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National Alliance Mental Illness Resource Guide

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National Alliance Mental Illness Resource Guide

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As local, state, national, and international leaders work to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, many communities across the country are experiencing a heightened level of fear, anxiety, and worry during these uncertain times. Parents, educators, youth development professionals, childcare providers, and others are looking for ways to help young people reduce, manage, and cope with the fears, worries and anxieties that might be provoked by this health crisis and continue to develop the social and emotional skills they will need for managing and coping with future life challenges.

Here is a collection of resources to support these efforts. Check back periodically, as we will be updating the list. If you have resources to suggest, please contact us at info@sel4us.org .

Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning Roadmap for Reopening School, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

How to Talk to Children about the Coronavirus , Harvard Medical School

Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource, National Association of School Psychologists

Coronavirus Public Health Emergency: Psychological Tips for Children and Adolescents' Emotions, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona

Social-Emotional Learning During COVID 19 Crisis: Equity Lens Reflection, Karen Craddock, PhD

Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus, NPR

Social and Emotional Learning Supports for Children and Young Adults Around Covid-19, SEL4TX

5 Ways to Help Children Cope with Coronavirus Anxiety, Education Development Center

Coronavirus, Online Learning, Social Isolation, and Cyberbullying: How To Support Our Students, Cyberbullying Research Center

Ethical Considerations: School Counseling in a Virtual Setting, American School Counselors Association

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As local, state, national, and international leaders work to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, many communities across the country are experiencing a heightened level of fear, anxiety, and worry during these uncertain times.

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At this time of uncertainty, with many schools closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ci3T Strategic Leadership Team and Ci3T Research Team are developing materials to support educators and families as we transition to a world of online and continuous learning. Our goal is to provide resources to assist you in using your Ci3T structures to facilitate positive, productive environments for students, families, educators, and administrators during the COVID-19 crisis. In the accordions below we will be uploading a series of brief practice guides that we hope you will find useful. Feel free to share these materials with fellow educators and families. We are sending positive thoughts to all our partners, colleagues, and the students you so tirelessly support.

With respect,
The Ci3T Strategic Leadership Team & Ci3T Research Team
Updated on 3/23/20: We have posted two new resources. "Setting up for Success at Home" is posted under the Resources for Families accordion, and "Teleteaching Tips for Educators: Implementing with Success!" is posted under the Resources for Educators accordion. Updated on 3/24/20: We have posted a new resource under the Resource for Administrators accordion.

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At this time of uncertainty, with many schools closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ci3T Strategic Leadership Team and Ci3T Research Team are developing materials to support educators and families as we transition to a world of online and continuous learning. Our goal is to provide resources to assist you in using your Ci3T Read More ...

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Extended Campus - Keep Learning Going Virtually

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Extended Campus - Keep Learning Going Virtually

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Resources for Teachers | Extended Campus

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At a time when so many schools are dealing with closures, IU8 is providing webinars and resources to help you keep the learning going for your students.

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Extended Campus - Continuity of Education Solutions

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Extended Campus - Continuity of Education Solutions

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In response to extended school closures, Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8 is working to provide solutions that allow our districts and schools to help them keep the learning going. Contact AIU8 to learn more, or to get started.

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Accessibility Supports from Tech Vendors

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Accessibility Supports from Tech Vendors

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Accessibility Support Resources for Ed Tech Vendors

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Select text, right-click, and Microsoft's Immersive Reader will help you read it

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AAC Resources and Videos  Original Document - Please Copy if Editing :)

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E-Learning with AAC Resources from PATINS

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E-Learning with AAC Resources from PATINS

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Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) - AAC Calendar

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In this video, I will show you how to access assignments on Google Classroom using Braillenote Touch.

Download Step-by-Step Cheat Sheet.

Transcript:

Hello, everyone. This is Mallory Carr doing a quick demonstration on using the Google Classroom app on the Braillenote Touch. I'm going to go into all applications using first letter navigation. You can use the next or previous thumb keys if you don't know what it's called, but I'm going to do "a" for all applications, be sure I'm in the menu, "a" for all applications. Enter. "C" until I hear "classroom". So the app opens right into the list of classes, so I'm going to hit the next time key till I get to period 6 and show you kind of what that's like. You can also use first letter navigation here, so I'm going to hit the cursor router key to select it above that wherever the braille text is.

Navigating the Layouts to Google Classroom

So, there are three layouts to Google Classroom: stream, classwork, or people. Stream used to be really accessible and you can just hit the next thumb key to find your assignment, but now it just wants you to add class comment and doesn't tell you like which assignment it is. So visually it says what the assignment is, but we're not able to access it. So I'm going to I'll show you the next thumb key by going through them. There's nothing really we can do, so I'm going to go into "c" for classwork, which will have the list of assignments. So "c". Enter. So this is one way to get to it. I don't love this way because you can't use first letter navigation because most of them are starting with the word assignment, and it's kind of out of order because it depends on how the teacher is laying things out. So that's one way.

Accessing Assignments in Classroom Main Menu

I'm going to go back into the main opening screen though by hanging the triangle back button in the front. Okay, so instead of going that way into the classwork, I'm going to hit "o" for open main menu and that's the Google main menu not keysoft. So "o". Enter. "T" for "to do". Enter. And now it'll have the list of all the assignments that are either done or need to be done or missing. So I'm going to hit the next thumbkey to kind of go through what's on the screen. So now it went to like the third assignment. I'm going to hit the previous thumbkey to go back a couple of assignments.

Accessing Google Docs

So these are things that are due so I'm gonna go into adaptation assessment and hit the cursor router key to select. So this has a Google Doc to access and a place to attach your own work. So I'm going to hit the next thumb key to go in to see what's on my screen again. It went back to the top, so I'm going to hit "next" again. So Google Docs tells me that it's a Google Doc, so it'll open in the Google Docs app. It'll say "Google Docs"; it'll say "link" or "Google slides", or whatever format your teachers uploading it on. So I'm going to hit the cursor router key where it says the Google Docs' name to select it. So it will open in the Google Docs, where you can edit and then return. So I'm going to hit the back key though to go back to that assignment.

