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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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  Helping Your Child by Checking Progress at Home

  This video describes easy ways for parents to check on their child's progress in academics and behavior while learning at home

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  Helping Your Child with Writing at Home

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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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  Helping Your Child with Math While at Home

  In this video, we’ll discuss three key points to consider in order to help your child with math at home. This video is part of the Parent Video Series: Supporting the Learning of Children with Significant Cognitive Disabilities at Home​.

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  Helping Your Child with Reading at Home

  In this video, we’ll discuss three key points to consider in order to help your child with reading at home. This video is part of the Parent Video Series: Supporting the Learning of Children with Significant Cognitive Disabilities at Home​.​

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  Helping Your Child with the Foundations of Math While at Home

  In this video, we’ll discuss three key points to consider in order to help your child with the foundations of math while at home. This video is part of the Parent Video Series: Supporting the Learning of Children with Significant Cognitive Disabilities at Home​.

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  Helping Your Child with the Foundations of Reading at Home

  In this video, we’ll discuss three key points to consider in order to help your child with Foundations of Reading at home. This video is part of the Parent Video Series: Supporting the Learning of Children with Significant Cognitive Disabilities at Home​.

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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.