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Facilitating Independence Tip Chart 2025

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Facilitating Independence Tip Chart 2025

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When feedback originates with students, they can assess their current understanding and see what they need to do to improve.

Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo

The trigger for feedback is often when students complete a teacher-assigned task and then receive comments that ask them to make changes. Students typically revise their work for the sake of boosting their grade. Feedback in these cases has limited impact, since the teacher told students what to fix. In Visible Learning: Feedback, John Hattie and Shirley Clarke recognize that feedback is most valuable when it moves from student to teacher. High-impact feedback begins and ends with the student. It also takes off when it builds on student strengths: What are students close to mastering?

Feedback can be hard to receive when someone is telling you what to change. In a TEDx Talk, Sheila Heen explains that feedback can be difficult because we want to be accepted for who we are right now. According to Heen and Douglas Stone, three types of feedback include evaluation, coaching, and appreciation, and focusing on those can help teachers put students in the driver's seat.

Evaluation

Evaluation tells a student where they stand in comparison with grade-level peers typically through a letter grade or score. To put students in charge of evaluation, they should be the first ones to score their work.

For example, in English class, students can use a standards-aligned checklist on writing an effective argument to self-assess. After they get their score, they select an area of interest (and strength) to improve upon-this combination increases student motivation. Next, students use a tool like this SMART Goals Handout to customize a goal based on their self-assessment. The SMART handout asks the student to consider who can help as they work toward their goal. When the student reaches out to the teacher for any support, talk focuses on the goal with the evaluation as evidence. Evaluation feedback in this way moves from student to teacher.

Coaching

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) establishes what a learner can do independently and what they can do with some support. Through self-evaluation and goal setting, this grows clearer as students try out their goals.

Coaching feedback is a reflective technique within the ZPD. The type of coaching that students need depends on their goals and the roadblocks they face. Many times, students may need coaching that does not directly reflect the content they're learning. For example, the student who wants to improve the clarity of their writing may need coaching in time management strategies, not writing itself. This student knows that their writing is too lengthy in lab reports and leaves the teacher digging for the answer. The teacher might coach the student to put a time limit on their work. Try out answering each question in a lab in no more than 10 minutes.

The use of time limits will reveal roadblocks with which the student can then receive some more help. For example, if they still can't get their point across in a concise way, they should note what happens in that time. They might be rereading without beginning the response. In this case, they need to reflect on their note-taking, reading skills, or activity level during the lab. Allow students to drive the coaching feedback in this way.

A tool to use during coaching is WOOP for Classrooms from the Character Lab. This will help students quickly retool their goal based on feedback.

Appreciation

Appreciation feedback helps students to develop a positive self-narrative. They first need to appreciate themselves. They should learn about the power of yet and the counternarrative. As they evaluate their work and set goals, students should practice adding yet to "can't do" thoughts: "I am not a concise writer... yet." Using the word yet feeds into the counternarrative of reframing the story they tell themselves. The inner voice needs practice in talking up the positives and reframing the negatives.

In Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel explain how learning something new changes the brain; thus, making mistakes is the pathway to advanced learning. The counternarrative moves from "I failed and am embarrassed" to "I learned something new and am stronger for it."

All Feedback Begins and Ends With the Learner

In Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, William Burnett and David J. Evans mention a sign that hangs outside the Stanford Life Design Lab that reads, "You are here." It's where we all begin when seeking feedback. Students need to look around and verbalize where they are now and then ask themselves these three big questions posed by John Hattie: Where am I going? How am I getting there? Where next? These questions can be posted above your classroom board or on your digital course page for students to use daily.

Feedback begins and ends with the learner. If you teach students how to use these tools, feedback reframe takes place by having the student sit in the driver's seat-they determine their current location, route, and destination, and where to go next.

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A Way to Increase Students' Independence in Learning

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When feedback originates with students, they can assess their current understanding and see what they need to do to improve. Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo The trigger for feedback is often when students complete a teacher-assigned task and then receive comments that ask them to make changes.