Attaching a File

So, say I already had a file that I wanted to attach this assignment, I'm gonna go to where it says "add attachment" by using the first or the the next thumb key. You can also use first letter navigation, if you know. So I'm going through all the things on the screen right now with the next thumb key. Okay, so that's what I want. I'm going to select it using the cursor router key or the enter key if I'm using my braille keys. So right now I'm using the cursor router key though.

So now here are the different sources where we can upload files, so I'll go through them all quick using the next thumb key. So you can either go through your drive of an existing document. You can provide a link, a file from your braille note. You can take a picture of something or record a video or you can create a new doc slide sheet or PDF. It's pretty nice. So next I'm going to hit the triangle back key to go back into the assignment. So now this is the main assignment. I'm going to hit -- if you uploaded something to mark it as done or to submit it, you just hit the next thumb key til you hear "mark as done" and then select it using the cursor router keys, which I won't do right now.

What Does a Question Look Like?

So I'm going to hit the back thumb key and just show you kind of what a question looks like really quick. I'm going to try to go into the "now due date" one. I go into "more". I'm just using this next thumb key to find the assignment. So this I know is a question, so it says, "What do you think about this new discovery?". So I'm going to hit the cursor router key to select. So this assignment has a link provided, which we could go to if we wanted to by selecting it and then it's also and it has a question that we can answer. So I'm going to hit the next thumb key to go through what's on the screen. "Link." So that tells me if I were to select that using the cursor router key or the enter key it would open into the browser, which I won't do right this second, and then I'm going to keep going. Type your answer edit box. I'm going to select above type your answer and that ding means I'm in the edit box. So I'm gonna write just a random answer: "This is an answer" and there is my answer. So I'm going to hit "next" until I hear "turn in" and then select it using either the Enter key or the cursor router selector keys. And that's about it. Thanks.

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Using Google Classroom on a Braillenote Touch

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In this video, I will show you how to access assignments on Google Classroom using Braillenote Touch. Download Step-by-Step Cheat Sheet. Hello, everyone. This is Mallory Carr doing a quick demonstration on using the Google Classroom app on the Braillenote Touch. I'm going to go into all applications using first letter navigation.

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Accessibility Support Resources from Tech Vendors

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Accessibility Support Resources from Tech Vendors

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Accessibility Support Resources for Ed Tech Vendors

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US Dept of Ed /Office of Civil Rights Video on Web Accessibility 

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US Dept of Ed /Office of Civil Rights Video on Web Accessibility 

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OCR Short Webinar on Online Education and Website Accessibility

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Tips/Ideas to Create Accessible Materials

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Tips/Ideas to Create Accessible Materials

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Do it yourself tricks/tools you can use to make your content accessible.

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Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books. Create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins.

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Users with disabilities can participate in Hangouts Meet video meetings using accessibility features in Meet, Chrome Browser, and Google meeting room hardware.

Accessibility features

Live captions-Display captions of the person speaking so that participants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can follow what's said in video meetings. If you record a video meeting, captions are not recorded and don't appear when you play the recording.
See:Use captions in a video meeting

Screen readers and magnifiers-Blind and low-vision users can use the built-in screen reader, full-page zoom, high-contrast color, and accessibility extensions in Chrome Browser.
See:Google accessibility products and features

Keyboard shortcuts-Users can control the camera and microphone and open accessibility features using the keyboard.
See:Keyboard shortcuts

Google meeting room hardware-Hard-of-hearing and low-vision users can use spoken feedback and live captions on Hangouts meet hardware and Chromebox and Chromebase for meetings.
See:Google meeting room hardware accessibility

Related topics

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Users with disabilities can participate in Hangouts Meet video meetings using accessibility features in Meet, Chrome Browser, and Google meeting room hardware. Live captions-Display captions of the person speaking so that participants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can follow what's said in video meetings.

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Don Johnston Readtopia - Units with Leveled Text and Inclusive Supports

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Don Johnston Readtopia - Units with Leveled Text and Inclusive Supports

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Readtopia Demo Request Form #1 | Don Johnston

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See for yourself how Readtopia® can bring your special education classrooms a comprehensive reading curriculum that elevates learning

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Virtual Learning for Students with Concussions

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Virtual Learning for Students with Concussions

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Tools and Resources for creating accessible learning for all

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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CEC Best Practices for Teaching from Home

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CEC Best Practices for Teaching from Home

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Links to FREE Online Learning Resources 

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Links to FREE Online Learning Resources 

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Providing Transition Focused Activities online and At Home

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Providing Transition Focused Activities online and At Home

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A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

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Open Author helps you build and publish Open Educational Resources for you and for the benefit of educators and learners everywhere.

Learn more about creating OER

Groups provides a flexible environment to organize, create, share, and discuss resources with others in your network. Collaborate with group members, tag and add resources to shared folders, create your own collections, all within a public or private group.

Groups

Search through collections curated by our digital librarians

Collections

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Common Core

Hubs

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Projects, districts, states, and initiatives make use of Hubs to bring groups of educators together to create, organize, and share OER collections that meet their common goals. Explore Hubs

Microsites

Custom Digital Libraries

Microsites are custom, flexible sites that include all the features available on OER Commons. Microsites allow your users to search resource collections using a custom taxonomy at a unique URL. Contact Us

Our award-winning OER Professional Learning programs support instructors and curriculum specialists to gain the necessary skills required to find, adapt, and evaluate high quality open materials.

In-person and virtual OER workshops help focus instructors to develop a "commons" mindset, to experience the benefits of open processes using the platform's tools, collaborative features, and workflows. This can include using Open Author for creating, remixing, and publishing shared curriculum.

