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mkerr09

Gaining Access to General Education: The Promise of Universal Design for Learning

By: Jimenez, T. C., Graf, V. L., & Rose, E.

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This article gives background for the inclusion of all populations in education. It starts out with the //Education// //of All Handicapped Children Act// 1975; which was the beginning of law mandated education for all children and youth with disabilities. The authors discuss other meaningful legislation such as NCLB that increased children with disabilities access to education. The main idea of the article is to discuss Universal Design for Learning and how it shifts the focus toward appropriate instruction for “all” learners. UDL is appropriate for learners in all subjects and at all levels. It is pointed out that UDL is not just good for students with special needs, the article does point out with the reauthorization of IDEA 2004; that, universal design has taken center stage in education. They point out that “the law specifically supports the development and use of technology with UD features and the incorporation of UD concepts in the development of educational standards, assessments, curricula, and instructional methods to support the education of students with disabilities” (Jimenez, 2007). UDL is curriculum that gives everyone equal opportunity to learn. UDL provides a direction for learning and how to develop goals, objectives, materials and methods for everyone; not, just the standard way of doing instruction where all learners have to fit into the same box. It is flexible, adjustable and can be customized to fit individual needs. The authors say that UDL should be implemented from the top-down and the bottom-up in order to reach the most learners as quickly as possible. They close by pointing out that “Universal Design for Learning, through technology and pedagogical strategies, provides a unifying framework that encompasses many of the approaches we already address in our K-12 schools” (Jimenez, 2007).

Jimenez, T. C., Graf, V. L., & Rose, E. (2007). Gaining Access to General Education: The Promise of Universal Design for Learning. //Issues in Teacher Education//, 16(2), 41-54. Retrieved from EBSCO//host//.

Michael Kerr

Michael Eaton

ASD and Middle School Challenges : A Case Example

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2011, vol. 12 pg 77-83 and his speech []

This article presents the story of a sixth grade student with autism and the collaborative approach his education team used to address the challenges the student faced upon entering middle school. One month into middle school, the student had several emotional breakdowns. The middle school guidence counselor reviewed the student's records, talked to his parents, and contacted the elementary school the student attended in order to more fully understand Michael's situation. Michael, the student in focus for this article, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 4. He attended a preschool dedicated to students with special needs and flourish during his time at the preschool and in elementary school. Michael recieved the services of a speech language pathologist and an occupational therapist from preschool through his fifth grade year(Diehl 2011). After Michael's emotional breakdowns, the guidence counselor called a meeting of Michael's general education teachers, his special education teacher, his occupational therapist, and his speech-language pathologist to discuss Michael's challenges. The group determinted the major challenges were Micheal's ability to get to class on time, comprehension of class material, ability to work in groups, and Michael's quality of written work. The group decided on having Michael use an application called Pocket Schedule. The application helped Micheal organize his assignment fotr each class due to color coding The Pocket Schedule application was uploaded to his iPod. To assist Michael with his class transitioning, videos which modeled correct halway behavior were loaded to his iPod. By making these modifications, Michael's education team was able to witness siginificant progress made by Michael through the semester. They realize that including children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the regular education classroom requires a strong ongoing multidisciplinary team(Diehl 2011).

Diehl, Sylvia (2011). ASD and Middle School Challanges: A Case Example//. Perspectives on School-Based// Issues, 12, 77-83.