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Developing a Plan for Fading Close Adult Support

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Setting Up Your Classroom For Independent Learning

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10 Self-Advocacy Tips for Young People with Disabilities

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Directions for using visual schedule 2012

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Student-led IEP meeting, from the film "Garrett Shows: I'm in Charge"

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ConVal Regional High School supports postsecondary transition through internships, Special Olympics Unified Sports, inclusive education, student-led IEP meetings, family engagement, and a regular diploma track for students like Garrett with intellectual disabilities. See the full film, and three other films that show effective practices in postsecondary transition, at https://intelligentlives.org/transitionfilms.

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Sample Timelines for Independent Living Skills

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Getting Started, Helping your child with a learning disability be more independent with AT

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Fostering independence in kids with disabilities—at Disney World

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Using a mini-schedule for independence in routines

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Using a mini-schedule for independence in routines

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How to Foster Metacognitive Skills for Independent Learning

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Setting Up a Task to Encourage Independent Learning

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Setting Up a Task to Encourage Independent Learning

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Structured Choice to Increase Participation

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Raising kids can be a challenge for all parents, but parents of children with special needs can have even more questions about what is right for their child.

Children with physical or cognitive disabilities often need extra help and attention, but encouraging independence is an important part of helping kids grow.

"Kids with special needs are first kids. The special needs are secondary," said Dr. Sue Caldecott-Johnson, a pediatric rehabilitation specialist at OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital of Illinois and chief of child development and rehabilitation at University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. "What's good parenting for an able-bodied child or a child who doesn't have any cognitive challenges is generally good for the child who happens to have physical or cognitive challenges as well."

Find what interests them

"Rehab medicine is all about helping kids be more functional," Dr. Caldecott-Johnson said. And finding the best way to motivate them is essential to engaging them in therapy.

Whether your child is interested in sports, art or theater, find a way for them to participate in that activity.

You may be able to find a class or instructor that can accommodate your child's needs. Sometimes, they might be better suited in a program designed for children of different abilities. Adaptive programs are available for performing arts, skiing, basketball and many other activities.

"There's lots of options out there. But it comes back to what we all should be doing as parents, which is learning what makes our children tick and finding ways to participate in that - even if that's a little bit different with kids with disability," she said.

If you're not sure what your child might be interested in, give them opportunities to see other children at play, especially children with similar abilities.

Don't fear failure

Many parents struggle to balance how much they should do for their children and how much children should do for themselves. Watching your child struggle can be difficult, but for them it's an important part of learning.

"It's not our job to make everything easy for them, but if we figure out what's motivating to them - what makes them happy - we can help them find a way that they can participate in that activity with whatever adaptations they need. That's how they're going to shine, learn how to have fun with their life and problem solve," Dr. Caldecott-Johnson said.

Combine patience and creativity

Whether they are learning through therapy at a medical center or at school, children with disabilities often have to figure out their own unique way to walk through the world - and finding the way that works for them can take time.

"When you're trying to help a child with a certain activity, even a fun activity like a coloring page, don't be concerned if it's taking that child longer than the next child. That's OK, because if we don't take that extra time and we do it for them instead, they're never going to learn that skill," Dr. Caldecott-Johnson said.

Take a step back to watch how your child responds to a challenge. Something that feels painfully slow and labor intensive to parents might feel much more normal for a child who is used to living at their own pace.

Assign responsibility

Maybe they won't do the same chores as their siblings or classmates, but giving children an opportunity to contribute to the family can promote independence.

Find something that fits their level of ability. If folding the laundry is too difficult, can they sort clothes into piles? If they can't do the dishes, can they help clear the table?

"Maybe what they're going to do is going to take a lot longer and you could do it more quickly yourself, but having a role in the work of the home can really help them work toward being more independent," Caldecott-Johnson said.

This can also include having and enforcing rules that your child can understand and follow, as long as any discipline is geared to their developmental age.

Encourage exploration

Kids learn through exploration.

For a typically developing child, this is usually through crawling, walking and running through their home, yard or classroom. Children who have difficulty moving in that way still need opportunities to explore.