Learn More

How to Search OER Commons

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OER Commons is a dynamic digital library and network. Explore open education resources and join our network of educators dedicated to curriculum improvement.

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A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

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SEL and Mental Health Resources During COVID-19 Outbreak

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SEL and Mental Health Resources During COVID-19 Outbreak

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As local, state, national, and international leaders work to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, many communities across the country are experiencing a heightened level of fear, anxiety, and worry during these uncertain times. Parents, educators, youth development professionals, childcare providers, and others are looking for ways to help young people reduce, manage, and cope with the fears, worries and anxieties that might be provoked by this health crisis and continue to develop the social and emotional skills they will need for managing and coping with future life challenges.

Here is a collection of resources to support these efforts. Check back periodically, as we will be updating the list. If you have resources to suggest, please contact us at info@sel4us.org .

Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning Roadmap for Reopening School, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

How to Talk to Children about the Coronavirus , Harvard Medical School

Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource, National Association of School Psychologists

Coronavirus Public Health Emergency: Psychological Tips for Children and Adolescents' Emotions, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona

Social-Emotional Learning During COVID 19 Crisis: Equity Lens Reflection, Karen Craddock, PhD

Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus, NPR

Social and Emotional Learning Supports for Children and Young Adults Around Covid-19, SEL4TX

5 Ways to Help Children Cope with Coronavirus Anxiety, Education Development Center

Coronavirus, Online Learning, Social Isolation, and Cyberbullying: How To Support Our Students, Cyberbullying Research Center

Ethical Considerations: School Counseling in a Virtual Setting, American School Counselors Association

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As local, state, national, and international leaders work to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, many communities across the country are experiencing a heightened level of fear, anxiety, and worry during these uncertain times.

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ReadTheory | Reading Comprehension Exercises

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Reading comprehension exercises — online, free, & adaptive. Fits K-12, ESL and adult students. Easily track progress for the entire class.

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Really Great Reading | Specialists in Reading Education

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The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated feelings of isolation, stress, loss, and more among young people, adults, families, and communities. Social and emotional learning (SEL) offers a powerful means to support one another during these challenging times as our communities work to address the impact of the pandemic on students' learning and development.

Now, more than ever, we understand how important it is to demonstrate empathy and resilience, build relationships across distance, and call upon our collective resolve to strengthen our schools and our communities.

So, how can SEL support you and your work during this time? Find resources and guidance in Reunite, Renew, Thrive: SEL Roadmap for Reopening School (July 2020).

Our recommendations follow the four core focus areas for schoolwide SEL and districtwide SEL:

First, create a foundation for SEL.

Work with students, families, and communities to envision how education can more holistically support all learners.

Prioritize strong, two-way communication between families and schools.

Second, attend to well-being and mutual support among adults.

Pay close attention to our own social-emotional needs in order to be the community of adults who best serve our young people.

Foster supportive adult relationships to process emotions, share challenges, and offer support to one another.

Third, promote SEL for young people.

Provide consistency in daily routines to foster a sense of safety and predictability.

Listen to young people and support them in building or maintaining a sense of community and connection.

Incorporate social and emotional skill-building into learning (such as CASEL's SEL 3 Signature Practices).

Fourth, reflect on how things are going and adjust as you learn.

Listen to students, families, and your wider community of stakeholders as valuable sources of information about what is or isn't working.

Analyze results with a lens of equity to meet needs using our SEL Data Reflection Protocol

How is CASEL advancing this work?
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Guidance on School Transitions and Reopening

To aid in this time of continued transitions, CASEL collaborated with more than 40 partners to illuminate a way forward through Reunite, Renew, Thrive: SEL Roadmap for Reopening School (July 2020), centered on relationships and built on the existing strengths of a school community. As we prepared for Spring 2021, we offered three strategies adapted from the SEL Roadmap to re-examine efforts for a successful second semester: Refocus on the SEL Roadmap: Actions for a Successful Second Semester (January 2021).

CASEL CARES Webinar Series

In response to the pandemic, CASEL mobilized to provide social and emotional support to our communities and share best practices through an initiative called CASEL CARES. We offered weekly practical guidance and information on topics that were sourced from the field and relevant to the needs of today. Our CASEL CARES Webinars covered a wide range of SEL topics and attracted more than 100,000 people. View the on-demand series

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The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated feelings of isolation, stress, loss, and more among young people, adults, families, and communities. Social and

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Links to FREE Online Learning Resources 

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Links to FREE Online Learning Resources 

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Supporting Students with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public educ

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UDL: Engagement for Learning in Online Platforms 

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UDL: Engagement for Learning in Online Platforms 

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Student learning outcomes depend on the depth and quality of their engagement in learning. Since the early 2000s, the concept of engagement has gained a lot of attention from researchers. Scholars often define engagement as a complex construct that consists of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional components, and argue instructors should attend to each one of these components to effectively engage their learners. In agreement with Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris [ 1] and Finn and Zimmer [ 2], we propose that "sustained student engagement (a) functions as a facilitator of student learning, (b) leads to meaningful outcomes, (c) prevents students from dropping out, and (d) prevents boredom and lack of respect for authority" [ 3].

The behavioral component of engagement would require the learner to be physically oriented towards the instructor or materials [ 1, 3]. In an online setting, that entails accessing and manipulating the content (e.g., reading posted materials or submitting the assignments). The cognitive component of engagement involves cognitive processing of information as demonstrated by responding and posting questions, and attending to learning tasks [ 1, 3]. Lastly, the emotional component of engagement refers to student motivation to learn and their emotional responses to learning tasks [ 1, 3]. In addition, researchers examining student engagement argue engagement is "malleable" [ 4] and as such can be impacted by student characteristics as well as the quality of instruction.

Online learning environments may present some inherent barriers to student engagement [ 3], therefore both synchronous and asynchronous instruction requires intentional and meaningful design. This article begins with a discussion of possible barriers to student engagement in online learning, followed by a description of "Universal Design for Learning" (UDL), and concludes with practical strategies that align with UDL and have a potential to boost learners' engagement.

