Instructional Strategies for Students with Severe Disabilities

Today’s special education teachers often have students with five or more different types of disabilities in their classes, and they may be asked to teach multiple subjects. In addition, they provide general education teachers with ideas for accommodations and modifications to the general education curriculum.

To help you meet these numerous and demanding responsibilities, CEC has compiled in this section a wide variety of instructional strategies teachers can use with students with mild/moderate disabilities, including:

• Autism
• Blindness/Vision Impairment
• Deafness/Hearing Impairment
• Mental Retardation
• Physical Disabilities

We will continually add to this section, so check back often to see what is new!

A Meta-Analysis on Teaching Mathematics to Students With Significant Cognitive Disabilities
This article reports on a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of 68 experiments on teaching mathematics to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. These studies offer strong evidence for using systematic instruction to teach mathematics skills and for using in vivo settings.

Adapted Bicycles for Teaching Riding Skills
Learning how to ride a two-wheel bicycle is taken for granted as a societal norm and rite of passage. For many children with physical and cognitive disabilities, it is a skill beyond their reach. But the adapted bicycle program can help them do something they may have only dreamed about -- ride a two-wheeler down the street like other children.

Aligning Assessment and Instruction with State Standards for Children With Significant Disabilities
This article shares a teacher’s perspective and approach to planning standards-based instruction for students with significant disabilities.

Alternate Assessment FAQs (and Answers)
Common questions regarding alternate assessments are answered. These include what an alternate assessment is (and is not), who should take one, what is covered, what the model looks like, and how to create a viable alternate assessment.

Art Activities for Children with Disabilities (December 2003)
How can art activities be structured for students with disabilities?