Educators

Instruction for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities has undergone significant shifts in the past decade. It is realized now that these students need the opportunity to learn academic skills as well as life skills. With this realization has come a wide range of academic instructional strategies for students with significant cognitive disabilities to support them in accessing the general education curriculum. In addition, new curricular materials are being developed to be consistent with the principles of Universal Design for Learning and are appropriate for use in the inclusive education classroom by all students.

Among the critical aspects of instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities is ensuring that they have the communicative supports to develop their communication skills. Students with communication challenges are less likely to be included in classrooms with general education students because of their lack of expressive and receptive communication skills and support. Thus, the creation of professional development to support communication instruction is critical.

Materials for Educators

The materials hosted here provide resources for educators. This includes instructional materials, information about communicative supports, and professional development materials. 

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  Supporting the AAC User in the Classroom

  How can we effectively include learners with complex communication needs in general education with their classroom peers? What does it look like to support emerging communication skills embedded into school and classroom routines? Cross-disciplinary team (e.g. general education teachers, special education teachers, related service providers, family members) collaboration is key for planning and supporting success. Learn how an Ohio team collaborated to support a student who uses AAC in general education and how they included his voice in the process.

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  TIP #31: Teaching PBIS Tier 1 School-wide Behavioral Expectations to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

  Students with significant cognitive disabilities can successfully participate in and benefit from PBIS Tier 1 when it is made accessible. These expectations can be taught to students through the use of universal design for learning, accommodations and modifications, instruction in natural environments, and strategies for generalization. This TIP illustrates how these components could look for individual students.

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  TIP #29: Creating Communication Opportunities and Tracking Progress

  Teaching and tracking communication opportunities present some challenges, as communication is not as simple as answering a question correctly or responding to typical assessment strategies. It is unique to the individual and requires informed communication partners (adults, peers, families). The tools in this TIP can help teams identify and capture those opportunities to ensure growth in communication skills.

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  TIP #30: Behavior is Communication

  Behavior is often an attempt to communicate. Behaviors that are challenging often result from communication failure. Reframing what is viewed as an interfering behavior to be a student’s attempt to communicate, provides more positive options for intervening by teaching the student more effective means to communicate their wants and needs. This TIP includes an animated short video that demonstrates this concept.

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  TIP #28: Social Support for AAC Users

  Students with complex communication needs who are using or are beginning to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) benefit from social support from peers and adults. This TIP describes circles of social support and the many communication strategies that the AAC communicator might use with partners who know them best. It also describes strategies that the AAC communicator may use with less familiar communication partners. Being able to use a variety of strategies helps the student communicate in many types of situations for different purposes.

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  Inclusive Education Roadmap (IER)

  The Inclusive Education Roadmap (IER) is a series of tools, guidance, and processes to be used by state, district, and school teams to build an inclusive system of education. The IER unpacks the complexities of how to create, expand, and sustain inclusive education systems.

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  Video #1: Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Video #2 Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1: Leadership and Team Data

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Video #3: Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1: School-wide Expectations

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Video #4: Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1: Creating Inclusive Acknowledgement Systems

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Video #5: Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1: A Classroom Intervention

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Video #6: Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1: School-wide Expectations - A Teacher Example

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Video #7: Including Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in PBIS Tier 1: A Classroom Intervention - Teacher Example

  This series of short videos present the primary components of school-wide PBIS and shares strategies for making each component accessible to all learners, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  TIP #26: Making Universal Supports (Tier 1) within a Schoolwide Positive Interventions and Supports More Accessible for All Students

  This TIP provides recommendations regarding actions that schools can take to make participation in universal behavior supports accessible and meaningful for all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  TIP #27: Including ALL Students in Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports

  This TIP provides examples of ways teachers and PBIS teams can plan for accessible PBIS instruction across all tiers that includes students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  A Literature Review of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports for Students with Extensive Support Needs (TIES Center Report #106)

  This report presents the findings of a literature review to summarize the current literature on School-wide Positive BehavioralInterventions and Supports (PBIS). This multi-tiered framework offers a continuum of supports to address the behavioral needs of all students within a school. Research indicates that PBIS effectively promotes positive student outcomes and improves school climate and culture. However, little is known about the involvement of students with extensive support needs (ESN) and the effectiveness of PBIS for these students. Students with ESN include students with significant cognitive disabilities. This report also presents implications for practice and future research initiatives.

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  TIP #24: Learners with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) and Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC)

  Students with Cerebral/Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI) may have difficulty processing the images their eyes see, which can affect many areas of basic visual functions. This TIP focuses on students with CVI and how it relates to learners with significant cognitive disabilities who use Alternative and Augmentative Communication or AAC, with a particular focus on inclusive environments.

