Inclusion Strategies and Interventions, Second Edition. Toby J. Karten
standards (AA-AAS). This assessment needs to include challenging state grade-level academic standards. AA-AAS may not exceed 1 percent of the total number of all students assessed in such a subject in the state, which is approximately 10 percent of students with disabilities (National Center on Educational Outcomes, n.d.).
The following list offers examples of alternate achievement standards across the content areas and grade levels for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
• A first-grade student circles consonant digraphs in a word list as an alternative to taking a spelling test of words with consonant digraphs.
• A fourth-grade student shades in the inside of a rectangle instead of applying the area formula.
• An eighth-grade student sequences story visuals in lieu of writing a three-paragraph essay.
• An eleventh-grade chemistry student identifies acids and bases by sorting materials such as lemons and milk products instead of explaining how acids and bases are neutralized.
ESSA permits, but does not require, states to develop alternate achievement standards (CPIR and Advocacy Institute, 2017). Assessment accommodations are specified in a student’s IEP with high expectations as close as possible to grade-level standards. Most important to keep in mind is that IEPs are worthwhile educational road maps when educators continually review and amend them based on students’ progress and ongoing needs. Together, parent voices and legal mandates can provide educators with a blueprint for more productive relationships with families when they collaboratively plan the IEPs (MacLeod, Causton, Radel, & Radel, 2017). Overall, IEPs provide effective and appropriate education by supporting individual learner needs. Progress is then monitored and communicated to families.
There are thirteen classifications of disability under IDEA (Part B) to provide the special education and related services for students aged three to twenty-one (IDEA, 2004a). Section 619 of Part B defines the preschool program, which guarantees a free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities ages three to five (National Center for Learning Disabilities, n.d.). IDEA Part C denotes early interventions for infants and toddlers. A child’s school performance is “adversely affected” by a disability in one of these thirteen categories (Lee, 2020). These categories offer definitions, characteristics, and traits, but they do not define the uniqueness of each student, whether or not he or she shares a category of disability. Students who qualify for one category of disability, but whose needs can’t be met exclusively in one category, will receive services under multiple disabilities. Students may also be classified under one category, yet have some characteristics of another disability. For example, a student with an intellectual disability or autism may also have speech and language impairment and require additional supports and services.
The following thirteen categories are used for eligibility and to ensure that students with disabilities receive the legislative IDEA protections and related services (IDEA, 2004a).
1. Autism
2. Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
3. Deaf-blindness
4. Visual impairment including blindness
5. Deafness
6. Speech-language impairment
7. Hearing impairment
8. Intellectual disability (ID)
9. Emotional disturbance (ED)
10. Orthopedic impairment
11. Multiple disabilities (MD)
12. Specific learning disability (SLD)
13. Other health impairment (OHI)
The term developmental delay is another category local education agencies (LEAs) use for children ages three through nine who need early intervention services because of cognitive, physical, communication, social, emotional, or adaptive delays.
Appendix B (page 247) offers more details about specific legislation.
An Understanding of Students’ Needs
IDEA offers the thirteen classifications previously listed to help educators establish a basic knowledge of a student’s needs; however, this knowledge alone is not enough for teachers to help the student achieve his or her highest potential. Each student with exceptionalities has a unique personality with individual likes and dislikes.
As differentiated instruction expert Carol A. Tomlinson (2014) points out, teachers need to study the students they teach. In any inclusion classroom, students’ levels of competency, rates of learning, and degrees of motivation to acquire concepts and skills will vary. Knowing what your students know is essential.
It is also important for educators to understand how students view themselves and others during learning experiences. For example, students with autism often have excellent prior knowledge and specific interests that teachers can tap. A student with Down syndrome, who also has speech apraxia, may not verbally communicate his or her likes or dislikes, but certainly has individual preferences the teacher should acknowledge. Physical, sensory, emotional, behavioral, social, learning, and cultural differences do not translate into disabilities if educators recognize and capitalize on students’ interests, prior experiences, and stronger modalities.
The following elementary and secondary curriculum-learner scenarios offer connections to IDEA classifications to honor individual student needs. They capitalize on learner strengths, interests, and stronger modalities to advance skills.
If a kindergarten student with a specific learning disability loves music and has difficulty processing information during reading assignments:
• Provide curriculum-related musical videos
• Have students clap out syllables
• Enable closed captioning on videos
• Enlist educational songs and chants to teach new vocabulary
• Create “song storybooks”
• Accompany visuals with auditory instruction, such as recordings on slide presentations
If a third grader with orthopedic impairment is learning place value in mathematics, and he loves animals and working cooperatively with peers:
• Consult with the physical therapist to eliminate room barriers to increase his peer interaction
• Provide a rest period during the day
• Include low-and high-tech technology with resources and strategies, such as dinosaur pencil grips or NCTM’s virtual manipulatives with base 10 blocks
• Use a “round up” cattle game to teach place value
• Offer interactive worksheets with more animal visuals
• Connect word problems to animal themes
If a sixth grader with a health impairment responds well to praise but she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and difficulty concentrating during a world history lesson:
• Offer nonverbal private signals to reinforce attention
• Increase her self-monitoring to tally on-task behavior during set time periods
• Minimize distractions (for example, seat her away from classroom door or window)
• Set and reinforce attention with informal behavioral incentives and charts
• Model and reinforce positive behavior
• Reinforce