This resource guide identifies high-quality, useful resources that address various aspects of accessibility: developing an accessibility statement, conducting an accessibility audit, acquiring accessible technology, and building professional development resources on accessibility for school staff and others.
If your child cannot read their textbooks, they need digital copies of their books. Schools now can use National Instructional Material Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) to get e-text. Learn the details that will help you advocate for your child so they can use NIMAS. And learn where to find the publishers and producers that provide e-text.
Get the answers to frequently asked questions about accessing e-text through the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC). Find out how to obtain e-text so that students with learning disabilities can get printed material in the format they need.
Many struggling and special needs students have a print disability. Teachers can meet these students’ needs by translating the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into practice. Learn about the seven features of “born accessible materials” and how to select these materials for your school and classroom.
Peer tutoring links high achieving students with lower achieving students or those with comparable achievement for structured learning. It promotes academic gains as well as social enhancement. This brief discusses three research-supported peer tutoring strategies: Cross-Age Tutoring; Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS); and Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT).
Writing is a highly complex language skill. Without skilled, systematic instruction, many students — particularly those with disabilities — may not become proficient writers. At stake is access to the general education curriculum. This brief discusses developmental stages, why writing may pose particular challenges for students with disabilities, and what areas should be the focus for remediation.
For learners with sensory, physical, cognitive, or learning differences and their teachers, accessible educational materials (AEM) may open doors to teaching and learning that ordinary print-based materials have closed. Accessible educational materials or AEM are specialized formats of curricular content that can be used by and with students who are unable to read or use standard print materials. Specialized formats include braille, audio, large print, and digital text. The AEM Center serves as a resource for stakeholders, including state- and district-level educators, parents, students, publishers, conversion houses, accessible media producers, and others interested in learning more about AEM and implementing AEM and he National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). The Center is part of CAST: National Center on Universal Design for Learning.
As you teach content areas to ELLs of diverse backgrounds, you may find that they struggle to grasp the content, and that they approach the content from very different perspectives. Drawing on your students’ background knowledge and experiences can be an effective way to bridge those gaps and make content more accessible. This article offers a number of suggestions to classroom teachers as they find ways to tap into the background knowledge that students bring with them.
Multilingual families can be powerful partners on behalf of their children. Yet what these partnerships look like will be unique to each school setting and community — and may require some thinking outside of the box. This section includes some key tips and recommended resources from our sister site, Colorín Colorado.
