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NCAC: Research & Solutions: Family Education and Advocacy Perspectives: Students Make Progress with UDL

Students Make Progress with Universal Design for Learning

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Perhaps your son or daughter is like many students who are very bright, but have trouble reading. Perhaps your child best understands an assignment if he can hear and see the words he is reading at the same time. Perhaps your child is eager to learn but cannot read at the same grade level as his or her peers, or needs help knowing when to move on to the next task. Or, perhaps your child is blind or has a physical disability and needs word processing software or special equipment in order to write easily.

In the past when students had problems learning, many teachers took extra time and extra effort to help. Some prepared special materials for students, or they searched for needed computer technologies. Others decided to re-teach the lesson at another time or to refer students to special education teachers or other specialists for help. It took a lot of extra effort for teachers to do this, and to do it well. Now there is an exciting new approach called Universal Design for Learning that helps teachers more readily meet the needs of their many different students. This approach can help your child be successful in the regular education classroom.

Making Progress Possible

Universally designed instruction is important because it gives teachers many possible ways to fit instruction to each student. This occurs when learning begins and before a student has time to fail. The approach helps teachers make instruction more personal for every student. Both the ways of teaching and the learning materials are flexible and they work together to set progress in motion. Teachers can act quickly to deliver help, and they have better ideas about how your child learns best. They also can be more accurate in helping your child learn, and they can speed up or slow down the work when your child needs a change of pace.

For example,

• If your child learns best through listening, he or she can use a computer to read stories and information aloud, or to pronounce new words;
• If your child has trouble with spelling or grammar or taking notes, the teacher will offer support so these skills do not slow down learning;
• If your child needs hints about where an answer is found, teachers will set up the curriculum to offer prompts about where to look in order to be successful;
• If your child struggles to pick out the most important points, or organize information, he or she can use a computer program that helps students learn by doing;
• If your child learns more easily with large print, the curriculum materials will be set up in this way;
• If your child can explain things best by using word processing software, then that will be the method of choice rather than using pencil and paper. If your child cannot work with a keyboard, he or she will use the device that works best, such as a switch, or voice commands, or other ways that help them share what they know.

New Approach

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Because this approach is new, many teachers do not yet know about universally designed instruction. In fact, teachers, parents, and students may discover it at the same time and recognize its benefits together. They may be surprised to learn this approach works with all types of learners even when students in the same classroom learn differently from one another or when groups are large and teachers have less time to spend with each student.

In fields such as architecture, universal designs are not new. They help assure that buildings and housing are both accessible to people with disabilities and easier to use by many others. In classrooms, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) works in similar ways because it is designed to make education accessible for all with maximum benefits.

Making the Curriculum Work

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UDL is based on research about learning, the brain, and new technology-particularly the technology research on computers and software with electronic text. UDL offers a new way of thinking about students and how to help them - whatever their needs are. Like many effective teachers, those using UDL focus on the unique strengths and needs of each student. However, UDL's built-in flexibility, in both the materials and in the teaching methods, appears to improve both teaching and learning. Universally designed educational multimedia, Internet sites, and networked learning opportunities are used with a variety of UDL teaching strategies. These work together to encourage students to learn using all their strengths, get the right amount and the right types of help when they need it, and to move ahead when they are ready.

By using UDL methods and materials, students have a choice in the way that they learn and show what they know. Teachers do not have to spend as much extra time or to look elsewhere as often for help when learning problems arise. The UDL menu of options enables your child to progress by working around his or her barriers to learning (for example, inability to hold a textbook, or trouble reading words or writing sentences). Students can make progress using their learning preferences and strengths (for example, drawing pictures, using word processing, listening, or other in other ways). As your child grows to work more independently, the supports that they use at first are gradually taken away. If they understand parts of the curriculum very well, they can move ahead easily.

UDL works across the curriculum in all subjects and it can be called into action for a variety of learning problems. Each student can have the help that he or she needs in UDL classrooms. You can be sure that it is possible for your child to get a good education when they are taught alongside classmates who learn easily in mainstream classes.

UDL offers hope for the future. It takes into account your child's individual needs and helps learning. It also improves teaching by helping educators select the best options for individual students in terms of:

• How information and ideas are delivered;
• How your child works with and expresses information, and
• How your child gets involved in and stays involved his or her work.

UDL is a fresh new approach that deserves close attention from parents, teachers, and students. If it is successful it will help more students graduate from the general education curriculum with full diplomas rather than certificates. It will help more students with special needs go on with their studies and develop the skills needed for a broader range of employment options.