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Using AI to Modify Curriculum for Students with Disabilities: A Guide for Teachers and Families

In today's diverse classrooms, creating truly inclusive educational materials can be challenging. Artificial intelligence offers powerful tools to help modify and adapt curriculum resources to meet the unique needs of all learners. This guide will walk you through practical ways to leverage AI for inclusive education.

Why Use AI for Making Curriculum Modifications?

AI tools can help you:

• Save significant time on adaptations and differentiation
• Create multiple versions of materials for different learning needs
• Ensure consistent quality across modifications
• Address specific accessibility requirements efficiently

Step-by-Step Guide to Using AI for Curriculum Modifications

1. Identify the Learning Barriers in Your Materials

Before using AI, assess your current materials:

• Which elements might create barriers for certain students?
• What modifications would make the content more accessible?
• Which students need what specific adaptations?

How Inclusive is Your Classroom?

Classroom Inclusivity Assessment

Question 1 of 12

Unlocking Achievement Through Curriculum Modifications: A Path to Inclusive Education

Curriculum modifications play a pivotal role in ensuring that every student, regardless of their unique needs and abilities, has the opportunity to thrive academically and socially. In an educational landscape that seeks to foster inclusivity, equity, and individualized learning, understanding and implementing curriculum modifications have never been more critical. 

Three Lessons Learned About Inclusion From My Marathon Journey

Author, blogger, and cerebral palsy (CP) advocate, Zachary Fenell, is back on our blog with a story about inclusion and a marthon. Read below to find out how the two intersected and changed Zachary's life in ways in couldn't have imagined. For the full story, check out Zachary's new book, Slow and Cerebral.

Discussing inclusion proves important. Through such discussion we learn from each other. Gathering ideas which will help inclusion thrive. Exactly why I approached Nicole and asked about providing a new guest post for The Inclusive Class blog. 

A lot has happened since my last guest post, published nearly a decade ago. Nearly a decade? Wow! Where the heck does the time go? Anyway, amongst those prior mentioned happenings, one in-particular stands out to me. I accomplished a feat that nearly a decade ago I deemed “unreasonable.” Becoming a marathoner.

The Effects of Presuming Competence

Ms. B is a teacher at XYZ Middle School. She has 32 students of various abilities in her class, including a student with intellectual disabilities. The student with intellectual disabilities has the support of a paraprofessional who facilitates access to the curriculum. Ms. B is about to plan for an upcoming unit on plants. The grade-level learning outcomes require students to understand the structure of plants and plant biology. She wonders if the topic and content will be too challenging for her student with intellectual disabilities to understand. Ms. B is concerned that the student will become overwhelmed and frustrated when presented with such a complex topic. Should she plan for the student to work with a list of science vocabulary words that were targeted for review in a recent assessment or should she plan to modify the unit lessons for the the student so they can participate in the class lessons and learn the same new concepts as their peers? Ms. B wonders what to do. 

How to Make Accessible and Inclusive Education Materials for Students With and Without Disabilities

You've heard me say this many times. Inclusion isn’t a program. It’s the process of including students of all ability levels in our education system to the fullest extent possible. There are dozens of articles and books that cite the research on inclusion, describe the process and practice of inclusion, provide tips for writing inclusive IEPs, and name strategies for facilitating inclusion in the classroom. 

I've written many times on the types of materials that are widely used in an inclusive classroom such as visual timers, highlighters, color-coded folders, and more. However, one area that I haven't said much about is the text-based educational materials that we use in our daily instruction. After a year of viewing online coursework and hundreds of presentation slides, it's time to talk about providing accessible and inclusive text-based education materials for students with and without disabilities. 

10 Powerful Strategies for Teaching Students With Different Ability Levels in Your Classroom

There is no doubt that we will see greater disaparity in ability levels amongst the students in our classrooms given the time lost learning in a consistent, structured, and equitable educational environment over the past year. 

In fact, a recent study conducted by researchers at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University projected that most students will return to school with, "approximately 63-68% of the learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year and with 37-50% of the learning gains in math."

Work with Me!

 

Wondering how to make your school and classroom truly inclusive? Want to know more about the process of inclusion? Learn all you need to know about inclusion from an inclusion teacher! 

I am passionate about inclusive education and love to share what I have learned from over 15 years as an inclusion classroom teacher.

If you are eager to learn what inclusive education is, how to successfully include students with special needs in your classroom, advocate for inclusion or find resources, then we need to connect!

I am available for keynote presentations, breakout sessions, workshops, and webinars to organizations and schools interested in successfully including students with disabilities in the classroom. 

10 Easy Ways to Create an Inclusive Virtual Classroom

    Believe it or not, teachers can create inclusive learning environments even though students may not be physically present in the classroom this fall. 

Using research-based teaching strategies and activities, teachers can build an online community that is inclusive of students with a wide variety of abilities and interests. These teaching techniques can facilitate inclusion. Thus, not only will the student be present in the daily lessons, but he or she will also be an active participant. 

How to Include Students with Disabilities by Modifying Curriculum in 3 Easy Steps!

Modifying curriculum for students who do not yet have an understanding of grade level content has long been the sole responsibility of the special education teacher. 

However, since the goal of inclusion is to include the student in as much of the general education environment and curriculum as possible, then we have to expect that modifications will occur as frequently as possible across all areas of the educational program. 

Thus, if we want to see full, authentic inclusion exist in our school system then making modifications needs to be the responsibility of EVERY teacher. 

(Read more here.)

What New Teachers Need to Know About Inclusive Classrooms

The more I talk to schools and families about inclusion, the more I realize that one of the biggest barriers to inclusion is the lack of training in teacher education programs. Through no fault of their own, new teachers know very little about inclusion. They are not given the knowledge, skill set, or resources to teach in inclusive classrooms. I would love to be in a situation where I could teach and prepare new teachers for inclusive classrooms but I'm not quite there yet. So, in the meantime, here are a few things that I want new teachers to know about inclusive classrooms.....

