Michelle's Blog: The Research Says...A Review of AT & UDL Research

Universal Design for Learning and Assistive Technology: Leadership Considerations for Promoting Inclusive Education in Today's Secondary Schools
Jaime Messinger-Willman and Matthew T. Marino

This article introduces Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) and paints a true picture of the wide diversity of learners in our classrooms today as well as the difficult task of teachers to motivate and support this diversity so that all students have the opportunity to learn. "For many students with LD, the typical secondary curriculum (i.e., content, instructional methods, classroom materials, and assessments) contains formidable barriers to the learning process" (p. 6) and assessment results reflect the learning gap that exists because of this inequality. The necessity of intake of vast amounts of new information, skills for interpreting and analyzing text features and their significance, and task persistence on the part of secondary student coupled with the barriers created by their disability, is too often enough to cause high rates of frustration, repeated failure and eventual drop out, say the authors. The article turns to a brighter outlook, however, when it begins to discuss the multiple was in which UDL has been incorporated into a vast number of facets of our world, and how the employment of such a concept in our education system can change all of this for our young people. The fit of UDL and AT into our secondary school communities in this time of rapid technological advancements is undeniable. The key to its success, however, say the authors is familiarity and professional development on the part of teachers. As the steps of making the AT Match are discussed, the significance of the role of teachers and administrators are outlined in this article which, in my opinion, gives hope and vision for the future of all of our learners up to and beyond high school.

Learning from Text

by Dave L. Edyburn, Ph.D.

This article focuses on the realities of the classroom and the prevalence of text as the primary presentation of information as being text. The article carefully articulates the importance of a wide variety of instructional strategies being employed by teachers as being critical to the success of students who are capable of achieving appropriate academic expectations, however, demonstrates reading skills at a much lower level. Edyburn admits that this is a systemic issue in education today and that"proactive efforts must provide a compensatory technology enhanced performance system that produces functional outcomes indistinguishable from those of his peers" (p. 17). The debate of compensation vs remediation is also mentioned in this article as well as the failure that seems to be necessary prior to the realization that AT is needed in order for a students to be successful - a dangerous scenario if we are working to make schools safe and comfortable spaces for all children.Because the feeling of a student that "If the instructional and remediation efforts of all my teachers have failed to teach me to read, will I be provided with compensatory tools that allow me to access the meaning of text that I cannot read by myself?" (p. 18), is not uncommon, many students often drop out of school because of the prolonged experience of frustration and failure.

This article was both informative and realistic and I found it beneficial because it was solution-based and provided us as readers, practical options, both remedial and compensatory, to support our struggling readers in the classroom by making text more easily accessible to ALL.

A Unit-Based Approach to Adaptations in Inclusive Classrooms

Jennifer A. Kurth

This article does a great job defining UDL and clearly articulating its implementation in the classroom. The author's goal is to examine closely the useful and applicability of UDL to adaptations to support our struggling learners while simultaneously giving ALL learners multiple ways to access information as well as multiple ways to represent their learning. The awareness and familiarity that teachers must have of their students' strengths and challenges is at the forefront of this article and it clearly outlines many questions, steps and processes that teachers may both individually and collectively go through when planning the tasks, instructional and assessment strategies that will work best for ALL students. The Unit based Approach includes:

Step 1: Determine Student Learning Support Needs
Step 2: Evaluate Classroom Routines
Step 3: Define Student Learning Outcomes
Step 4: Gather Materials and Create Specific Adaptations (Adaptations can be related to resources, classroom routines, instruction, assessment)
Step 5: Implement Adaptations
Step 6: Evaluate Adaptations

The Unit-based Approach also emphasizes the impact of collaboration on the part of teachers and formalizes the process of co-planning with Teacher Talks during which time any important adaptations for students are planned..."Talk sheets are used as a joint planning session, in which the general education teacher shares plans for the upcoming week, lesson, or unit, including worksheets or chapters that may need to be adapted as well as any tests or long-term assignments" (p. 37). Again, I really liked this article because of its overwhelming practicality to classroom teachers...kind of like a "recipe for success".

