1. Individual Education Plans
1.1. An IEP is his is a plan or program developed to ensure that a student with an identified disability who is attending an educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.
1.1.1. Good IEPs should have the following: The student's present level of performance. Annual goals for the student. Special education supports and services to help the student reach goals. Accommodations and modifications to help the make progress. Measurements for the student's progress toward the goals.
2. Disabilities and UDL Strategies
2.1. IDEA lists 13 different disability categories under which 3- through 21-year-olds may be eligible for services. The disability categories listed in IDEA are: • autism; • deaf-blindness; • deafness; • emotional disturbance; • hearing impairment; • intellectual disability; • multiple disabilities; • orthopedic impairment; • other health impairment; • specific learning disability; • speech or language impairment; • traumatic brain injury; or • visual impairment (including blindness).
2.2. Autism Pre-teach vocabulary and symbols, especially in ways that promote connection to the learners’ experience and prior knowledge Provide graphic symbols with alternative text descriptions Highlight how complex terms, expressions, or equations are composed of simpler words or symbols Embed support for vocabulary and symbols within the text (e.g., hyperlinks or footnotes to definitions, explanations, illustrations, previous coverage, translations) Embed support for unfamiliar references within the text (e.g., domain specific notation, lesser known properties and theorems, idioms, academic language, figurative language, mathematical language, jargon, archaic language, colloquialism, and dialect)
2.2.1. Emotional Disturbance Present key concepts in one form of symbolic representation (e.g., an expository text or a math equation) with an alternative form (e.g., an illustration, dance/movement, diagram, table, model, video, comic strip, storyboard, photograph, animation, physical or virtual manipulative) Make explicit links between information provided in texts and any accompanying representation of that information in illustrations, equations, charts, or diagrams
2.2.2. Intellectual Disabilities Clarify unfamiliar syntax (in language or in math formulas) or underlying structure (in diagrams, graphs, illustrations, extended expositions or narratives) through alternatives that: Highlight structural relations or make them more explicit Make connections to previously learned structures Make relationships between elements explicit (e.g., highlighting the transition words in an essay, links between ideas in a concept map, etc.)