Classroom Practices
Inclusive Curricular Design
All classroom teachers can make their lesson plans more inclusive through use of Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. Like MTSS, UDL is designed to meet the individualized needs of learners through the general education curriculum.
UDL is a framework that strives to creating a learning environment that is inclusive and accessible to all types of learners. It focuses on changing the learning environment rather than the learner.
UDL can be thought of as an educational version of a pedestrian ramp - although it was primarily designed for wheelchair accessibility, it also benefits parents with strollers, cyclists, energetic children, and anybody transporting rolling luggage. The environment has been changed in a way that benefits a wide variety of people, not just individuals with disabilities.
Resources for UDL strategies
"What is Universal Design for Learning?" from understood.org
Physically Inclusive Classrooms
Teachers can independently make their classrooms more accessible to students through creative and thoughtful use of furniture, classroom tools, and classroom management.
Classrooms with flexible seating can address the needs of students with ADHD or sensory-related disabilities by providing a variety of options and allowing for movement during lessons. It can also provide social interactions that would not be available in a traditional classroom environment.
Inclusive classrooms may include quiet spaces for student use, which provide a respite for students with sensory-related disabilities and calm study space for all students. Teachers with inclusive classrooms will, if possible, store classroom materials in a location that is accessible to all students, regardless of physical capability.
Resources for Inclusive Classrooms
image: http://dreamstime.com
Integrate Accommodations
Students with 504 Service Plans are provided accommodations that are typically implemented by the classroom teacher. Parents can expect that their student's classroom teacher has reviewed and understands their child's 504 Services Plans at the beginning of each school term, and that the teacher is prepared to implement them consistently.
Common accommodations include preferential seating, chunking of long-term assignments, extended time for assessments, permitting a student to listen to an audiobook rather than reading visually, and visual organizers.
Accommodations should not require any change to the teacher's lesson plan or syllabus. They are meant to help students access the existing curriculum.
Resources for Accommodations
Common Accommodations from understood.org
Accommodations: What They Are and How they Work from understood.org
Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)
SDIs are specialized instruction provided to meet the individualized needs of students with IEPs. Many of them can and should be implemented by the classroom teacher, but SDIs can also require more extensive interventions by specialists.
SDIs are provided to help students with disabilities meet their annual measurable goals. They may be cross-curricular or they may focus on one class. For instance, a student with a Specific Learning Disability in reading (also known as dyslexia) may be provided an SDI of a specific reading program to meet the goal of developing reading skills as well as goals in decoding specialized terms in their science textbook to support learning in science.
Parents have the right to request progress data to make sure SDIs are implemented appropriately and consistently.
Resources for SDI
What is Specially Designed Instruction from A Day In Our Shoes