1	Avoiding the “Lost” Syndrome: Charting the Future of Your UDL Collaboration Ralph Giordano, Program Associate, Assistive Technology VESID Rgiordan@mail.nysed.gov David L. Grapka, Project Coordinator Technology Resources for Education Center - 518-464-6346 Email: David@TRECENTER.ORG Amy, Hoffman, Regional Associate VESID-Special Education Quality Assurance-Easter Regional Office ahoffman@mail.nysed.gov Gene Murray, AT Specialist Technology Resources for Education Center - 518-464-6346 Email: Gene@TRECENTER.ORG TRECENTER.ORG * UDLinNYS.ORG * VESID.NYSED.GOV
2	LEARNING GOALS The Learners Will Be Able To: Define Five Challenges That Cause Some to Feel “Lost” (I.E. To Wander From or Become Ignorant Of: Lose One's Way.) “Find” Research and Resources to Meet Challenges Choose One Resource and Use It to Develop a Learning Activity That Connects UDL Principles With Student or Teacher Learning
3	CONCEPTUALLY, LEADERSHIP for ACCESSIBILITY IS ABOUT: People 1st Systems change 2nd, Technology 3rd. Consider this an opportunity to expand your vision, to lead your staff and/or students beyond the requirements of IDEA and encompass the good parts of NCLB. “School professionals and districts that view AT only through the lens of disabilities are sorely limiting their vision and sadly missing the point.” Ray Grasso, Principal, Coventry, CT.
4	WHAT’S THE LEADER’S ROLE? Working Hypotheses: If staff plan together to find and use a range of no, low, and high technology tools to support evidence based teaching practices, they will: Achieve Annual Yearly Progress; Close the Achievement Gap; and, Be in compliance with all state and federal statutes for ensuring student access to the curriculum.
5	KNOW OUR CHALLENGES: Chapter 377 of the Laws of 2001 NIMAS No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Individuals with Education Act (IDEA) for Assistive Technology IDEA for UDL IDEA for RTI IDEA for Professional Development
6	CHALLENGE #1: CHAPTER 377 Every school district and BOCES is required to develop a plan to ensure that all instructional materials used in district BOCES programs are available in a usable alternative format for every disabled student, in accordance with his or her individual needs, at the same time that such materials are available to non-disabled students.
7	CHALLENGE #2: NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.172 Access to Instructional Materials: (a) General: The state must adopt the NIMAS for the purposes of providing instructional materials to blind persons or other persons with print disabilities in a timely manner after publication of the NIMAS in the Federal Register. (d) Assistive Technology: In carrying out this section the SEA, to the extent possible, must work collaboratively with the state agency responsible for assistive technology programs. http://www.cast.org/NFF/NIMAS/ Source of Information for the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standards
8
9	GOAL OF THE REAUTHORIZED IDEA Access, participation, and progress in the general education curriculum for all learners IDEA 1997 and 2004
10	CHALLENGE #4 : ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY IN IDEA Each public agency shall ensure that assistive technology devices, assistive technology services, or both, as those terms are defined in ßß300.5-300.6, are made available to a child with a disability as a part of the child's: Special Education under ß300.17 Related Services under ß300.16; or Supplementary aids and services under ß300.550(b)(2). (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1412(2), (5)(B)
11	DEFINITION OF AT . . . any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. Exception: The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted , or the replacement of such device. IDEA, 2004 P.L.108-446, Section 602(1)(a)(b) ... any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. Public Law 108-446, Section 602
12	SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS 34 C.F.R. 300.324 Development, review and revision of IEP. (a)Development of IEP. (1) General. In developing each child’s IEP, the IEP team must consider - (2) Consideration of Special Factors. The IEP team must - (v) Consider whether the child requires assistive technology devices and services (authority: 20 U.S.C. 1414 (d) (3) and (4) (B) and (e))
13	EXAMPLES OF NO, LOW, & HIGH TECH Universal Design Ramps Curb Cuts Easy Grip Tools Electric Doors Captions on Television Assistive Tech Pencil Grips Books on Tape Digital Text Scanner with OCR and talking word processor Speech Recognition Software Dynamic Display AAC Devices
