learning environment

Differentiated instruction also focuses on the creation of an optimal learning environment. Having a flexible classroom layout is very important, and using various arrangements and furniture types is an extremely good idea.  Breaking students into multiple groups and giving them access to learning centers, can be a great way to keep students engaged in learning.

Differentiation Supports ALL Students

Each student has a unique set of learning needs, especially students with learning disabilities.  Because of this, it is important that special education teachers have a good grasp on what differentiated instruction is and how it can be implemented to support students who require special education services.

Students with disabilities frequently have  instructional needs that are overlooked by educators, but by using differentiated instruction, we are allowing all students to have access to the same learning outcomes as their non-disabled peers.

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