Barriers to Engagement in Online Environments

The quality of student engagement correlates directly with the quality of student learning: An engaged student learns better. While convenience, accessibility, and flexibility attract many students to online learning, the learning environment can be alienating if not thoughtfully designed.

The learners drawn to online learning bring an increasing diversity of abilities and represent vast differences economically, geographically, racially, linguistically, religiously, culturally, and sexually [ 5]. As a result, traditional online instruction that is, for example, text-based, driven by information provision, and assessed through regurgitation will not offer the flexibility to meet the variety of learning needs [ 3, 5]. In this light, the role of the instructor and the design of the learning environment are the primary determining factors in student engagement [ 6, 7].

The behavioral, cognitive, and emotional components of engagement are elusive in the absence of deeper relationships with the instructor, other students, and the material itself. Online learning environments deprived of these relationships can leave students feeling isolated and unsuccessful [ 5]. As the student population for online learning presents increasingly complex needs and characteristics, instruction and instructional design should adapt to increase student engagement:

Distance and post-secondary education instructors face increasingly diverse students with disabilities, language and cultural barriers, and significant skill deficiencies. In spite of this demographic diversity, the type of education delivered has not significantly changed. Individual accommodations have been applied, but the structure and culture of higher education, and the nature of what constitutes knowledge, its acquisition, and its expression in practice, have not responded [ 8].

In this light, UDL can provide an effective bridge to support student engagement in online learning.

Universal Design for Learning

Thoughtfully designed online instruction has proven to enhance learner's engagement with the course, the instructor, and with one another [ 9]. Universal Design for Learning is an instructional design framework offering flexibility and adaptability to meet the needs of increasingly diverse learners and maximizing engagement [ 10, 11]. In online as well as any learning context, it provides an intentional and systematic approach for building an environment that accommodates diversity and difference between and among the students.

The UDL framework is nested in neuroscience with a particular focus on how the brain works and which parts of the brain are activated during the learning process [ 12]. The objective of UDL is to first identify and overcome unnecessary barriers to instruction, then systematically plan for embracing diversity of all learners by providing flexible methods and assessment, accessible materials, and meaningful learning goals [ 11, 12]. The flexibility of instruction is built through three principles of multiple means of engagement, multiple modalities of instruction, and multiple means of assessment as well as additional guidelines and checkpoints, which all together constitute the UDL framework.

Six Example Strategies for Online Teaching Aligned with UDL

To illustrate how UDL-based instruction can support student engagement in an online environment the following section focuses on six selected teaching strategies and their alignment to each of the three UDL principles. These six strategies were selected from a longer list of strategies compiled from research on UDL in online teaching [ 3]. A set of practices aligned with the UDL framework should not replace systematic and thoughtful planning for learner diversity. In other words, these practices are only examples and should not be perceived in isolation independent of a larger UDL framework.

The Center on Applied Special Technology (CAST) offers a detailed description with examples of what each of the guidelines and checkpoints within each of the UDL principles means. The following sections focus on two selected strategies that align with the multiple means of engagement principle of UDL.

Multiple means of engagement. The first of UDL principles focuses on ensuring that learners are provided with a variety of ways to engage with materials, the instructor, and each other. This principle supports the affective parts of the brain and corresponds to "the why" of learning, which means that it helps create learners who are vested in the learning process because they feel motivated and understand why they are learning. To achieve that, instructors should focus on strategies that stimulate students' interests, strengthen their effort and persistence, and support self-regulation.

1. Weekly written communication with students. Weekly communication between an instructor and learners (either as a group or individually) can serve multiple purposes [ 8, 13]. First, weekly communication builds a stronger sense of community and strengthens connection between the instructor and learners. It shows the learners that their instructor is equally committed to learners' success and engaged in the online course.

Weekly messages from the instructor may motivate learners to stay on task and help them refocus on the online course. To further align with UDL framework, such weekly correspondence should include multiple formats so the students have a choice in how they engage with information. For example, instructor's written message could also contain a link to a brief video and/or audio recording conveying the same message. Additionally, such weekly check-in from an instructor may encourage learners to respond with any questions or requests for clarification they would not otherwise voice. For the instructor, a weekly calendar reminder to send a message to the learners is an easy strategy to ensure consistency in communication.

2. Note takers for synchronous sessions. Many online instructors prefer to offer weekly or monthly synchronous sessions to ensure all learners participate in a lecture or group activities and have an opportunity to work together via video conferencing software like Zoom, BBCollaborate, or Go to Meeting. It is a great strategy but due to the nature of video conferencing it may be challenging to gauge how much learners are actually learning during synchronous sessions and how engaged they are.

Rose, Harbour, Johnston, Daley, and Abarbanell suggest assigning a new student each time to take notes during the synchronous session may be highly beneficial [ 14]. This strategy puts a responsibility on a selected student to provide notes to all classmates after a synchronous session. That way, other students can focus on actually engaging with the activity or lecture knowing that they will be able to supplement their notes with the ones from an 'official' note taker. Moreover, the instructor should supplement the written notes from an "official note taker" with audio and video recording of the synchronous session so the students have a choice of format.

Additionally, assigning a different note taker for each synchronous session allows each student to have a sense of responsibility for their peers' learning and participation. In larger classes, an instructor can either assign groups of note takers or seek volunteers for note taking as an extra credit assignment or engaging students in name drawing to select note takers.

Multiple means of representation. The second of UDL's principles addresses the recognition parts of the brain to provide "the what" of learning. In other words, it refers to the content of learning and its presentation. In particular, the goal of this principle is to create learners who know how to access information and have resources to do so by providing them with alternatives for receiving information, options for supporting language and symbols recognition, and options for comprehension. The next two sections describe two strategies aimed at providing learners with a variety of ways in which information is presented to them.