Logistical Issues in Developing Inclusive Classrooms

James McLeskey and Nancy L. Waldron

The story of the "excluded" students in an inclusion classroom rang too true for me. I have had the misfortune of being in many classrooms where the facade of including everyone is preached, however, the inclusion of the students is purely physical because there is little to no engagement and interaction with the teacher or their fellow students.The authors clearly articulate the meaning of "normal" in this article and that our "normal" needs to be that we are all different leaving the old definition that is so constraining, exclusive and conformity driven behind. Fostering natural, independent, minimally intrusive supports is so critical for our students not only for their academic success but equally important for their social success. By having support workers accompany students with disabilities into classrooms rather than promoting the independence of these students, barriers are automatically put up and the true essence of inclusion is lost. Gersten and colleagues have suggested, among other things, that for classroom supports to be sustained over time, they must:

Fit the details of day-to-day classroom instruction.
Be perceived by teachers as being effective for typical students as well as for students with disabilities.
Enhance the teacher's current repertoire of instructional methods.

The rhythm of the day for many students with disabilities is not conducive to their becoming part of the close knit classroom communities that are established throughout the school, and although this intricate support planning of teachers are all very well-intentioned, it it is not true inclusion. McLeskey and Waldron feverishly emphasize the importance of ALL classroom planning revolving around diversity so that ALL students are offered a variety of ways to access and share knowledge and learning but simultaneously admit that the logistics can be tricky. i liked the article for its honesty of what is currently happening in many of our so-called inclusive classrooms because I feel its solution-based approach is realistic and provides encouragement and pointers to teachers on how to truly include ALL students!

Improved Lesson Planning With Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Susan Joan Courey, Phyllis Tappe, Jody Siker and Pam LePage

This article begins as an advocate for teachers. It clearly articulates the growing diversity and needs of our students and makes a request that the Professional development, in particular that of the implementation of UDL, reflect the increasing need to support a wide range of learning styles and skill sets.

On site capacity building in the area of UDL is suggested in this article as a way to ensure that teachers are supported as they work to make their classrooms and curriculum more accessible. Data was gathered in a "Before - After" sequence as as teacehrs were asked to design lessons at these stages of their PD which focused on the UDL framework.Here's how the lessons were evaluated:

Researchers concluded that a 3 hour session on UDL was indeed found to be effective and go into some detail as to the specific modifications that were made by participating teachers after receiving the professional development. The importance of considering the students strengths and challenges at the commencement of the planning process instead of as an afterthought is evident in the research presented in this article.Again, I found this article useful as it provided hands on resources to support teachers as we work to be universal in our classroom and lesson design and the case study and sample section made the practicality of the implementation of the UDL Framework both doable and rewarding.

iPads as instructional tools to enhance learning opportunities for students with developmental disabilities: An action research project

Therese M Cumming

The authors of this article begin with an overview of the research that supports the use of technology and multimedia as effective instructional tools in the classroom and discuss their relevance to the theory of UDL and their impact on learning in particular for students with Learning and physical Disabilities. The focus of their research centered around the benefits of the iPad as an effective, adaptable and cost effective option for our classrooms.Their task was to determine firstly the professional development and training that teachers felt they needed in order to make the iPad an integral part of their students learning and the impacts that the iPad has for students when employed as an instructional tool. Along with the teachers involved in the study, the researchers focused on four high school students with a diversity of developmental disabilities.The action steps were organized throughout four terms from initial training to increasing independence of use by students and data was collected via teacher blogs, student video interviews, teacher video interviews and focus group meetings. "The 'Learning' theme consisted of several categories ('access to curriculum,' 'real-world learning,' 'outcomes,' 'engagement,' and 'independence'). All teachers described how the iPad has made it easier to differentiate instruction for each student. They also discussed how the iPad affords students more capability to access the general education curriculum. Most of the teachers also noticed improvement in student work. MD summed it up: I am able to see improvement in the levels, as they are achieving more goals and
meeting many outcomes from their life skills syllabus and individualized education plans" (p. 165). Teachers also noted the relevance and engagement students experience through use of the iPad and, in addition, their independent learning abilities increased. Students clearly articulated the support the iPads offered them, making more tasks easier to accomplish. The authors also outlined some challenges and frustrations experienced by the teachers, however, their overall perception of the ease of use was a positive and increased their ability to reach and engage a wide range of learners in many engaging and inclusive ways!