14	CHALLENGE #5 UDL IN THE IDEA “The State educational agency (or, in the case of a district-wide assessment, the local educational agency) shall, to the extent feasible, use universal design principles in developing and administering any assessments under this paragraph.” Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004, PART B, ‘SECTION 611, (E) UNIVERSAL DESIGN. http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/108th/education/idea/conferencereport/confrept.htm
15
16	LEGAL DEFINITION OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING A concept or philosophy for designing and delivering products and services that are usable by people with the widest possible range of functional capabilities. . . . includes products and services that are directly usable (without requiring assistive technologies) and . . . that are made usable with assistive technologies. - AT Act of 1998, P.L. 105-394, S. 2432
17	PRINCIPLES OF UDL Provide multiple, flexible: Methods of presentation (Recognition) Methods of expression and apprenticeship (Strategic) Options for engagement (Affective)
18	AT and UDL Universal Design looks to make the learning environment as flexible and accommodating as possible for all students Assistive Technology looks at overcoming specific barriers a student may face in whatever environment they find themselves Both approaches strive to insure the access, participation & progress of students with learning differences. Skip Stahl & Joy Zabala
19	AT and UDL A Continuum of Effective Teaching From Strategies to Tools
20	CHALLENGE #6: ‘RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION’ (RTI) 'Response to Intervention' is an emerging approach to the diagnosis of Learning Disabilities that holds considerable promise. In the RTI model: A student with academic delays is given one or more research-validated interventions. The student's academic progress is monitored frequently to see if those interventions are sufficient to help the student to catch up with his or her peers. If the student fails to show significantly improved academic skills despite several well-designed and implemented interventions, this failure to 'respond to intervention' can be viewed as evidence of an underlying Learning Disability (these next four slides are from Jim Wright at www.InterventionCentral.com)
21	What Are Advantages of RTI? In the diagnosis of educational disabilities RTI allows schools to intervene early to meet the needs of struggling learners. RTI maps those specific instructional strategies found to benefit a particular student. This information can be very helpful to both teachers and parents.
22	Why is RTI now being adopted by schools? Congress passed the revised Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This Federal legislation provides the guidelines that schools must follow when identifying children for special education services. Based on the changes in IDEA 2004, the US Department of Education (USDE) updated its regulations to state education departments. The new USDE regulations: Explicitly ALLOW states to use RTI to identify LD FORBID states from forcing schools to use a ‘discrepancy model’ to identify LD
23	IDEA 2004-05 Federal Regulations: What do they say about LD diagnosis? § 300.307 Specific learning disabilities. (a) General. A State must adopt criteria for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability…. the criteria adopted by the State— (2) May not require the use of a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement for determining whether a child has a specific learning disability as defined in § 300.8; [‘Discrepancy’ Model] (3) Must permit the use of a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention…[‘RTI’ Model] NOTE: [bracketed comments added]
24	CHALLENGE #7: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE IDEA 613(a)(3) Personnel development: The local educational agency shall ensure that all personnel necessary to carry out this part are appropriately and adequately prepared, subject to the requirements of section 612(a)(14) and section 2122 of the ESEA of 1965.
25	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #1 CHAPTER 377 http://trecenter.org/pdf/chapter377.pdf http://fairuse.stanford.edu Info on U.S. copyright laws www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/accessibletech/index.cfm How to Develop Accessible Tech Policy http://www.daisy.org Tools for creating accessible text Windows OS Accessibility www.microsoft.com/enable JAWS www.freedomscientific.com Window-Eyes www.gwmicro.com Kurzweil 3000 www.kurzweiledu.com TextHelp! ScreenReader www.texthelp.com
26	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #3: NCLB http://www.schoolmatters.com Click here and mouse around as one way to find out how your school compares with every other district in the nation. http://caret.iste.org CARET bridges education technology research to practice by offering research-based answers to critical questions and topics.