3. Posting flexible presentations. The majority of online content consists of assigned readings, assignments, and content-rich presentations. Rao [ 5], He [ 13], Rose et al. [ 14], Lowrey et al. [ 15], and Smith [ 16] all argue instructor's presentations are more accessible to students and ultimately more effective if they consist of multiple ways of representing the content. These scholars suggest instead of posting static slides, instructors should provide students with a combination of slides with text, links to video clips, audio recordings, and graphics. This way, a learner has autonomy to decide whether to learn from written text, a video representation, a graphic, or a combination of all of these formats.

4. Accessibility of digital materials. Online learning revolves primarily around digital materials. With the intention of overcoming barriers to instruction and supporting learners with diverse needs, instructors need to ensure that all digital materials are accessible to learners [ 8, 14, 15]. In fact, Lowrey et al. [ 15] proposes "distance education coursework is required to meet federal accessibility standards" and "representation of digital materials from an accessibility perspective means that users will be able to perceive, understand, navigate and interact with digital content."

Digital materials are more accessible when presented in multiple formats. For example, a digital textbook should be accessible through enlarged font, contrasted text color, or through text-to-speech application. Instructors utilizing Blackboard, Moodle, or Canvas learning management systems may want to explore the Ally software, which assists with ensuring accessibility of online content by assessing instructor's materials as well as providing students with options of a variety of formats [ 8].

Multiple means of action and expression. The third principle of UDL addresses the strategic parts of the brain, or the "how" of learning. Consequently, the ultimate goal of implementing this principle is to develop learners who can set goals for their learning and are strategic in how they express their knowledge and skills. Specifically, this principle is addressed by providing learners with a variety of opportunities for physical action as well as options for communication and expression, and multiple chances for improving executive function (i.e., strategic planning and executing steps of a learning task). The following two strategies exemplify the principle of multiple means of action and expression in online instruction.

5. Choices in demonstration of knowledge. The most fundamental yet complex strategy aligned with the principle of multiple means of action and expression requires instructors to offer their learners choices in how they demonstrate knowledge. Rogers-Shaw et. al [ 8], He [ 13], Rao [ 15], and Smith [ 16] all argue learners benefit from more than one option for demonstrating their skills and knowledge. Having a choice in expression may benefit the student by leading to a greater sense of ownership of learning.

In practice, it means that for each assignment an instructor provides more than one way in which students can show their learning. Instructors need to realize that allowing options for student knowledge and skill demonstration does not lower the rigor of the assessment. For example, learners may have a choice to either write a 10-page paper, or prepare narrated slides, or create a website, or submit an audio recording of answering the assignment questions.

Depending on the assignment, the number of learners in a course, and other contextual factors, an instructor may want to provide students with a menu of three to five options or leave it completely open-ended. As with any assignment, it is more beneficial to the learner when a rubric accompanies any given option for assignment submission to clarify instructor's expectations and ensure consistent assessment criteria regardless of a chosen submission format.

6. Interactive online discussions. One of the typical components of online coursework includes peer-to-peer discussion. Rao and Tanners [ 17] suggest traditional online discussion has a risk of being static and inauthentic and instructors should explore better alternatives that give learners' options for expressing themselves. Some of the traditional LMS discussion boards include options for creating posts as written text, or embedding videos, or audio recordings though these might not be very intuitive and most learners end up relying on written text. Some other alternatives include programs like VoiceThread or FlipGrid. For example, in a VoiceThread-based discussion each participant has an option of expressing themselves in a variety of formats. Participants can comment on each other's recordings and post questions or comments to slides submitted by the instructor. Having a variety of means to express oneself builds a more authentic conversation around a topic posed by the instructor than a traditional discussion board would provide.

Conclusion

Online learning environments present certain barriers to student engagement but UDL as a thoughtful and systematic instructional design framework has potential to overcome those barriers. Beginning the design process with learner variability in mind, followed by an intentional design of accessible materials, flexible methods, goals, and assessments, UDL-based environments can facilitate learner engagement and lead to meaningful learning outcomes.

References

[1] Fredricks, J., Blumenfeld, P., and Paris, A. School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research 74, 1 (2004), 59-109.

[2] Finn, J. and Zimmer, K. Student engagement: What is it? Why does it matter? In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, and C. Wylie (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer, New York, 2012, 97-132.

[3] Hollingshead, A. Designing engaging online environment: Universal design for learning principles. In K. L. Milheim (Ed.). Cultivating Diverse Online Classrooms through Effective Instructional Design. IGI Global, Hershey, PA 018.

[4] Skinner, E., and Pitzer, J. Developmental dynamics of student engagement. Coping, and everyday resilience. In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, and C. Wylie (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer, New York, 2012, 21-44.

[5] Rao, K. Universal design for online courses: Addressing the needs of non-traditional learners. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Technology Enhanced Education, Kerala, India. 2012.

[6] Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., and Allen, J. P. Teacher-student relationships and engagement: Conceptualizing, measuring, and improving the capacity of classroom interactions. In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, and C. Wylie (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer, New York, 2012, 365-386.

[7] Sharan, S. Student engagement in learning. In S.Sharan, and I. Tan (Eds.) Organizing Schools for Productive Learning. Springer, New York, 2008, 41-45.

[8] Rogers-Shaw, C., Carr-Chellman, D. J., and Choi, J. Universal design for learning: Guidelines for accessible online instruction. Adult Learning 29, 1 (2018), 20-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159517735530

[9] Tobin, T. J. Increase online student retention with universal design for learning. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education 15, 3 (2014), 13-24.

[10] Meyer, A., and Rose, D. Universal design for individual differences. Educational Leadership 58, 3 (2000), 39-43.

[11] Rose, D., and Meyer, A. Universal design for learning. Journal of Special Education Technology 15, 1 (2000), 67-70.

[12] Meyer, A., Rose, D., and Gordon, D. (2014). Universal Design for Learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing.

