Link Lines-September 2024

Educators’ Edition:
Setting the Stage for Specially Designed Instruction
by Shelley Littleton, M.S.

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Administrators’ Corner
Planning for Progress:  Specially Designed Instruction
by Cathy Buyrn M.Ed.

Let us be clear…special education does not occur if Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) does not occur. If you are a school leader responsible for supervising special education, you are directly responsible for ensuring that SDI happens for every single student who is entitled to special education services. Inclusive school leaders understand that SDI is focused on the individual needs of each student and is designed to close specific skill gaps so that students with disabilities have access to, and make progress in, the general education curriculum (Individuals with Disabilities Act, 2004).

See Link Lines article:  Access & Progress:  Facilitating High Expectations for Students with Disabilities (July 2023).

 Inclusive school leaders can monitor SDI by considering the following questions:

 Is it special?

• • Something different from the typical general education practices of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) or Differentiated Instruction (DI)?
  • Does it address the child’s unique needs?
  • Is it related to an IEP goal?
  • Are we collecting data for progress monitoring?
  • Is it instruction rather than a tool or accommodation?
  • Is it intentional?
  • Designed to bring about progress?
  • Is it growing a skill that will be transferable or generalizable?
  • Is it building independence?

(Beninghof, 2022, pp. 20-21)

Special education teachers’ primary responsibility is to develop and deliver SDI, as opposed to helping students to complete every single assignment from the general education teacher. While completion of some general education assignments might be appropriate for a student with a disability, the priority for the special education teacher is always SDI associated with Individual Education Program (IEP) goals focused on student needs that will help them progress in the general education curriculum. Students with disabilities are only fully included in general education when their IEPs and the associated SDI lays out a plan for closing specific skill gaps (Endrew F., 2017).

Co-teachers (general education & special education) must negotiate which assignments make sense for each student with a disability to complete. Special education teachers often have the mistaken perception that SDI can be accomplished by providing accommodations on general education assignments and assessments. Accommodations alone are not sufficient to meet the requirements of SDI. A common accommodation is the read aloud where students gain access to text via technology or a human reader. While this accommodation is necessary to give students access to text that they cannot currently read, it is not SDI. Students who receive a read aloud accommodation must also be receiving ongoing explicit instruction in independent reading skills in order to meet the requirements of SDI. Inclusive school leaders should keep conversations about students with disabilities focused on SDI. Time, space, and resources must include specific structures for developing and delivering SDI to students with disabilities in order to close skill gaps and provide meaningful access to the general education curriculum. It is important to be clear about what inclusion really is and what it is not. Inclusive practices provide the basis for meaningful access to, and the opportunity to make progress in, the general education curriculum.

Table 1

Recognizing Inclusion:  What Inclusion is and is not in a Public School

Inclusion is…	Inclusion is not…
Students with disabilities attending their neighborhood school in chronologically age-appropriate general education classrooms.	Students with disabilities included only in grade-level cluster classrooms or disability-specific regional programs.
Students with disabilities having individualized and relevant learning objectives aligned to state standards.	Students with disabilities spending every minute in the general education classroom focusing solely on grade-level academic objectives.
Students with disabilities are provided with the specially designed instruction, related services, and supports needed to succeed academically and socially, and to participate fully in school routines with their classmates.	Students with disabilities being “mainstreamed” when seen as “ready;” and left to “sink or swim” when outside of the separate special education classroom.
Collaboratively developing and implementing an IEP with a team that includes the student, family, classroom teachers, and special educators (results-oriented approach). The IEP serves as a living document that guides daily, weekly, and monthly planning to support successful academic and functional outcomes in a general education setting.	Developing and implementing an IEP that meets minimum compliance required under law, (a process-oriented approach), but is not developed collaboratively, and does little to advance a student academically or functionally in the general education setting (results-oriented approach).
A schoolwide and systemwide commitment to structures and practices integrated into the overall mission of educating all children.	A proposition provided for certain students and certain schools or school settings (e.g., “the inclusion student” or “the inclusion classroom/school”).

(Virginia Department of Education, 2019, p. 8)

When school leaders help to keep everyone’s eye on the ball (i.e., SDI), students with disabilities will experience instruction that helps them close skill gaps and make progress in the general education curriculum.

Administrators and teachers can explore specific examples and tools to support SDI development in this Link Lines edition of the Educator’s Lesson, Setting the Stage for Specially Designed Instruction. 

Additionally, The Progress Center provides IEP Tip Sheets including What is Special Education? A Focus on Specially Designed Instruction.

School leaders in Virginia can reach out to their regional Training & Technical Assistance Centers (TTACs) for support focused on SDI and a broad range of topics related to supporting students with disabilities. 

References