27	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #4: AT http://www.csun.edu/codtraining/ face to face and distance education AT Certificate http://www.atto.buffalo.edu/ Courses Provide excellent overview of AT http://www.wati.org/resourceguide.htm for AT Newbies http://www.iste.org tech use standards for teachers, students, administrators
28	ADMINISTRATOR SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #4 - ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY http://www.wati.org/resourceguide.htm for Administrator’s Guide http://www.state.tn.us/humanserv/ttap_index.htm Tennessee Assistive Tech Technical Assistance Project www.texasat.net/trgmod.htm Texas AT Legal Module - free powerpoint http://tennessee.gov/education/speced/seatsupguide.pdf TN DOE Supervisor’s Guide and Implementation Guidelines AT http://www.iste.org IT standards for all states
29	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #4: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
30	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #5: UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_procedures.cfm?tk_id=61 For further study: “UDL Toolkits: Teaching Every Student Kirsten’s Story - Article and weblink: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/toolkits/tk_modellesson.cfm?tk_id=101&tkl_id=222 The UDL Template http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/tools/udlsolutionstemplate.cfm http://www.boston.k12.ma.us/teach/technology/emmanuel.asp Go here and click on: ‘Supports Lists: Tools and Strategies to Support Access to Standards-Based Learning for Diverse Learners to download and use it.
31	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #5: UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING AND BRAIN RESEARCH http://instructordiploma.com/core/Bob' folder/websites.htm an amazingly comprehensive “portal” for brain research projects http://www.lld.dk/publications/quarterlyonline/2004-issue3/kringelbach/en a Danish research project emphasizing role of play in motivation & learning. http://www.ntftd.org/report/tableofcontents.htm Considering a construction bond? Need to ensure renovations comply with UD principles? Begin here http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/0111/scherer.html Perspectives on the Brain and Learning, http://www.brains.org - an excellent source of resources for teachers and parents to purchase
32	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #5: UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING: BEND IT LIKE BLOOM http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing levels of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings. It provides a structure in which to categorize or ask test questions within particular levels. If you can teach your students to determine the levels of questions that will appear on your exams, you will be able to help them study using appropriate strategies. Example: What is Universal Design for Learning? Give one way that UDL may support special needs kids. How will you apply the three UDL principles to your next teaching activity? Contrast UDL with DI and name one difference. Imagine you’re at the 1st meeting of NY UDL Guidelines Task Force: what one thing would you suggest be included in the Guidelines? Is UDL justified in terms of cost? Why or why not?
33	More Solutions for Challenge #5: UDL: It’s to “DI” for! Review the article “Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL Implementation” at http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstructudl.html List 1 similarity and 1 difference between UDL and DI Explore: http://www.windows.ucar.edu How would you demonstrate the use of this website to your teachers to help them facilitate a “UDL” classroom and individualize instruction in their class?
34	SOLUTIONS FOR CHALLENGE #6: RTI http://www.jimwrightonline.com/php/rti/rti_wire.php http://www.cnysea.org and click on: 2006 Conference Presentation Files (password is <desmond2006>
35
36	EVIDENCE BASED ASSESSMENT DATA TO MEET FIVE CHALLENGES AT for Learning Social Studies AT Outcomes Iowa QIAT Data collection & Analysis Maximize Your Mining, I & II. Todd McIntire, June 15, 2005 www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16040081 http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=164300240
37	NEXT STEPS FOR YOU TO TAKE Define Five Challenges That Cause Some to Feel “Lost” (i.e. To wander from or become ignorant of: lose one's way.) “Find” Research and Resources to Meet Challenges Choose One Resource and with a Colleague use it to develop a Learning Activity that Connects UDL Principles with Student or Teacher Learning
38	NEXT STEPS FOR YOU TO TAKE Visit TRECENTER.ORG , your free AT & UDL Portal for New York State Visit UDLinNYS.ORG your free Universal Design for Learning Repository Visit ATLASTS.COM to access the free statewide AT Lending Library
39	Thank you! You Are No Longer Lost, You Are Found!