[13] He, Y. Universal Design for Learning in an online teacher education course: Enhancing learners' confidence to teach online. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching 10, 2 (2014), 283-298.

[14] Rose, D. H., Harbour, W. S., Johnston, C. S., Daley, S. G., and Abarbanell, L. Universal Design for Learning in postsecondary education: Reflections on principles and their application. In S. E. Burgstahler and R. C. Cory (Eds.), Universal Design in Higher Education. Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, 2013, 45-59.

[15] Lowrey, K. A., Smith, S. J., and Khoo, J. Multiple means of representation in distance education. In L. A. Scott and C. A. Thoma (Eds.), Universal Design for distance education: A guide for online course development (pp. 29-43). XanEdu, Acton, MA, 2016

[16] Smith, F. Analyzing a college course that adheres to the universal design for learning (UDL) framework. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 12, 3 (2012), 31-61.

[17] Rao, K., and Tanners, A. (2011). Curb cuts in cyberspace: Universal Instructional Design in online courses. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability 24, 3 (2011), 211-229.

About the Authors

Aleksandra Hollingshead is an assistant professor of special education in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. She earned her doctorate degree from the University of Cincinnati. Her research focuses on student engagement in learning through a lens of Universal Design for Learning.

Davin Carr-Chellman is an assistant professor of education in the Adult, Organizational Learning and Leadership Program in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Idaho. His research focuses on individual, organizational, and community capacity building, especially within the framework of adult learning and agency. The specific contexts for his investigations include online education, religious organizations, public schools, and doctoral and graduate education.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

© ACM 2018. 1535-394X/19/02-3310383 $15.00

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Learner engagement in any instructional environment, including online, is critical to ensuring meaningful learning outcomes. Researchers discuss engagement as a complex construct consisting of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domains. In e-learning, student engagement is difficult to achieve.

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Supporting Students with Disabilities in Blended and Online Learning

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Supporting Students with Disabilities in Blended and Online Learning

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Introduction

The field of online and blended learning has a rich history of pursuing personalized and competency-based education. As evidence, consider that at the time of writing this, iNACOL, a major advocacy organization in K-12 online and blended learning had over 50 resources tagged under personalized learning (iNACOL, 2018). This approach to education - an approach that recognizes that each child comes with unique strengths and weaknesses - represents an opportunity to break away from commonly-held mindsets that view students with disabilities from a deficit perspective that often fails to recognize the exceptional strengths these students also possess. All students, not just students with disabilities, benefit from specialized supports and services to differentiate instruction within online programs. Thus, while this report focuses more specifically on supporting students with disabilities in online and blended environments, much of the information here may help all students.

As an aside, it is expected that many readers of this report will be familiar with the background on special education law. Appendix A is provided for those less fluent in this area. Appendix A provides a primer on both Michigan and federal law pertaining to students with disabilities and may be important background context for the rest of the report.

IEP Teams and Online Provider Considerations

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Individual Educational Program (IEP) teams, and those helping to design or deliver the online or blended learning experience, to keep in the forefront of their decision making the difference between the promise of the potential of the technology and the individual needs of the student in question. However, that is not to say that an online or blended learning program will be appropriate for every student and meet every learning need. According to Rice, Deschaine, and Mellard (2018), it is important "... to take a more cautious route because we take seriously the responsibility to make online learning available to everyone, everywhere. To ensure that these goals of increased access are met, educators and scholars need to ask important questions about who is participating in K-12 online learning and whether all students are benefiting (p. 118).

Providing proper supports to students with disabilities in online and blended learning environments requires the attention of all involved in the planning and execution of the student's educational program and plan as well as the aforementioned comprehensive approach to the child. Attention to sound instructional strategies that differentiate learning opportunities, expected learning outcomes, student-specific supports, and student voice can help maximize student success. Because IEP teams play such an integral role in the educational experience of students with disabilities, each individual role on the IEP team can play an important part in shaping the best experience.

Students

Students have always played a central role in their own learning; but with the advent of online and blended learning opportunities, this role is even more pronounced. Students who are affected by disabilities have an important perspective related to their own learning needs and abilities, and their voice needs to be heard. They need to have the opportunity to express the ways that their learning abilities and challenges can influence the development of a quality support program developed for the online and blended learning platforms.

According to the Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education (MARSE) with Related IDEA Federal Regulations (Michigan Department of Education, 2018), to the greatest extent possible, students should be members of the planning team that is putting together the education plans, programs, goals, objectives, and evaluations for their special education program; this would extend to online and blended learning environments. To be active participants in this process, students must be self-aware of both their abilities and areas in which they struggle, be able to self-advocate and state their needs to the adults responsible for creating and providing the programs and services, and be able to provide feedback throughout their education so revisions can be made to the programs and supports as necessary. Such awareness will likely be difficult for students with no prior familiarity with online learning. Consideration should be given to preparing students through information about or orientations to online learning prior to completing plans so that students can gain a more informed perspective from which to speak and make decisions.

Instructional Staff (General Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Paraprofessionals, and Ancillary Support Staff)

Educators continue to have a central role in any educational program developed for students eligible for special education programs and services. Issues related to curriculum, instruction, assessment, materials, methodology, and technology all need to be attended to in order to ensure that the required supports are in place to assist and allow the students with disabilities to be educated in the least restrictive environment in online and blended learning settings.

Educators need to be open minded about instructional potential and advocate for the presentation of all perspectives during the planning process. The needs of the student, parents, programs, and the teachers themselves should be discussed prior to the implementation of a plan. Consequently, educators need to have a great deal of training, information, ideas, and resources to aid them in supporting the needs of students in online and blended learning environments.

