Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for designing lessons that is grounded in data and recognized as best practice under IDEA and ESSA. The use of the method allows for greater intervention with students socially, emotionally, and academically. UDL allows intentional and purposeful work with populations that are normally…

This article explores issues that secondary general education teachers face in planning lessons that include students with disabilities. We briefly explain the concepts of inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy and then identify six tenets of inclusive instructional planning: high standards for everybody in the class, multiple entry and exit…

This book provides teachers and other professionals with a highly effective, easy-to-follow curriculum for teaching children with high-functioning autism, Asperger syndrome and related social challenges to relate to and interact with others successfully by developing a solid, basic foundation in Theory of Mind (ToM). Dr. Kirstina Ordetx provides…

This article contains specific planning, partnering, and performing techniques for fully integrating dancers with special needs into a dance pedagogy program. Each aspect is discussed within the context of the domains of learning. Fundamental partnering strategies are related to each domain as part of the integration process. The authors recommend…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) placed a new focus and accountability on the achievement levels of English learners by requiring that they develop English proficiency and meet the same academic standards that all children are expected to meet by year 2014. Administrators and teachers are looking at ways English learners might progress more…

When designing lessons to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse population of students, educators need to rethink planning and structuring lessons so that all students achieve better results. Therefore, teacher preparation programmes need to prepare pre-service teachers accordingly. Within this paper, a new lesson planning template is…

Without careful attention to learning-disabled students' strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, language processing abilities, and reading levels, these students can fail to master content and essential knowledge about the Civil War and other subjects. Alternative approaches include providing in-class readings for group discussion and outside…

This article describes how students with disabilities in regular classes are using the WebQuest lesson format to access the Internet. It explains essential WebQuest principles, creating a draft Web page, and WebQuest components. It offers an example of a WebQuest about salvaging the sunken ships, Titanic and Lusitania. A WebQuest planning form is…

This article describes practices in inclusive education in Australian schools and classrooms. In discussing the changes that schools have made in order to be inclusive and responsive to student diversity, the author refers to one Australian school and its re-organization and also to recent Australian research on building inclusive school cultures.…

Physical skills, such as fine and gross motor skills, are necessary for students to play musical instruments. Cognitive skills are necessary for students to comprehend music concepts. Emotional and social skills are necessary for students to participate in musical ensembles and general music classes. Attention to these extramusical goals in music…

As we endeavor to assist people with autism and other serious disabilities increase their capacity to function appropriately and successfully in the everyday environments of the real world, we generally focus on the skills and behaviors of the person himself. While this is important, another essential component of the process is commonly…

The final report of Project TRAIN describes a 3-year collaborative project of Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia State Department of Education to provide special education inservice training for regular classroom teachers serving secondary level mildly handicapped youth. The project: (1) developed adaptive instructional training…

This paper describes a strategy for teaching elementary students language arts that involves the collaboration of the regular education teacher and a speech therapist. The classroom teacher and speech therapist work together in providing lessons related to whole language, reading, parts of speech, semantics, and written expression. This allows…

Project ACCEPT (Achieving Creative & Collaborative Educational Preservice Teams)represents an initiative at Northern Illinois University, where special and general education preservice teachers are joined in a voluntary project featuring an enhanced curriculum and field experiences in inclusive classrooms. Participants receive intensive…

Three papers by the same author address: (1) educational methods for gifted children in the regular classroom; (2) principles of enriching the gifted child's development in the home; and (3) modifying lessons to optimally challenge gifted students. The first paper is titled, "Classrooms with Growing Room." It stresses the need for gifted children…