Dr. Caldecott-Johnson started a local Go Baby Go program after her arrival at OSF Children's Hospital. The program connects volunteers with children who have special needs and provides them with a motorized car specially adapted for them.

"The smiles that light up the room as they figure out that they can control where they are in the room on their own instead of relying on somebody else is just a joy to see," she said.

Many times, this means kids can keep up - or outpace - their peers for the first time.

"They're learning that they can explore on their own. That's a good thing from a physical standpoint. It's a phenomenal thing from a cognitive standpoint and what that does for their thinking skills."

Learn more about Go Baby Go in the OSF HealthCare Newsroom. To learn more about volunteer opportunities or the special fund for those who would like to donate to a car for a child, contact the OSF HealthCare Foundation at (309) 566-5666.

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How to encourage independence in your child with special needs

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Raising kids can be a challenge for all parents, but parents of children with special needs can have even more questions about what is right for their child. Children with physical or cognitive disabilities often need extra help and attention, but encouraging independence is an important part of helping kids grow.

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Membership and Participation Fidelity Tool

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pre-iep mtg quest to elicit student involvement

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I Can Do It Myself Using Work Systems to Build Independence: Articles: Indiana Resource Center for Autism: Indiana University Bloomington

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The goal of independence is a priority for all children, yet when working with children with ASD, independence is the key to successful community inclusion and future employment.

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Tips for Including Students Who Do Not Speak

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Together, educators are doing the reimagining and reinvention work necessary to make true educational equity possible. Student-centered learning advances equity when it values social and emotional growth alongside academic achievement, takes a cultural lens on strengths and competencies, and equips students with the power and skills to address injustice in their schools and communities.

In student-led IEPs, students are active participants in creating their learning plan, providing opportunities to deepen their understanding of themselves.

Millions of students have gone back to school, but how are their schools serving them? November will bring the 45th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that ensures states and school districts provide a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. As we celebrate this milestone of the landmark law that is IDEA, we can't help but think that we do not have much to celebrate. Have public schools become more equitable in serving students with disabilities?

The sobering reality is that schools have yet to actualize the spirit of IDEA. Schools were traditionally designed to meet the needs of the masses, not the individual, and unfortunately primarily still function in this way. Curriculums and pacing guides are based on the perception of what the average student needs. By design, this does not work for all students. Some students will fall outside of what is typical. There will be students who are the exception. Being the exception can leave students with disabilities feeling hurt, distressed, or like they don't belong. Over time, this can make students think that there is something wrong with them. They get the message that school is not for them. So while IDEA requires schools to support students and provide access to education alongside their non-disabled peers, students with disabilities continue to be underserved.

The traditional development of an IEP requires the student's team, a group of well-intentioned adults, to create a learning plan for the student. While this process can check the necessary boxes, there is often something essential missing. The student.

One major innovation that IDEA brought was the creation of Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for any student that qualified for special education services. The traditional development of an IEP requires the student's team, a group of well-intentioned adults, to create a learning plan for the student. While this process can check the necessary boxes, there is often something essential missing: The student. In this traditional format, the most important stakeholder isn't included. A student-led IEP provides an opportunity to correct this.

In a student-led IEP, the student is the driver and is an active participant in developing and achieving their plan. It provides them with the opportunity to explore and understand their strengths and areas of challenge and develop advocacy skills. By engaging students in conversation and giving them access to their IEPs, space is created for students to uncover what often feels like a mystery.

Student-led IEPs provide the infrastructure to include rather than exclude students. While traditional pacing guides set the course and speed for a student's learning experience, student-led IEPs engage students in creating achievable and attainable goals and require all stakeholders to assess progress toward the plan regularly. It requires teachers to share data and information with students and engage in meaningful conversations about what is working and what is not.

The power in student-led IEPs is not found in just conducting an IEP meeting with the student present. The emphasis is on providing the tools and spaces for students to engage in a continual cycle of reflection, celebration, and adjustment. Over time, this practice provides students with more clarity, control, and agency with their learning. We can't think of a better way to make students college and career ready.

