Charlie, Female. Mild intellectual disability. Recent family break-up. Loves Art. Peers avoid her.

1. Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

1.1. Integrate UDL with reciprocal teaching for students with an intellectual disability.

1.2. An example is to provide read-aloud or audio-assisted recordings of text (Coyne et al., 2014). This, with the addition of visual guides such as graphic organisers, can improve comprehension skills of students with intellectual disabilities.

1.3. UDL is a framework designed to increase flexibility and accessibility by removing barriers and forming scaffolds and supports to meet the needs of diverse learners (Meyer et al., 2014).

2. What support is needed?

2.1. https://www.inclusionaustralia.org.au/intellectual-disability/what-is-intellectual-disability/

2.2. Charlie may need support in social interactions including expressing and communicating her emotions (Inclusion Australia, n.d.) to her peers- especially since they avoid her.

2.3. With the right support, Charlie can learn and develop new skills despite her intellectual disability.

2.4. She may also need assistance in problem solving and organising herself in daily tasks such as getting herself ready for school.

3. Teaching strategies

3.1. Reciprocal Teaching

3.1.1. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0040059920914334

3.2. Reciprocal teaching involves an instructional technique that promotes group problem solving through the use of questioning, clarifying, summarising and predicting (Alfassi et al., 2009). Based on Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory, reciprocal teaching is designed to foster comprehension of text through peer interaction. Students learn the four strategies through a gradual release of responsibilty (Hovland, 2020).

3.3. The research found that students with an intellectual disability who used reciprocal teaching methods answered more questions spontaneously and formed reflections about the text (Hovland, 2020).

3.4. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08856250903016854

4. How can schools identify it?

4.1. Some of the indicators of a student with an intellectual disability include an inability to think logically. They may have difficulties communicating and interacting with others and not be capable of leading a fully independent life (Johnson, 2019).

4.2. Since Charlie has a mild intellectual disability, she may have an IQ range of 50 to 69 and require extra support with literacy lessons.

4.3. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-retardation