UDL is more than just modifying things to make it easier for a student to participate in class. LEARNING can only happen when INSTRUCTION has also been changed to meet the unique needs of those with physical and/or cognitive challenges! I know you’re interested in learning more about UDL for teaching students with special needs (you should be!). The concept was created and refined by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) and they have a wealth of helpful teacher resources for integrating UDL into your teaching to improve student engagement and learning.

When we figure in the transition to a virtual model of instruction because of changes caused by COVID-19, we need this now more than ever! Classrooms designed to support those with significant physical and/or cognitive challenges might be well equipped with a host of helpful resources and accommodations, making access and participation easier for these learners. Many of these students, including those in the inclusive classroom, may also have the benefit of a resource teacher or educational assistant standing nearby to help with task completion. NONE of these supports are available in the home…the new classroom of 2020.

When schools were thrown into COVID mode back in the spring, the term “remote instruction” caused the hair to stand up (or fall out) on many-a-good teacher. Except for maybe having attended an online course, most were unfamiliar with the process involved or knew how to make it actually happen. By now you may be feeling at least a bit more comfortable teaching virtually, but we may not be returning to school as usual this fall. If many students, as anticipated, opt for home-based virtual school, we must now address the issue of providing long-term accommodations and support for ALL of those learners with special needs. One child at a time. In a virtual format. Enter the concept of UDL…

The very idea behind the term UNIVERSAL DESIGN implies that we shouldn’t need to tweak our instruction and the means of response repetitively to individualize for every student based upon their different needs. Rather, we should shift the way we design our instruction so that our tools and methodologies employ a wide scope of integrated supports that can then be individualized for each learner’s needs. We need to ask ourselves if the design of our instruction and the way we teach it is easily ‘adjustable’. Does it allow student participation on the front end during instruction and on the back end with their ability to demonstrate learning of that content. The UDL Project has put together tutorials, strategies, checklists, sample lesson plans, instructional templates, and other printable resources for educators to guide the transition.

There are SO many outstanding tools, software programs, web extensions, apps, etc. on the market today that can be integrated into the curriculum and instruction to make your teaching a model of Universal Design for Learning. I am going to share some great resources here for further investigation and will begin sharing more in the coming weeks about HOW to accommodate with these assistive technologies for specific needs. Let’s get started with TextHelp…

TextHelp is one of my favorite creators of programming to support those with reading, writing (and now math) needs. In response to this current crisis, they have created a great website to fully explain UDL complete with videos and demonstrations of their programs that might offer support. https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/sectors/education/universal-design-for-learning/