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  TIP #25: Preparing the AAC User for the Next Grade

  For students who are non-speaking and communicate using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), it is important to support their communication needs during grade level transitions to ensure that the academic, social, and communication gains continue into the next grade. This TIP provides concrete ideas to plan for successful grade level transitions for ACC Users.

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  Providing Access to School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (TIES Center Brief #10)

  Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports  (PBIS) is an evidence-based approach used to promote inclusive environments and prevent and decrease challenging behavior for all students. However, many students with significant cognitive disabilities, especially those served in self-contained special education settings, do not always receive access to all three tiers of PBIS. This Brief presents ways to design PBIS systems that are accessible to all students. It describes the importance of including all students in PBIS structures and gives practical strategies to help schools achieve this goal. It ends with the story of a student who benefited from full access to his school’s PBIS system.

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  Standards-Based Instruction for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

  What are alternate achievement standards and general education academic standards? How do they align and differ? What should instruction look like for students with significant cognitive disabilities? This short video provides key information that clearly illustrates these concepts and their uses in instruction.  

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  TIP #23 Supporting the Communication Needs of Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) Users who are also English Learners

  This TIP highlights strategies to assist teams supporting multilingual Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) users

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  Teacher Preparation for Inclusive Practices: A Resource for Teacher Educators

  The purpose of this resource is to support teacher educators as they develop inclusive course content by linking current TIES Center resources to teacher preparation standards across general and special education. Direct links to each resource on the TIES Center website are provided. This resource will be updated on an annual basis each spring.

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  Preparing School Psychologists to Promote Inclusive Practices for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

  School psychologists are expected to serve school-age children and youth with a wide range of needs. However, their preparation in graduate school tends to focus on supporting students experiencing the learning and behavioral concerns that are most prevalent in schools (e.g., learning disability, attention concerns, behavioral challenges). This report explores how graduate preparation in school psychology can be expanded to better equip school psychologists with the competencies and experiences needed to be strong advocates for the quality inclusion of students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  Debunking Myths about Inclusive Education for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities (TIES Center Brief #8)

  There are many myths about including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in general education classrooms. This Brief debunks six of them. 

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  PI #4: Providing Specially Designed Instruction with Considerations from Distance Learning

  Through distance, hybrid and in-person learning, collaboration has remained a vital part of providing Specially Designed Instruction (SDI). This article provides key strategies for consideration when planning SDI.

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  TIP #22: Planning for Whole Group Discussions

  This TIP will provide an example of how educators can work collaboratively to create more opportunities for all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, to actively participate in whole group discussions in an inclusive classroom.

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  The Power of Peers: Peer Engagement Implementation Guides

  We invited leading experts to share their expertise on implementing these nine educational interventions to promote meaningful engagement and relationships among students with and without disabilities. They created short, practical implementation guides based on their extensive experience working with local schools.

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  Reading Literature Inclusive Lesson Planning (Inclusive Big Ideas)

  Plan inclusive reading literature lessons for grades K-8 using grade-level standards.

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  Design for Each and Every Learner: Universal Design for Learning Modules

  Designing inclusive instruction takes intentional planning and collaboration. The goal of these modules is to learn more about Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework developed by CAST, and how to support educators to design learning experiences that are inclusive for each and every learner. 

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  PI #3: A Collaborative Start to Behavioral Supports When Returning to the School Building

  Positive and consistent behavioral supports are needed by all students, and for some students, they are absolutely vital for meaningful engagement to be achieved. During distance learning it was important to know what behaviors could be supported through collaborating with families. When returning to school, it remains important to intentionally identify, collaboratively communicate, and consistently follow through on the identified supports for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

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  PI #2: 5 Back to School Positive Behavior Strategies

  Now that we are back to school, it is important to remember how to positively support behavior. It is especially important to consider those students who might need more support after being away from the school building last year. 

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  Creating Communities of Belonging for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities

  Everyone wants to be valued and have a sense of belonging in their community.  The need for valued belonging is true for students in a school community as well.  Although belonging is equally important for all students, students with significant cognitive disabilities are less likely to experience a deep sense of belonging.

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  PI #1: Planning for Students Transitioning Back to School - Three Important Components

  As teams manage various scenarios for when and how-to students will return to schools, proactive thinking about what needs to be considered to successfully transition students back to school is of utmost importance. This article will  facilitate this transition for school teams, students, and their families.

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  Pivot to In-Person Instruction: An Overview Framework

  The TIES Distance Learning Series provides multiple strategies for supporting students with significant cognitive disabilities during distance and hybrid learning. The Pivot to In-Person Instruction Series applies the same principles, as most students are returning to in-person instruction. However, we expect that some schools will need to pivot between the various instruction models given the changing nature of the COVID-19 virus.

