1. Diverse Learners,
Inclusion, and
Universal Design
for Learning (UDL)
Prepared by Dr. Carla Piper

2. Special Needs
 Everyone has special needs!
 You will find as many distinctive needs
as there are children
 Every child requires attention to his/her
individual characteristics
 An individualized approach is required
for every child

3. The Exceptional Child
 A child with special needs
 A child who is different enough from the
“standard” or “average” child to require
special methods, services, and possibly
equipment in order to attain desired
learning objectives.
 May differ at rate at which they learn
 May learn in different ways
McCormick 1994

4. Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA)
 Mandates a free and appropriate education for
all children ages 3-21
 Educational services are to be provided in the
“least restrictive environment”
 Educate each child in the same school he/she would
attend if no disability existed
 Children with disabilities to be included with typically
developing peers
 Educated in regular school programs

5. Inclusion
 All children benefit by having children with range
of abilities together in the classroom
 Assumes that all children differ in:
 Abilities
 Interests
 Needs
 Classroom environment can be designed to
provide learning experiences for every child.
 Provides valuable lessons in caring and helping
 Involves making some modifications in the
curriculum and in the classroom

6. Suggestions for Inclusion
 Find out what services are available to
support your work with the student
 Brainstorm with experts and consultants on
how you can best support the development of
the student
 Ask yourself: “How can I make instructional
time relevant to this student and also meet
needs of the other students?”
 Be flexible and open to learning new things
 Include possibilities for using assistive
technologies to help provide an inclusive
learning environment

7. Suggested Teaching Strategies
With ALL Students:
 Respond to their interests
 Focus on what they are intending to communicate
rather than their actual work
 Arrange the learning environment to promote
engagement and interactions with peers
 Use open-ended and thought-provoking questions to
assist them in interacting successfully with people and
materials.
 Use modeling and assist them to learn through
observation and interaction with their peers
 Brainstorm possibilities for using assistive
technologies.

8. UDL – Teaching Diverse Learners
 Learning disabilities such as dyslexia
 English language barriers
 Emotional or behavioral problems
 Lack of interest or engagement
 Sensory and physical disabilities
One-size-fits-all approach to education
simply does not work!
How can teachers respond to individual differences?
CAST

9. Universal Design for Learning
UDL for Inclusion
 Multiple means of representation
 to give learners various ways of acquiring
information and knowledge
 Multiple means of action and
expression
 to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating
what they know
 Multiple means of engagement
 to tap into learners' interests
 offer appropriate challenges
 increase motivation
CAST

10. UDL Changes Teaching
 Children with disabilities fall along a
continuum of learner differences rather than
constituting a separate category.
 Teachers adjust for learner differences for
ALL children, not just those with disabilities
 Curriculum materials should be varied and
diverse
 including digital and online resources
 not merely a single resource
 Teachers allow for flexibility to accommodate
learner differences rather than set curriculum

11. Physical, Social, Emotional, Cognitive
Learning Environments
Does every student:
 Feel welcome as a full and equal
member in your classroom?
 Access and engage in all learning
opportunities during your day?
 Learn according to his or her individual
strengths and interests?
 Demonstrate his or her learning in ways
that reflect individual strengths?
The Universal Design of Early Education: Moving Forward for All Children

12. UDL in Educational Environments
 The physical environment
 Enables all students to have access and equitable
opportunities for full participation in all program
activities.
 Includes structures, permanent and movable
equipment and furnishings, storage, materials,
and assistive technologies.
 The social-emotional environment
 Offers all students equitable access to and full
membership in the social-emotional life of the
group
 Supports their social-emotional development
The Universal Design of Early Education: Moving Forward for All Children

13. UDL in Educational Settings
 The teaching environment
 Gives all students equitable access to learning
opportunities
 information and activities in multiple formats
 multiple means for engagement, expression, and
learning.
 Includes the curriculum, teaching practices,
materials, technologies, and activities
 Individual assessment and program
evaluation practices
 Provide multiple approaches to finding out what
children know and can do
 Equitably assess individual learning, development,
and educational progress
The Universal Design of Early Education: Moving Forward for All Children

14. Multiple Means
 Multiple Means of Representation
 How can you present information and content in
different ways?
 Multiple Means of Action and Expression
 How can you differentiate the ways that students can
express what they know?
 Multiple Means of Engagement
 How can you stimulate interest and motivation for
learning?

15. Three Primary Brain Networks
 Recognition networks
 Gathering facts
 How we identify and categorize what we see, hear, and read
 Identifying letters, words, or an author's style are recognition
tasks—the "what" of learning
 Strategic networks
 Planning and performing tasks
 How we organize and express our ideas
 Writing an essay or solving a math problem are strategic
tasks—the "how" of learning
 Affective networks
 How students are engaged and motivated
 How they are challenged, excited, or interested
 These are affective dimensions—the "why" of learning
CAST

16. UDL Networks
CAST - http://www.cast.org/
National Center of UDL - http://www.udlcenter.org/

17. Tapping Primary Brain Networks
 Students use recognition networks – What to learn?
 Gather facts and learning to discriminate
 Locate , evaluate, and use information
 Interact with real-time events and with authentic
sources
 Students use strategic networks – How to learn?
 Plan and perform tasks
 Organize and express ideas and creativity
 Word Process , present, create video, music, etc.
 Interact and solve real-time problems
 Students use affective networks – Why learn?
 Engaged and motivated
 Challenged, excited, and interested

18. Executive Function and
Self Regulation
 Skills are the mental processes that enable us to
plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and
juggle multiple tasks successfully.
 The brain needs this skill set to filter distractions,
prioritize tasks, set and achieve goals, and
control impulses.
Harvard Developing Child

19. Resources
 National Center for Universal Design for Learning
(UDL) - http://www.udlcenter.org/
 CAST - http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html
 Teaching Every Student (CAST) -
http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/
 Harvard Developing Child
 NAEYC - The Universal Design of Early Education:
Moving Forward for All Children -
http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200609/ConnPowersBTJ.p
df
 NCIP - http://www2.edc.org/NCIP/