Sasha Clayton, Two Rivers' middle school counselor, recognizes this power as he works with students from the time they enter middle school until they transition into high schools. Through this work, he sees students brighten with an "Aha" moment as they begin to understand their disability and make real progress on their goals. Some educators and parents shy away from direct conversations about disabilities with students. However, Sasha has found that moving past this taboo is freeing to students as they deepen their understanding of themselves. He utilizes a simple reflection sentence stem, which asks students to identify first "I used to believe..." and then follows it with "but now I know..." Consistently, Sasha has found that the student-led IEP process has opened up doors for students to deepen their understanding of themselves and the learning process.

While Sasha's work has primarily been with our middle school students, we have found that it is never too early to start the student-led IEP process. Beginning student-led IEPs as soon as students are identified for special education services provides students with opportunities to build the self-awareness skills that will serve them throughout their education and life. So we have begun student-led IEPs with kindergartners introducing them to how to think about their learning styles, their disability, and how to think about concrete goals.

Whether schools have welcomed students back with masks or through the computer screen, we know that because of the COVID pandemic, this school year is unlike any other. Regardless of your role in school: student, parent, teacher, or school leader, school is different. Let's genuinely embrace the shift to realizing the promise of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act by giving all of our exceptional learners access to the tools to help them succeed. Student-led IEPs are an essential component of making that happen.

Rossana Mahvi and Jeff Heyck-Williams

Two Rivers Public Charter School

Rossana Mahvi is the director of specialized instruction at Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. She works on improving teacher practices to enhance instruction and access for students, implementing co-teaching practices in elementary and middle school, and continuously works to strengthen the services and instructional practices for students with disabilities at Two Rivers to enhance student and family experiences.

Jeff Heyck-Williams is the director of the Two Rivers Learning Institute and a founder of Two Rivers Public Charter School. He has led work around creating school-wide cultures of mathematics, developing assessments of critical thinking and problem-solving, and supporting project-based learning.

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Student-Led IEPs: Realizing the Promise of the Individuals with... | NGLC

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Together, educators are doing the reimagining and reinvention work necessary to make true educational equity possible. Student-centered learning advances equity when it values social and emotional growth alongside academic achievement, takes a cultural lens on strengths and competencies, and equips students with the power and skills to address injustice in their schools and communities.

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School-home communication from student 2015

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Anna Merrill, Graduate Assistant, IRCA and Joseph Risch, Special Educator, Avon Community School Corporation

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Video Self-Modeling How To and Examples: Articles: Indiana Resource Center for Autism: Indiana University Bloomington

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This page uses video tutorials to show you exactly how to record and edit a video recorded on your iPad

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Visual Structures for Homework Completion

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Social Stories in Special Education - Watson Institute

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Special education social stories resources were designed to teach appropriate behaviors and social skills for children with special needs.

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Paraprofessionals in Inclusive Classrooms: Increasing Student Learning and Independence

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In the quickly evolving workplace and at a time when graduates are competing for jobs and careers with others around the world, the capacity to change rapidly and apply new skills is paramount. Bottom line: Learning how to learn is a game changer in the global knowledge economy, and it's never too early to teach students how to begin to learn more independently.

Cultivating Independent Learners

Inspire student motivation for learning: Motivation to learn is key to success in school, after graduation in the global job market, and for life in a world of constant changes in technology.

Use the power of your relationship with students to show a passion for learning. When you embody passion for learning, your students are more likely to have a powerful, positive emotional connection to learning that will inspire their motivation to continue to learn. With teachers who release their passion for learning, students across all grades are free to learn new ways of learning with motivation and joy. Over time, expect self-motivation rather than compliance.

Guide students to imagine how they will feel when they learn something new. Allow volunteers to describe their feelings after they learned something. When appropriate, ask students to visualize what a finished project will look like.

Encourage students to tell a friend their learning goal and get their support. This allows students to verbalize their goal, which will help them internalize it. Students of all ages are inherently social, and getting support from a peer can be very motivating.

