This section examines the practical application of evidence-based interventions and instructional strategies for supporting learners with disabilities. Building upon research from the course readings, you will gain a comprehensive toolkit designed to foster inclusive and accessible learning environments that respond to diverse student needs.
The disability summaries presented in the course are structured to provide targeted, research-informed interventions specific to each disability category. Rather than offering generic accommodations, each summary addresses the distinct learning profiles, challenges, and strengths associated with particular disabilities, ensuring that recommended strategies align with the unique characteristics of each learner population.
Strategies within each disability summary will be presented in a clear, bulleted format to facilitate quick reference and practical implementation. This organizational approach allows educators to efficiently locate relevant interventions during lesson planning, IEP development, or real-time instructional decision-making. Each strategy emphasizes actionable steps that can be readily integrated into diverse classroom settings, from general education environments with inclusive supports to specialized instructional contexts.
Throughout this section, the emphasis remains on evidence-based practices that have demonstrated effectiveness in supporting student learning, engagement, and independence. You will find that these interventions span multiple domains, depending on the disability, including but not limited to instructional modifications, assistive technology applications, behavioral supports, environmental adaptations, and collaborative approaches involving families and related service providers.
Key Takeaways: Summarize key instructional strategies, interventions, accommodations and teaching methods, specific to the disability.
The focus of this section of each disability summary will vary depending on the nature of the disability. The direction of your research will be found in the Disability Summary Overviews.
- This section of the summary should be the most comprehensive. It is your teacher toolkit.
- Provide sufficient detail, summarized, in a concise, bulleted format, in your own words.
- Rule of thumb: the strategy should be understandable to anyone reading it without clarification.
- Information from the course-required readings needs to be evident and properly cited.
- You are welcome to research beyond the course-required readings but not in place of the course readings.
Terms to know:
- Accommodations refer to “an adjustment in what a student is expected to do relative to what most students are doing, but that does not change the content or proficiency level of the content.”(Lenz & Deshler, 2004). Accommodations refer to teaching support. Accommodations should not change the curriculum or grade level expectations.
- Modifications– are adjustments, variations, or differences in what a student is expected to do or learn; how a student is expected to demonstrate knowledge may or may not be the same content or conceptual level of other students in the class. (Lenz, Deshler, 2004). Modifications are changes to the curriculum to meet the needs of the student. Modifications must be clearly stated in the IEP.
- Learning Strategies– are techniques, principles, or rules that facilitate the acquisition, manipulation, integration, storage, and retrieval of information across situations and settings. (Alley & Deshler, 1979, pg 13).
- Teaching methods include direct instruction, inquiry-based, cooperative, problem-based, and experiential learning. More specific methodologies may include modeling, demonstration, recitation, role-playing, chunking information, debate, service project… etc..
- Intervention is a term that refers to a program, set of steps, or strategy to attain a specific learning goal. It may also be used broadly to refer to a framework like the “response to intervention” or RTI programs.
- Evidence-Based– If an educational strategy is evidence-based, data-based, or research-based, educators compile, analyze, and use objective evidence to inform the design an academic program or guide the modification of instructional techniques. (Glossary of Education Reform, 2016)
- Environmental considerations– the physical or social aspects of the learning environment that can either facilitate or hinder a student’s success.
References
Alley, G. R., & Deshler, D. D. (1979). Teaching the learning disabled adolescent: Strategies and methods. Denver, CO: Love.
Lenz, K.B, Deshler, & D.D. & Kissam, (2004). Teaching Content to All: Evidence-Based Inclusive Practices in Middle and Secondary Schools, Pearson Education Inc.
The Glossary of Education Reform (2016). Evidence-Based. Retrieved from https://www.edglossary.org/evidence-based/ (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
updated 12.29.2025
