Donna's Story

Profile

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• Teaching experience: 22 years in special education
• Where: New Hampshire
• Learners served: Donna's background includes seven years as a learning disabilities specialist with middle and high school students.
• Current role: Donna is Elementary Special Education Coordinator for a school district composed of one high school, one middle school, and nine elementary schools. In this capacity, she attends team meetings, meets weekly with special education teams in individual schools, provides mentoring and training, develops and maintains budgets, and monitors procedural compliance and individual student programs. In addition, she provides special education technology support and leadership for students in preschool through grade 12.
• Educational background: Master's Degree in Education

How was Donna introduced to Universal Design for Learning?

The district where Donna works committed itself eight years ago to upgrading its computers and installing a networked system in which every classroom was wired and connected. At that time, the special education department joined in the technology initiative, exploring ways that technology could be supportive of individual students' needs. "We saw the power of computer software, hardware adaptations and Internet resources to provide successful learning supports for individual students with disabilities," Donna recalls, "and with the gentle prodding of our CAST mentors, began to explore ways in which we could be proactive, building universal design elements into the curriculum to make it more flexible and accessible for all." Under Donna's leadership, the school district launched a project to create digital versions of its print-based curriculum using Internet resources and scanned text. These efforts have resulted in a digital library that continues to grow each year.

What impact has UDL had in the classroom?

"Students with learning disabilities struggle at the level of decoding and have difficulty gaining meaning from print sources," Donna notes. "As a consequence, they often can't keep pace with classroom peers in engaging in real reading experiences. Electronic books provide these students with opportunities to be exposed to and gather information from a wider range of materials."

Donna goes on to cite the barriers children with learning and attention problems face when conducting research for term papers and class projects, and the role UDL can play in addressing them. "Doing research is often a multi-step process, and students have difficulty with the organizational aspects of it. Furthermore, the reading and writing demands are significant and can lead to breakdown in effort, and deterioration of the quality of the product. The use of word processors, screen readers, and software that provides writing and organizational supports allows all students in the class to gather information and show what they have learned. It results in a product in which they can take pride."

"An unanticipated outcome for me," Donna says, "was the positive effect that UDL has had on many special educators. I think a lot of special educators spent a lot of time chasing after the regular education curriculum just trying to stay ahead of it or keep up, and feeling frustrated that they don't truly have a role in the classroom meat of it. With UDL, special educators feel that now they have this bigger toolbox. They can sit down one to one with a classroom teacher and have something to offer in the conversation about the content. That's a great role to have. Most special education teachers that I come in contact with don't also want to have their own curriculum. They want to be part of the mainstream of the school. They want the students that they work with to be part of the mainstream of the school. UDL offers them a way to be more collegial so they can actually bring their expertise into the conversation about teaching in the mainstream."

What steps will Donna take next?

Donna will continue to work to integrate the principles of UDL into the key initiatives currently underway in her district. In particular, she wants to see UDL integrated into the approach called Understanding by Design, which the district is using to develop curriculum units. "I hope that thinking about UDL principles will become a natural part of planning the curriculum in my district," she says.

In addition, Donna will continue to provide opportunities for the entire staff to become more comfortable with technology. This includes using computers, teaching in labs, and becoming familiar with a range of software--both open-ended "creativity" software and instructional environments that provide a variety of scaffolds and supports for students. She also wants to expand on the school district's use of the Web so that a wider range of media will be available to students.

Donna reports: "We are putting our digital curriculum materials on the Web so students can access them at home. We are continuing to expand our digital collection, and are stepping up efforts to get material directly from publishers. The acquisition of a high-speed scanner should significantly speed up our digitizing efforts." The school district will also expand and make more readily available to staff 'home-made' software supports in curriculum theme areas. These collections will be housed on district servers and on CD ROM's.

"Giving teachers forums and other opportunities to reflect on what they are doing to implement UDL in their classrooms is an important initiative for this year. A group from our middle school--classroom, ESL, technology and special education teachers--who spent time this summer in a UDL/technology integration workshop will continue to meet and have established an on-line 'conferencing' area on the district Web site."

What tips can Donna offer others who are interested in getting involved in UDL?

• Start small, in a few classrooms, with volunteers. Encourage a few "teams" of regular and special educators to explore possibilities around UDL concepts.
• Spread the word in as many settings within the school district as you can: school board meeting, PTO meetings, staff meetings of various kinds--departments, schools, grade level--and curriculum development committees, to name a few.
• Make UDL "business as usual" as you proceed with your work. Donna notes: "As a special education coordinator, I find that I can have an influence at a variety of levels as I go about my regular tasks--in team meetings, in staff meetings, brainstorming and trouble-shooting with staff, organizing staff development opportunities, planning student assessment, making budget decisions. It permeates all aspects of the job of a special education coordinator."
• If you are a special education administrator, become involved (and expect others in the department to become involved) in the technology and other curriculum development initiatives in your district. Too often, special educators are the last to be invited to become part of these initiatives.
• Make provisions for staff to have time to plan together.
• Provide the hardware and software resources that will be necessary to make UDL happen in your school. Because resources are limited, it is important to collaborate with other departments, including technology and content areas, on grant possibilities and other opportunities to share resources.

What challenges has Donna found in using UDL?

• Time: Finding time for teachers to plan together, and to design and refine curriculum.
• Resources: Making sure we keep an adequate collection of tools and other resources available for UDL implementation.
• Maintenance: Ensuring that we have systems in place for keeping the hardware and software working well, so that key content people do not have to spend their time fixing it.

Why would a special education administrator be interested in UDL?

"Since learning about UDL and beginning to talk with others in the school district about it, and then beginning to implement aspects of it, I realize that I've discovered, for myself, a way that special educators can at last have a mutual relationship with regular educators," Donna says. "The concept of UDL seems to me to be an intersection where all the initiatives--integrated units, multi-sensory teaching, multiple intelligences, the use of computers in schools, and performance-based assessment--come together.

"Teachers are a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff going on in schools in the name of education reform/restructuring and the increasing demands placed on them by diverse groups of students, higher expectations, high stakes testing, etc. This concept of UDL can be a unifying, strengthening force. It brings together special education, regular education and technology, and focuses everyone on the curriculum and the needs of students."

How can teachers get started in integrating UDL into their classrooms?

• Set up a small scanning station, train staff or volunteers to use it, and start to convert some of your books into digital media. Make the text available in text only or rich text format. Store the text somewhere easy for teachers to access-on disk, on school- or district-wide server, if available, or directly on hard drives.
• Invest in some basic, useful "toolbox-expanding" software for classrooms, resource rooms and labs, and teach staff how to use it. Explore with teachers (teams of specialists and classroom teachers, if possible) how they can use this software to expand the learning opportunities for students within their curriculum. Provide on-going support as teachers actually try to implement the software with their students.
• Invite yourself or a designee to participate in curriculum refinement or development committees. Introduce these committees to the concepts of UDL. Encourage special education teachers to be part of the regular education teachers' planning opportunities (i.e., grade level meetings or content department meetings), so they can make a difference for their students before curriculum is implemented.
• Forge a strong working relationship with the technology department in your school and district.