Mentors

Students who have disabilities often need additional peer or instructor supports to help them navigate the instructional opportunities and requirements that they experience in school. When appropriate, individuals who act as supports in educational environments should be active members in the development of educational interventions and the implementation of the programs and services, as well as in the evaluation of the program and service effectiveness. In Michigan, online learners are required to have a school employee - or in some cases, the parent - assigned as a mentor. Peers can also be a source of support to students, modeling appropriate behavior in class and in social situtations, for example. Although it may not be realistic, ideally, mentors and peers would have the technological, social, and academic skills necessary to help guide their students. In addition, their insights can be of considerable benefit as a source of informal formative assessment to assist the other team members as they attempt to appropriately plan for and support the student. For more information about these types of supports please see the Grand Valley State University's Statewide Autism Resources.

Parents

Parents are the first teachers of their children and play an important role in their longitudinal educational, social, behavioral, and affective development. As such, parents should be ready to discuss the aspirations and fears they have related to their child's programs. Additionally, parents have a great deal to offer in discussions related to the desired outcomes of yearly plans and the influence online and blended learning have in meeting those desired outcomes. The importance of parents being active members in discussions and plans that are designed and developed to meet the needs of their children receiving special services in online and blended settings cannot be overstated because they will not have the ease that comes from experience interacting with students and other members of the support team in a traditional setting; instead, they will be navigating the technology and design of a unfamiliar modality of teaching and learning.

Parents are provided a great deal of support, deference, and responsibilities for the appropriate programming for their children who are eligible for special education services in Michigan. A top priority of parental involvement in all IEP programs is related to identifying the student's strengths and weaknesses and the most appropriate ways to meet their needs. For our discussion, this input of student capabilities extends to the online and blended learning environment and the areas where supports would be necessary. Since their information and input is critical to success in online learning, all parental input and participation should be officially documented by the IEP team.

Many parents who have not experienced online or blended learning may be inadequately prepared for optimal participation in IEP meetings without being provided the information about what to expect with online learning. One resource that may help educate parents is Michigan Virtual's Parent Guide to Online Learning (2017). Parents wanting more information about their roles and responsibilities related to the educational opportunities for their children are encouraged to contact the administrator of the program responsible for the provision of special education programs and services for their child.

Administrators

Administrators are ultimately responsible for the provision of quality education programs and services for students under their care within their programs. The issues related to providing thoughtful and quality online and blended services and programs for students with disabilities might at first be viewed as a challenging task by most educators. It is the administrator's responsibility to help allay the fears and trepidations of the students, parents, staff, and faculty through the advocacy for good assessment, quality technological supports, integrity of content delivery, powerful and poignant professional development for all involved, and a commitment towards implementation with fidelity across all aspects of the program.

Administrators often are legally the only ones who can obligate the school to provide services and who have the responsibility to allocate school resources to create learning opportunities outside of the traditional educational community where the student receives instruction. A willingness to explore options and to identify resources is necessary to meet the individual learning needs of the students with disabilities.

Online Providers

Though not typically on an IEP team, providers of online and blended programs are the subject and content experts related to the courses not being offered by the school or district. As such, they should be able to discuss the ways that they have met the individualized educational needs of students in the past and recommend appropriate, student-centered programs and services necessary to meet the specifically-designed instructional supports developed for the student under consideration. Online providers need to reflect upon all feedback provided from other IEP team members as they attempt to improve the courses within the Universal Design in Learning (UDL) framework, thus leading to greater accessibility and success for the students with disabilities.

Representatives from the organization who can speak for the program and allocate supports and resources should be ready to discuss ways that they will be able to address the needs of students who have disabilities from an instructional, academic, social, emotional, or intellectual programming perspective.

Course Designers

Course designers are experts in providing quality instructional experiences so that the goals and objectives of the curriculum can be mastered. These professionals are in a unique position to support the differentiated and individual educational needs of students with disabilities.

Course designers can discuss the scope and sequence of the instruction, the pace with which the instruction can be delivered, and the ways that activities and expectations for performance have been designed to support the needs of students in the general education setting. This information is invaluable to a team that has been assembled to develop individualized supports for students who have disabilities. Course designers must understand how individual educational needs affect the general education expectation and progression of content, as well as potential ways that the course can accommodate individual student's programmatic needs.

Categorical or Eligibility Criteria and Characteristics

As IEP teams meet to construct their plans, they should ensure the plans are informed by the specifics of the student's disability. As explained earlier, MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018), provides guidance for programming requirements for students with disabilities. According to MARSE, a student with a disability is defined as:

a person who has been evaluated according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and these rules, and is determined by an individualized education program team, an individualized family service plan team, or an administrative law judge to have one or more of the impairments specified in this part that necessitates special education or related services, or both, who is not more than 25 years of age as of September 1 of the school year of enrollment, and who has not graduated from high school. A student who reaches the age of 26 years after September 1 is a "student with a disability" and entitled to continue a special education program or service until the end of that school year. (p. 26-27)

The following sections provide content for each of the recognized eligibility categories that exist in the MARSE rules. It is important to recognize that for students to receive special educational services under Michigan law, the school district needs to conduct an eligibility determination. Once eligibility is ascertained, it then becomes the responsibility of the district to make a good faith effort in providing an appropriate IEP with programs and services specifically tailored to meet the needs of the child. Readers wishing a more extensive discourse on the issues of eligibility and programmatic access should contact the Supervisor or Director of Special Education in the district where the student is receiving their academic instruction.

The following eligibility categories exist in Michigan for the provision of special education programs and services: autism, cognitive impairments, other health impairments, emotional impairments, deaf or hard of hearing, visual impairments, physical impairments, specific learning disability, speech and language impairment, and traumatic brain injury. Each subsection below will provide direction about where to go for definitional and determination information and will offer a few pedagogical considerations that might be of use when educators and instructional personnel are providing support programs and services in online and blended learning environments.

