Rethinking Students: Presuming Competence

This chapter from The Speech-Language Pathologist's Handbook for Inclusive School Practices introduces the concept of rethinking students. Rethinking a student entails getting to know the student and then reflecting on how you see, treat, provide services to, and work with him or her. Read More

Making Action Plans (MAPS)

Read the excerpt to learn about the MAPS process and see an example. The MAPS process is a tool teams can use to “think big” for a particular learner; it is especially appropriate for those students who are new to inclusive education because the process can help teachers generate adaptations and supports as well as serve as a starting point for a new IEP. Read More

Special Education Law: understanding the importance of documentation

If a school incident or intervention is not properly documented, then it becomes difficult to prove that it happened. Read this excerpt from Your Classroom Guide to Special Education Law to learn about the different types of documentation as well as the basic principles of the laws and regulations regarding documentation. Then practice what you’ve learned with a “how would you rule” exercise. Read More

Meeting the needs of learners with autism spectrum disorders

Read the excerpt and discover how universal design for learning (UDL)—an innovative framework for curriculum and instructional design—addresses the needs of learners with ASDs in classrooms. This chapter contains two instructional examples that apply UDL to the development of literacy skills and social and emotion understanding, areas that can be particularly challenging for learners with ASD. Read More

Membership, participation, and learning

Read the excerpt and see examples of three of the core best practices and ultimate outcomes of the BA Model—membership, participation, and learning. This excerpt provides an overview of how membership and participation provide the context for enhancing learning, as well as the importance of, strategies for enhancing, and indicators for membership, participation, and learning. Read More