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  Comprehensive Inclusive Education: General Education and the Inclusive IEP

  This resource is intended to guide IEP teams in a comprehensive inclusive education planning process based on the expectation that each student can actively participate, belong, contribute, and learn in the school and larger community. 

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  TIP #18: Choosing Accessible Grade-Level Texts for Use in Inclusive Classrooms

  This TIP will outline considerations for choosing appropriate accessible grade-level texts for students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive classrooms.

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  TIP #19: Creating Accessible Grade-level Texts for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms

  This TIP explains ways teachers can adapt text and provide scaffolding to ensure each and every student is provided access and opportunity to meet grade-level learning expectations.

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  TIP #17: What is Communicative Competence for and with Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Users?

  This TIP provides information about what competence in communication means for all students, but also the additional competencies required of students who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices.

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  DL #30: An Example of UDL and Online Collaboration

  What does it look like has always been one of the biggest questions about including students with significant cognitive disabilities. This post is one example of how a middle school in Carroll County, MD moved their UDL lesson planning process online as a result of COVID. It includes the process and examples of the actual work. 

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  DL #29: Collaboration in the Trenches: Lessons Learned about Inclusive Technology During COVID

  In this DL post, the specific collaborative activities to support continued use of assistive and educational technology during distance learning are explored. Lessons for teachers and leaders from the work in Loudoun County, Virginia are listed.

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  DL #28: Not letting LRE slide: Ensuring inclusive education during COVID

  During COVID, how can teams prioritize the least restrictive environment and inclusive education? How do we assure that we are teaching students with significant cognitive disabilities in the least restrictive environment possible during distance learning and as we return to various in-person delivery models? Considering three questions at key decision points regarding instructional models can raise the awareness of the impact of a team’s decision on a student. 

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  TIES Brief 6: Grading My Child with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in an Inclusive Classroom

  Grades are assigned and report cards given in inclusive classrooms. It is important that thought has been given to how work from students with significant cognitive disabilities will be graded and what will be in the report card. The purpose of this parent Brief is to (a) identify the IEP team’s role in grading and report cards, (b) provide ideas for how to talk to teachers about grades and their meaning, and (c) suggest what to do if the school or district has not yet identified grading and report card considerations for students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive classrooms.

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  DL #27: Planning Hybrid (Online and In-person) Lessons for Inclusive Classrooms

  Teaching in hybrid learning can be complicated, whether it is a combination of online and offline learning (synchronous and asynchronous) or online and in-person learning. Are you wondering how you can keep up with all the changes and meet the needs of all learners through different teaching formats? Check out this Distance Learning post about how to plan and organize hybrid learning options in a way that reduces teacher stress and increases student success.

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  DL #26: Universal Design for Learning: Intentional Design for All

  Distance learning has brought new challenges for how educators approach curriculum. How can UDL support lesson design?

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  TIP #14: Academic Standards for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities in Inclusive Classrooms: Same Content Standards, Alternate Achievement Standards

  The purpose of this brief is to clarify what academic content standards and alternate achievement standards are, how they are different, and how they contribute to inclusive education.

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  TIP #15: Turn and Talk in the Inclusive Classroom

  In this TIPS Brief, we show how to remove barriers to allow students with significant cognitive disabilities (SCD) to engage in Turn and Talk activities during instruction in general education classes through the UDL framework and examples from an inclusive classroom.

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  TIP #16: Making Inferences in the Inclusive Classroom

  In this TIPS, we give suggestions for teachers on how to teach inferencing skills to all learners in an inclusive classroom.  The examples presented are reflective of a collaborative process required to plan the use of inferencing strategies in inclusive classrooms through a Universal Design for Learning framework.

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  DL #25: Embedding Instruction During Hybrid Learning

  This DL article explores how embedded instruction can serve as a solution to ensure access to the general education classroom and progress on individualized goals.

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  DL #24: The 5-15-45 Tool: Grab a Partner and Let's Collaborate!

  Many teachers and administrators are struggling with how to support inclusive practices for students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive classes, especially during distance delivery.  This new 5-15-45 Tool can kick start collaboration whether you have 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 45 minutes or more!

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  DL #23: Pivoting Between Paraprofessional Support in Inclusive Schools and Distance Learning

  Paraprofessionals are central to the success of educating students with disabilities in general education contexts, especially students with significant cognitive disabilities. Distance learning is pushing the field to consider how paraprofessionals can fulfill their roles in new and creative ways, particularly with the use of technology. Apply the Learning Components framework to clarify paraprofessional roles and how they can be carried out whether instruction is in-school or during distance learning.