Coach students to set goals and develop a plan for learning: Support students in developing their own learning goals that are realistic yet challenging. Often the most motivating goals are those that allow us to use our personal strengths. Yet students often have goals set for them based on a one-size-fits-all curriculum or on their personal learning deficits-think individualized education program-which can be discouraging.

If you have students who currently lack motivation to learn, consider helping them to develop learning goals based on their personal learning strengths. For example, a personalized goal for some learners might be to design movement breaks for the class. Another student might set a goal to complete his or her appreciation or gratitude journal with photographs or illustrations. For another student, Pinterest offers ideas that might aid them in becoming curious about new topics to learn about. Teachers can support students in becoming aware of their strengths and figuring out how to set personal goals.

Teach students how to best structure their independent learning time. Our brains did not evolve to do several hours of physics without a break. We encourage students to plan a shift in focus after every 20 minutes of independent study. At least every hour or so, they should get up and move. When learning new material, they should utilize different locations. For example, we use an outside patio table, a particularly comfortable chair, an inside office desk, and different local cafes as places to work. Because memory for locations is powerful, using several locations for learning aids memory.

Encourage students to become self-disciplined learners. Support them in making a commitment to themselves to get started on achieving their goals. Assist them in affirming their commitment to organize themselves, manage their focus over time, and limit time-wasting distractions. Help students learn to consistently define themselves as people who commit to and achieve their goals. It will probably be necessary to remind them time and again that along the learning pathway, successful people forgive themselves when they make mistakes and then continue on.

Teach students to self-assess: Ask students to write a letter to a student who will be in the class the next year. Upon completion of a project, unit, or chapter, ask students to summarize what they have learned and tell the future student how they have overcome any learning challenges. This strategy provides an opportunity for student reflection on virtually any topic.

Have students pair up and take turns sharing what they have learned. This activity-we call it "brain buddies"-gives students opportunities to learn from each other. For example, each partner may remember different aspects of a lesson. And they may have different points of view, so when they share, each partner can learn to better understand a variety of perspectives.

As your students practice independent learning, encourage them to notice changes. For example, when we asked students to discuss changes in achievement, one student said, "Now I get assignments turned in on time, and my grades have improved." Another said, "I enjoy school now because I know how to make better grades." Over time, statements like these become a part of students' positive identity for school success.

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Guiding Students to Be Independent Learners

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In the quickly evolving workplace and at a time when graduates are competing for jobs and careers with others around the world, the capacity to change rapidly and apply new skills is paramount. Bottom line: Learning how to learn is a game changer in the global knowledge economy, and it's never too early to teach students how to begin to learn more independently.

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Putting Students in Charge of Their Learning

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Giving students choices and the means to assess their progress fosters metacognition and independence.

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Independence in Literacy Centers for Kindergarten

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Independence in Literacy Centers for Kindergarten

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The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in Pre-K and Kindergarten

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Helping Student Generalize Strats in Class

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Additional Adult Support Procedural Guidelines

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If you're seeking to encourage your child with special needs to complete tasks independently, try using visual cues and labeling for that task.

1. Identify the task and the environment in which it will take place.

2. Identify which elements in the environment to label.

3. Attach visual labels to these items (using hook and loop fasteners or tape).

4. Model for your child how to use the visual labels to guide them through their task.

5. Be sure to positive reinforce them as they complete the task!

The special education resources on this page were authored by Watson Institute's special education consultants and faculty.
Classroom Centers - Visual Cues and Labeling Classroom Centers - Visual Organization
If you have questions or concerns about the Watson Institute's use of this information, please contact us.

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Visual Cues, Labeling and Organization - Watson Institute

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If you're seeking to encourage your child with special needs to complete tasks independently, try using visual cues and labeling for that task. Identify the task and the environment in which it will take place. Identify which elements in the environment to label. Attach visual labels to these items (using hook and loop fasteners or tape).

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Inclusive Learning_ Everyone's In - Overview [360p]

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Responding to Requests for paras article

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ES Independent Living - Collegiate Academies Supplemental Learning Materials  - Batch 2

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How to encourage independent learning skills in primary age children

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The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in Third and Fourth Grade (Virtual Tour)