Students with disabilities often need specially designed instruction to be successful in the academic setting. While supporting your child with a disability while learning from home, consider the following Instructional Learning Strategies:

• Break learning into small steps;
• give regular, quality feedback on learning;
• use diagrams, graphics and pictures to support text;
• provide ample independent, well-designed intensive practice;
• model instructional practices you want your child to follow;
• provide prompts of strategies to use; and
• engage students in process type questions like “How is the strategy working? Where else might you apply it?”

Scaffolding is also something that seems to make a real difference. Start out with heavily mediated instruction, known as explicit instruction, then slowly begin to let your child acquire the skill, moving towards independence.

Success for the student with disabilities requires a focus on individual achievement, individual progress, and individual learning. This requires specific, directed, individualized, intensive remedial instruction for students who are struggling. Whether the student is in the general education classroom or learning in a special class setting, focus the activities on assessing individual students to monitor their progress through the curriculum. 

The article below outlines the following eight research based learning strategies to use with your child while learning from home: Mirco Goals, Antecedent Physical Activity, Voice Modulation, Reading Focus Tool, Audio Books, Dear Confused Letters, Grid Paper and Sentence Starters.

The links of the left of this page outline additional instructional methods that will help your child when learning new concepts.