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Accommodations are changes in how a student accesses information or demonstrates learning, without changing the instructional content or curriculum expectations. Accommodations remove barriers to learning for students with disabilities.

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Interventions are targeted teaching strategies or supports implemented to address a student's specific learning or behavioral needs. They are often time-limited and data-driven, designed to help students who are struggling to meet grade-level expectations, and to achieve their potential.

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Interventions are provided to any student showing academic or behavioral difficulties, not limited to those with an IEP or 504 Plan. Students identified under IDEA Disability Categories (such as Specific Learning Disabilities, Emotional Disturbance, Autism, etc.) or struggling with skills like reading, math, or behavior may benefit from interventions.

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1. Small group reading instruction for students falling behind in literacy.
2. Behavior contracts with weekly progress monitoring for a student with ADHD.
3. Math fluency practice with computer-based programs for students below grade level.

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Resource: What is an Academic Intervention? 

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Resource: What is an Academic Intervention? 

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Academic interventions are strategies designed to support students identified as "at-risk" for academic failure due to various factors such as poor grades, truancy, or disruptive behavior. These interventions aim to improve students' behaviors and attitudes in educational settings (EBSCO, 2024).

EBSCO. (2024). Academic Interventions. EBSCO Information Services, Inc. https://www.ebsco.com/researchstarters/education/academic-interventions

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Intensifying Instruction is a high-leverage practice that involves increasing the amount and type of instructional support for students who are not responding to core instruction. This might include smaller groups or increased instructional time.

Reviewing and Intensifying Instruction What Do Teachers Need to Know About Intensifying Instruction? (n.d.). https://promotingprogress.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/Review-Intensify-Instruct-508.pdf

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Differentiation is the process of tailoring instruction, materials, and assessments to meet the students' needs, learning styles, and readiness levels in the general education classroom.

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All students can benefit from differentiated instruction, including those with disabilities, English Language Learners, gifted students, and students at various skill levels. Differentiation is proactive and ongoing.

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1. Using reading materials at varying readability levels.
2. Providing choices in how students demonstrate learning (ex., poster, essay, video).

3. Presenting ideas through both auditory and visual means.
4. Using reading buddies.

5. Meeting with small groups to re-teach an idea or skill for struggling learners.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2000). What is differentiated instruction? Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/differentiated-instruction/articles/what-differentiated-instruction

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Resource: What Is Differentiated Instruction?

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Resource: What Is Differentiated Instruction?

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1. Using tiered activities through which all learners work with the same important understandings and skills, but proceed with different levels of support, challenge, or complexity.

2. Providing interest centers that encourage students to explore subsets of the class topic of particular interest to them.

3. Developing personal agendas (task lists written by the teacher and containing both in-common work for the whole class and work that addresses individual needs of learners) to be completed either during specified agenda time or as students complete other work early.

4. Offering manipulatives or other hands-on supports for students who need them.

5. Varying the length of time a student may take to complete a task in order to provide additional support for a struggling learner or to encourage an advanced learner to pursue a topic in greater depth.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2000). What is differentiated instruction? Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/differentiated-instruction/articles/what-differentiated-instruction

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Flexible Grouping allows teachers to adjust groupings of students based on their readiness, interests, or needs, and is a foundational component of effective differentiation.

Mursky, C. (2011). Flexible Grouping. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/cal/pdf/flexible-grouping.pdf

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Accommodations are provided to students with identified disabilities who have an IEP or 504 Plan, including those under IDEA Disability Categories (ex., Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism, Hearing Impairments, etc.).

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1. Allowing a student extra time on tests.
2. Providing instructions orally and in writing.
3. Using assistive technology such as text-to-speech software.

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Accommodations don’t change what students learn in school. They change how people learn and how people get their work done. Accommodations also don’t change the expectations for performance. They simply offer support to account for challenges (Lee, n.d.).

Lee, A. M. I. (n.d.). Accommodations: What They Are. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/accommodations-what-they-are-and-how-they-work

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Evidence-Based Practice: Use of Visual Supports

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Evidence-Based Practice: Use of Visual Supports

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Visual supports (schedules, graphic organizers) are evidence-based strategies for accommodating students with disabilities, especially those on the autism spectrum.

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Adaptations are adjustments to instruction or materials to make learning accessible to students with disabilities. This can include changing the presentation of content, the format of assignments, or supports provided to students.

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Adaptations are primarily designed for students with disabilities under IDEA categories but can benefit any student requiring extra support. Adaptations are often written into IEPs.

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1. Using larger print textbooks for visually impaired students.
2. Breaking multistep tasks into smaller, manageable steps.
3. Providing auditory versions of written materials.

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This link outlines various classroom adaptations for students with disabilities/special needs.

https://dsoflou.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Classroom-Instructional-Adaptations2.pdf

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Educational scaffolding offers support that is gradually removed as learners grow more confident and capable. This method allows students to work just beyond their current level of understanding, building competence through guidance and support (Legaspi, 2025).

Legaspi, A. (2025). What Is Scaffolding in Teaching? | ACE Blog. American College of Education. https://ace.edu/blog/what-is-scaffolding-in-teaching/

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Modifications change what a student is expected to learn by altering curriculum standards or content. These are more intensive than accommodations or adaptations, and apply when students cannot access the general curriculum even with supports.

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Students with significant disabilities, often those with intellectual disabilities or multiple disabilities as defined by IDEA, may receive modifications. These must be specified in an IEP.

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1. Assigning easier reading materials on the same topic for a student with significant cognitive disabilities.
2. Reducing the number of questions on a math test.
3. Grading a student on participation rather than accuracy of answers.

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Modifications are changes in what a student is taught or is expected to learn. They’re typically given to students who are far behind their peers. These changes apply in both general education and special education classrooms.

The Understood Team. (2022). The Difference between Accommodations and Modifications. Understood.org. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/the-difference-between-accommodations-and-modifications

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Individualized instruction involves tailoring academic content specifically to the learning needs and functional level of a student, often used in modified curricula.

https://dropoutprevention.org/effective-strategies/individualized-instruction/

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Definition: Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

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Definition: Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

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SDI refers to customized teaching methods, materials, or techniques specifically developed to address the unique needs of students with disabilities. SDI is a legal requirement for all students with an IEP under IDEA.

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Only students who are eligible for special education services under IDEA and have an IEP receive SDI. This includes students with disabilities in all IDEA Disability Categories (such as Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism, Emotional Disturbance, etc.).

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1. A special education teacher providing direct reading instruction using a specific evidence-based program.
2. Explicit teaching of organizational strategies to a student with executive functioning deficits.
3. Customized math manipulatives to address a student's learning needs.

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Resource: What Is Specially Designed Instruction? 

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Resource: What Is Specially Designed Instruction? 

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This link gives many examples and scenarios of SPI and when it is necessary to use it.

https://www.uft.org/teaching/students-disabilities/specially-designed-instruction

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Explicit instruction involves clearly modeling skills, providing guided practice, and offering feedback to students with disabilities.

Vanderbilt University. (2024). What is explicit instruction? Vanderbilt University. https://my.vanderbilt.edu/spedteacherresources/what-is-explicit-instruction/