The use of current assessment results is an essential part of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process for students with disabilities. The results of assessments allow the IEP team to write accurate statements of present levels of performance and thus student-centered goals and objectives. For students with visual impairments, including…

The report describes the procedures and products of seven materials adaptation projects sponsored by the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education and discusses ideas and techniques that can be adopted by school districts in their own materials adaptation efforts. Project requirements prescribed that adaptations…

Without careful attention to learning-disabled students' strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, language processing abilities, and reading levels, these students can fail to master content and essential knowledge about the Civil War and other subjects. Alternative approaches include providing in-class readings for group discussion and outside…

This final report discusses the outcomes of a project that created a Universal Access System (UAS), a system that gives students with disabilities access to the same computers as their classmates. The project developed a new approach in which the needs of the individual with disabilities are handled separately from the computers and other devices…

This article examines a process for teachers to use when deciding whether to adapt a text for a student. The following five options for text adaptations are described: bypass reading, decrease reading, support reading, organize reading, and guide reading. Adaptations for student work products and for tests are also addressed. (Contains…

Five charts list toys, playground equipment, and other materials found in most child care settings that promote social, emotional, perceptual, sensory, cognitive, and physical development and that can be used, with little or no modification, by children with disabilities. (MDM)

This final report describes a federally funded project to improve the instructional design and use of general software with students who have special learning needs. An 86-page guide, which was the project output, is provided. This "Guide for the Use of General Software with Students Who Have Special Learning Needs" is designed to help teachers…

Many caregivers doubt their ability to provide appropriate play experiences for children with special needs included in their program because some children with disabilities may not have the ability to interact and manipulate toys in a meaningful way. This paper provides guidance in appropriately adapting toys and the play situation to allow many…

This article chronicles one special educator's process of implementing adaptive instructional strategies in her middle school language arts classroom. Paige Michalski crafted adaptations for her students with disabilities in the curricular area of digital storytelling (Banaszewski, 2002; Dunn, 2000). Digital storytelling involves telling stories…