5 Essential Classroom Management Strategies to Keep Your Inclusive Class Running Smoothly

As any teacher will tell you, teaching isn't just about lessons, marking school work, and tests. It's also about keeping track of a million little details such as how many available pencils are in your classroom at any given time, which student has gone to the bathroom, who needs to finish an assignment, and remembering to hand-out permission forms for the class field trip. It's enough to make you forget what you have to teach that day!

Classroom management plans are established to make school life a little less chaotic for teachers and a lot more predictable for students. Those plans are made of routines and protocols that are meant to be consistent and effective. For example, students can write their name (or use a name tag) on the board before leaving the classroom. Thus, a teacher only has to glance at the board to know who or who is not in the classroom. 

New Website for Inclusion!

Quick update! Life has been busy and I haven't had a chance to contribute much to this blog. I will have some more time in the next few weeks so hope to get some more posts written. 

Some of the things that have been keeping me busy recently include speaking at a number of conferences recently. I never imagined I would have the opportunity to share my experiences and knowledge at conferences and I love it! 

Modified Lessons All in One Place!

I am currently in the process of putting together an online binder that contains lessons and lesson ideas for modifying curriculum for students with intellectual disabilities.

You can view the binder @ http://bit.ly/modifiedlessons.

4 Things That Every School Needs to Make Inclusion Work

How many times have you heard a parent or teacher say, "Inclusion doesn't work"? I used to cringe when people would make such a bold statement. Trying to resist the urge to retort in what would likely be an unprofessional show of frustration, I would give an overview of 30 years of research to support inclusion. I also provided a personal account of 15 years teaching in a fully inclusive school system. Some stayed to hear me out, while others politely excused themselves from the conversation.

3 Big Misconceptions About Inclusion

Despite years of research that concludes inclusion is best for students with AND without disabilities, there are STILL misconceptions about inclusive classrooms. In a recent discussion with Understood.org, I summarized 3 of those big misconceptions: 

1.  The first big misconception about inclusion is the concern that the student with disabilities will not be able to “keep up” with the class curriculum. Fortunately, inclusive classrooms recognize that not every child will be learning at the same rate, and at the same time. 

12 Practical Strategies to Teach Grade-Level Curriculum to Students with Disabilities

It's a fact that students with intellectual disabilities must be participating to the maximum extent possible (and with appropriate supports) in the classroom lessons and activities. 

To do so, we presume competence in the student's ability to learn and participate in education. In other words, we can't assume that the student with cognitive issues will not learn what we are teaching. 

However, teachers and parents often wonder how the student with intellectual disabilities can be taught in a grade-level class with grade-level content. This is a legitimate concern. Understandably, some of the concepts of the lesson may not be at the learning level of the student - particularly if the student is on a modified program. 

So, one of the most common questions I hear with regards to inclusive education is, how can teachers keep students who work below grade level engaged and learning during class instruction? Well, in addition to providing a modified lesson activity, teachers need to back up and think about providing instructional supports and modifications to the lesson delivery. 

Thus, I have put together a list of strategies that teachers can use to reach and teach students with intellectual disabilites during classroom instruction: 

1. Outlines - Give a partially completed outline of the lecture that the student fills in at key points before, during, or after the lesson. 

2. Lecture Q & A - Give student a handout that asks questions about concepts in the lecture. Student answers questions as lecture is given. 

3. True or False? - Give student True or False questions to answer during lecture.  

4. Concept Mapping - Student draws a concept map as the lecture progresses to demonstrate understanding of lesson.

5. Doodle Notes - Student illustrates a concept or idea from the lesson during or after lecture. 

6. Focused Listening - List several main concepts given during the lecture and have students check off the concepts/make notes about concepts as the lecture progresses.

7. Scavenger Hunt – have student look for key vocab and concepts in lecture text

8. Pre-read – have student read text, watch videos, and/or complete a related activity prior to the lecture

9. Watch – have student watch teacher-created or recommended video and/or interactive lessons prior or during lecture

10. Guided Note Taking – teach student how to take notes through guided note taking. See the following for more info: 

https://www.bloomboard.com/users/amelia-fraz/collections/note-taking-for-students-with-learning-disabilities/37261fe5-6ce5-4d4a-b8c6-7ac88350b6f2

https://sites.google.com/a/gse.rutgers.edu/cues-notetaking-website/home/cues-note-taking-strategy

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/16114511143707594/

https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-are-some-ways-provide-note-taking-accommodations-student-disability

http://www.interventioncentral.org/academic-interventions/study-organization/guided-notes-increasing-student-engagement-during-lecture-

http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/guided-notes

11. Pre-read Lecture Notes – give student the lecture notes prior to or during instruction.

12. Audio Recordings – have student listen to a developmentally appropriate audio recording on the topic during lecture.

Do you have any more strategies to add to this list? Comment below!!

Including Students with Disabilities in Classroom Lessons - Part One

In a previous post, I discuss the different layers of inclusion within a successfully, inclusive school. Inclusion must exist within the community, school, classroom, AND LESSON. 

It is inclusion within the class lesson that can truly make or break an inclusive opportunity. It is not enough for a student with disabilities to be physically present within the general education classroom, without participating in the class lessons. 

Inclusive Schools say "YES"

Inclusive schools start by saying, "YES". 

"Yes", we value all children.

"Yes", we will teach all children.

"Yes", we will do what it takes to teach all children. 


Learn more about inclusive schools from Inclusion in Action: Practical Strategies to Modify Your Curriculum.