Key Principles

1. Use intact modalities for communication.

2. Compensate for any impaired modalities.

General Guidelines

1. Make organization overt by using a learning strategy, or clarify the structure of what is being discussed by denoting the steps in a sequence and describing the connection between the parts.

2. Use multi-sensory teaching methods to cover all strong modalities.

1. On the board or overhead, write the steps of a math problem down or record ideas when brainstorming with students who have auditory, visual-motor or memory deficits.

2. Allow extra time for students with oral language difficulties to verbally formulate answers.

3. Describe visual diagrams, graphs and charts verbally for those with visual processing deficits.

4. Please make sure your overhead projector is strong enough to allow people in all parts of your classroom to easily see your materials, and the font used on the transparency is large enough to be seen by all. Leave the overheads up long enough for a student with a reading disability to have the extra amount of time needed to take it in perceptually, which precedes the translation of symbols into meaning (a process most individuals take for granted).

5. Read written work aloud while touching each word with a pencil's eraser while editing essays with students with visual tracking or visual-motor deficits.

6. Use graphic organizers for those with reasoning difficulties or auditory comprehension or language processing problems. The visuals provide an organizational structure that makes the learning of logical, conceptual sequences and language accessible.

7. Define key vocabulary words and provide synonyms when working with students with language processing deficits. Recognize that some students have high fluid, non-verbal reasoning but may have expressive language deficits so the output of known information is the problem.

8. Use questioning to cue students to recognize essentials. Ask them to paraphrase or repeat back to check for the quality of communication.

9. Coordinate your verbal with your visual presentation in a timely manner. For example, if you have written on the board a rather lengthy amount of text, please repeat what you wrote aloud to let it stick in students' minds before moving on to discuss it. This assists the input of information for students with auditory processing, working memory and sensory integration deficits (i.e. difficulty coordinating visual with auditory input, which is essential for long-term retrieval).

10. If giving an in-class quiz, essay or test, be sure to provide enough time (the standard at CCs is 2x) for students with disabilities for whom extra time on tests is noted as a legal accommodation. If you choose to give the test yourself, please unplug phone in the office and put a sign on door, "Do not disturb - TESTING". If these conditions are impossible to provide, please use the DSPS Test Proctoring Service to be sure our college is in compliance with the law.