In a previous CMDI blog, we examined the difference between specially designed instruction (SDI) and differentiated instruction (DI). In this blog, we will take a deeper look at the concept of SDI and accommodations and examine this important area of SDI in greater detail. 

To quickly review, SDI is a legal requirement under Part 200 of the NYS Department of Education regulations for students with disabilities. It is instruction that is designed for the student with disabilities who has an individualized education plan (IEP) to meet their education and IEP goals. It is highly personalized and is what the teacher or other service providers do, not what the student does to help the student access the curriculum or other areas identified in their IEP. SDI is different than regular universal design for learning or differentiated instruction in as much as they plan for “the why”, “the what” and “the how” of learning for the whole class and is something that all educators do. 

SDI is IEP or 504 plan driven and the accommodations that you will plan for the student change “the how” for specific students and as we discussed, are part of SDI. It can help to think about SDI like this – what will you as the educator do to help close the academic performance gap between your student with the IEP and their general education peers. This is done by providing your student with accommodations. 

With accommodations, we are changing “the how” for specific students based on our knowledge of their disability and the way it impacts their education. What do we mean by this? Well, accommodations do not change the instructional level, the content nor do they change the criteria for meeting a particular curricula standard. What they do, however, is provide the student with an IEP, access to information and to create an equal opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills – leveling the playing field. We will discuss examples in a little more detail further on, but taking a quick helicopter look at accommodations could include breaks, flexible seating, additional time to complete tasks, changes in student response, varying delivery of instruction, varied reading level (think NewsELA for example), and pre-teaching and re-teaching, to name a few. 

Let’s examine some ideas about the accommodations mentioned above and look at them in a little more detail: 

Breaks: some students just need to be able to have a break every so often. It could be a movement break, a mental break from the task in hand or a sensory break. Sitting for a whole period studying calculus, for example, can be taxing for any one of us. For some students, they need that break to get up and move to ‘reset’ themselves. The elementary school aged student 

with ADHD may need the opportunity to go for a walk just to ‘clear their head’ and ‘get the wiggles out.’ The student with autism spectrum disorder, may need a sensory break from the noise (or wear a pair of noise reducing headphones) in the classroom. 

Flexible Seating: This has so many different possibilities. From being sat near the source of instruction, to taking a test at the rear of the classroom with minimal distractions, to sitting on specially designed chairs to meet a need; always thinking about your students’ individual need. The IEP may state something along the lines of, “sat near the point of instruction.” How many teachers stand at the front of the class and don’t move? Not many. Using the term, “strategically sat in the classroom” can mean the student can move near where the teacher is sitting, to moving around if they feel they need to. Some students may have to use specialized seats due to specific physical needs. 

Increased Time to Complete Work: Some students will take longer to process what they are reading or writing or calculating. It may take them longer to read the passage in front of them or to decode the math word problem they are trying to solve. Some students may need to break down tasks into bite sized chunks and complete the task piece by piece. This all takes longer than their general education peers. Perhaps your student with an IEP requires this.  Maybe they need to take a test over a period of a few days. It does not mean they are less capable, but they just need the additional time or method of taking that test. 

Multiple Options for Student Response: In my view, this is perhaps one of the most powerful accommodations that we can offer students. Imagine being a student with dyslexia. Not only is it hard to decode words, but to then comprehend what you have read when all your mental energy has been expended decoding the passage. Now you are expected to write a response on what you have read. For some, this is overwhelming. One idea is to use something like Google’s Read & Write extension to Chrome. Uploaded texts will be read to your student, and they can respond by dictating into their Google Doc. Think about what you, as an educator are trying to find out. You are trying to find out whether they have mastered what you have taught them.  How can they show that if their disability is an obstacle to this? Perhaps you have a student who is visual and very ‘artsy’ but finds it hard to write. Why not give them the opportunity to present their work visually, through a Flipgrid Video or PowerPoint presentation. Your auditory student can present orally through a podcast and so on. The options are limitless here, but oh, so powerful. 

Pre-teach or Re-teach: For some students pre-teaching something like the vocabulary to an upcoming unit can help them understand the concepts to be taught or get them ready for that unit. For some, re-teaching a previously taught concept can help them understand the relationship to this new unit. Think about it like this – in math – you want to teach the various mathematical operations of fractions. You may have to review the terms denominator and numerator or multiple and so on to help the student understand this new unit. 

Ultimately, providing accommodations is not about giving any student an advantage over their peers. Quite the opposite in fact. Providing accommodations is about leveling the playing field for your students with an IEP. 

In this blog, I have tried to give you a small flavor of SDI and accommodations. Would you like to know more? The consultants at CMDI can help you with this and can support your school or district. Go to our website, www.cmdi.us to set up a free discovery call.