{"id":4434,"date":"2022-11-23T09:24:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T15:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.graduateprogram.org\/?p=4434"},"modified":"2022-11-30T12:23:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T18:23:45","slug":"strategies-for-teaching-students-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.graduateprogram.org\/blog\/strategies-for-teaching-students-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies for Teaching Students with Disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teaching is challenging. Teaching students with learning differences can add a layer of complexity to the work. However, often the greatest payoff in life and teaching comes on the other side of a difficult struggle, and with the right attitude, strategies, and dispositions, all students can learn, and they and their teacher can experience success. Students with disabilities are simply students first.<\/p>\n

A student need not have a documented disability, an established Individual Education Plan (IEP), or be in a special education classroom<\/a> to benefit from effective teaching strategies. What works for a student with a disability will likely benefit their non-disabled peers. It\u2019s also important to remember that what works one day with one set of learning tasks may not work another day with different content. Flexibility is critical in teaching, and the strategies described below represent only a few of the many strategies that might work in any given situation with a student.<\/p>\n

Break Learning Tasks Down into Smaller Parts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Students with disabilities of any kind, including those with processing disorders, learning disabilities, developmental delays, other health impairments including ADHD<\/a>, or emotional disabilities, can have a difficult time with multi-step directions and concepts with lots of parts. It is critical to student success to break concepts down into the smallest possible parts to ensure mastery of each sub-concept (even if you think a student should know it) before they move on to the next.<\/p>\n

Sometimes this means breaking a complex task into finite steps, and other times chunking content<\/a> so that fewer concepts are being practiced at once. The key when a student is stuck is to find the next smallest step forward that they can complete successfully and then build on that.<\/p>\n

Present Information in a Variety of Ways<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Students\u2019 brains process information differently and their background and experience can influence their understanding of new concepts. To accommodate these differences, it is important to present information in various ways, including verbally, in writing, visually, and kinesthetically.<\/p>\n

For instance, discussing a new topic, writing down the key concepts together, creating a graphic anchor chart that can be referenced in the classroom, and then acting out the new concept can all help students make connections and deepen their understanding.<\/p>\n

Assess Frequently and Provide <\/strong>Specific Feedback<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because the risk of misunderstanding or confusion is greater with students with disabilities, and they often have difficulty self-assessing their need for assistance, teachers must build in frequent opportunities to assess student understanding and give low-risk specific feedback. These assessments should be informal and provide growth opportunities, not just for grading. Students with disabilities need to know what they are getting right and what\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n

Providing students with examples and non-examples can also be helpful in developing a schema for the learning. Students should be explicitly told how to fix mistakes and should be included in the feedback conversation by asking questions such as:<\/p>\n