Special educators have a tremendous amount of expertise to share, especially about individualizing instruction for students with specific kinds of disabilities and taking into account each child’s special needs. Take advantage of the knowledge base that’s built up over years of providing special education services to children with disabilities, starting with the section below on Special Education Websites. These will take you into the heart of more, more, more.
You can also get specific—use the links under the section called Resources for Teaching Students with Specific Disabilities to connect with information on teaching those with:
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Behavior or emotional disorders
- Intellectual disabilities
- Learning disabilities
- Traumatic brain injury
- Visual impairment
Special Education Websites
- About.com’s Links to Special Education Teaching Strategies and Best Practices
http://specialed.about.com/od/teacherstrategies/Teaching_Strategies_and_Best_Practices.htm - About.com’s Links to Mainstreaming/Inclusion Information & Strategies
Mainstreaming: http://712educators.about.com/od/mainstreaming/Mainstreaming_Strategies.htm
Inclusion/Integration: http://specialed.about.com/lr/the_inclusive_classroom/2896/1/ - Instructional Strategies on the Internet
http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/inclusion/teaching/front_teaching.html#strategies
Links to special education teaching and learning technique sites reviewed by the Washington State Department of Education. - Intervention Techniques
http://special.edschool.virginia.edu/information/interventions.html
Special education majors at the UVA review journal articles on teaching techniques for students with disabilities. - Teachers Helping Teachers
http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/SpecialEducation.html
Special Education lesson plans submitted by teachers. - TeacherVision.com
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/
Use TeacherVision’s search box at the top of the page to find resources fast. Search under the words “Curriculum”, “Disabilities” or the phrase “Special Education” and you’ll find scads of articles and web resources. - Teaching special-needs students in the regular classroom.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald022.shtml - Special education resources for general educators.
http://serge.ccsso.org/ - Math matrix.
The math matrix matches technology tools with supporting literature on promising practices for the instruction of math for students with disabilities. Search for products and evidence among the six purposes of technology that support reading for students with special needs. From CITEd.
http://www.citeducation.org/mathmatrix/ - Reading matrix.
This matrix matches technology tools with supporting literature on promising practices for the instruction of reading for students with disabilities. From the National Center for Technology Innovation.
http://www.techmatrix.org/Infopage?page=Reading_for_Struggling_Students - WatchKnow.org.
WatchKnow has indexed over 15,000 online educational videos for children, putting them into a directory of over 3,000 categories. The videos are available without any registration or fees to teachers in the classroom and to students at home 24/7. There are also a scad of short videos focusing on how to teach students with disabilities. The link below takes you to the main page. Down the left you’ll see videos by subject (e.g., teaching science) and you’ll see a search box. Enter the terms “disabilities” or “special education” and reap the harvest!
http://www.watchknow.org/default.aspx
Resources on Teaching Students with Specific Disabilities
AD/HD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
- How can teachers help students with AD/HD?
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues148c.shtml - Helping children with AD/HD succeed at school.
http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_teaching_strategies.htm - AD/HD instructional strategies and practices.
From the U.S. Department of Education.
http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/adhd/adhd-teaching-2006.pdf
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Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
- The puzzle of autism.
A guide from the NEA (National Education Association).
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/autismpuzzle.pdf - Autism: Interventions and strategies for success.
http://www.specialed.us/autism/index2.htm - Visit Autism-World.
http://www.autism-world.com/index.php/2007/03/25/effective-strategies-for-teaching-children-with-autism-spectrum-disorders/
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Behavioral/Emotional Disorders
- Best practices for behavior disorders in the classroom.
http://specialed.about.com/cs/behaviordisorders/a/Behavior.htm - Strategies for teaching students with behavioral disorders.
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/behavior.html - Behavior at school.
http://www.nichcy.org/schoolage/behavior/atschool/
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Intellectual Disabilities
- Down syndrome.
http://specialed.about.com/od/disabilities/a/downs.htm - Down syndrome.
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/special_ed/disabilities/down/ - From West Virginia University.
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/intel.html - Pathways to Learning for Students with Cognitive Challenges.
http://www.ihdi.uky.edu/IEI/Files/Pathways%20to%20learning%20document.pdf
- Visit LDonline.
This is a premier source of info on LD for educators.
http://www.ldonline.org/indepth/teaching - TeachingLD, a must-visit, too!
TeachingLD is a service of the Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD) of the Council for Exceptional Children.
http://www.teachingld.org/ - And here’s a 3rd–the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
http://www.ncld.org/at-school/especially-for-teachers
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Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- The TBI Educator site.
http://www.tbied.org/ - Understanding and teaching students with TBI.
www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/trauma.pdf
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Visual Impairments, including Blindness
- From West Virginia University.
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/vision.html - From Family Connect, on educating students with visual impairments.
http://www.familyconnect.org/parentsitehome.asp?SectionID=72
Would you like to visit one of the other pages in Effective Practices in the Classroom and School?
If so, here are helpful quick-jump links.
- Understanding How the Brain Learns
- Understanding Universal Design
- Connecting with the Special Education Curriculum (you’re already here)
- Addressing the General Education Curriculum
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