Autism

Definition and Determination

For more information on how Autism is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 44-46 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Since autism is a spectrum disorder, educators will find themselves dealing with a wide range of situations that have an impact on appropriate educational functioning and abilities in an online or blended learning environment. When developing programs and services to meet the needs of students who have autism, the following pedagogical considerations should be discussed:

For further educational implications of how autism might affect the online or blended learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Autism or Disabilities. The team might also want to consider the following resources as they plan for supporting students with autism in online and blended learning environments:

Cognitive Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how cognitive impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 28 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Those wanting to provide appropriate educational programs and supports for students eligible for services under the cognitive impairment program requirements might want to consider the following pedagogical suggestions:

Attempt to provide repetition of content using multiple modalities when providing instruction. Most educational materials are written; capitalize on the wide variety of multimedia capabilities afforded by the online or blended environments to help demonstrate content concepts.

Take the steps necessary to assess student understanding of content in appropriate ways. Written reports may not allow students to provide the breadth or depth of their understanding in a way that a verbal presentation might. Additionally, online or blended environments provide students with cognitive impairments the opportunity to use differentiated output through technological tools.

New or novel situations may cause confusion and have an impact on educational performance. Realize that students may have issues with adaptive behavior. Take the time to explain changes in instructional routines and use this as an opportunity to pre-teach content. Providing instructional videos or screen shots of the specific behaviors that are expected in the online or blended learning environment will assist in the development of new skills. Communicate the changes to the mentor and parent so they can provide support and answer questions the student may have.

Be explicit in letting the students know what is expected of them for educational performance. Provide examples from past student work projects so the students with cognitive impairments has a better understanding of the features they must attend to.

When appropriate, let students work with peers or mentors so they have another perspective on the academic content. Using the chat, discussion board, or video conferencing features that are part of the online or blended environment will allow students the opportunity to socially interact with peers or mentors as they collaboratively work through the assignment.

Online and blended learning opportunities often are the saving grace for students with cognitive impairments. Many prefer the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content. This loss of physical proximity can also contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned. It is strongly suggested that online and blended program personnel provide direct one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective.

For further educational implications of how cognitive impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Cognitive Impairments or Disabilities. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Other Health Impairments

(h4)Definition and Determination

For more information on how other health impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 33-34 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

The complexity and multiplicity of issues that students eligible for services under the other health impairments programming rules requires professionals to consider a wide variety of pedagogical interventions. Some of these might include:

Understand the impact that the student's condition has on their stamina, patience, and ability to interact with others in the environment. Students that are emotionally or physically stressed may not have the ability to process content at the moment, and the use of recorded content either for instruction or student assignments might allow them to participate more fully in the program. Although online and blended learning environments might be a less stressful situation, with more relaxed social interactions, at times, these settings can cause a great deal of stress on the student experiencing the impact of their health impairments.

Educational programs, even those delivered in online or blended learning formats, often require students to attend to long periods of content or activity. For students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) it might be important for them to have instructional content or activities broken into smaller segments, thus allowing them to focus on the objectives in a way that does not cause undue stress or anxiety.

Often, students with other health impairments are unable to meet deadlines for tests and assignments due to medical issues related to their impairments. When this happens, the use of the technological features of the LMS might assist with the need to extend time to complete assignments. Medical conditions and the progression of disease or injury affect students differently. Recognize these situations when putting together units of instruction and personalizing instruction for these students.

It is important for the IEP Team members and instructional staff to understand the ways that the progression of the disease might affect the educational functioning of students in online and blended learning environments. Different seasons, or stages of the disease might deleteriously impact the student's functioning more than other times.

Due to the variety of health-related issues that might be covered under this category of service, recognize that the incorporation of specialized equipment or assistive technology might be necessary for online or blended learning instruction. It is important for all members of the team to be familiar with the extra supports that the assistive technological capabilities provide, the limitations of the systems, and the impact the assistive technology has on both learner and teacher behavior.

Working closely with the Assistive Technology consultant to ensure that all systems are compliant with the technical standards necessary to meet federal and state guidelines though the resources provided by the Alt+Shift program through the IDEA Grant Funded Initiative through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education (Michigan Office of Special Education, n.d.). Taking this step increases legal compliance to technical issues and situations, and more importantly, helps to provide appropriate supports for the student.

IEP Teams should provide an appropriate level of adult or peer supports necessary to help assist the student with medical issues to better understand initial content, to practice or rehearse instructional strategies, or to appropriately assess educational functioning.

Online and blended learning opportunities often are the saving grace for students with health impairments. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content. This loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned. It is strongly suggested that online and blended program personnel provide direct one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective.

For further educational implications of how other health impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Other Health Impairments or Disabilities, Assistive Technology Consultants, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, or School Nurses. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Emotional Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how emotional impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 29-30 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Most teachers have the ability to meet the cognitive and affective needs of their students in the general education environment. Students that have issues with affective, social, or emotional interactions with teachers and peers often require more nuanced attention to the way in which social interactions occur within the learning environment, since these have the distinct potential of having a dramatic impact on student academic achievement. To this end, teachers providing service in online and blended environments might want to consider the following:

Recognize that all students eligible for services are different. Some students might exhibit extremely outgoing behaviors, while others might exhibit behaviors that are very withdrawn and isolated. This might be difficult to identify in your interactions with the students in online or blended learning settings. Working closely with the team - especially the mentor - to identify how the student presents themselves in face-to-face settings might provide ideas for ways to effectively support behaviors in the virtual environment.

Make expectations clear and be very consistent in application of consequences in order to provide a structured environment. This can best be done by having rules, procedures, routines, policies, or expectations specifically addressed in educational and behavioral materials. Online and blended learning environments have a great deal of structure built into the program. For example, the length of instructional videos can be curtailed to meet the instructional needs of students. The IEP Team should use this structure as a support when making behavioral requirements known to the student.

Provide the students with self-monitoring resources, such as check lists, rubrics, or planning guides. This helps them visually scaffold expectations and provides cognitive supports when affective challenges present themselves. Using multimedia examples that focus on the expected work and behaviors is a good way to assist students' understanding, and practice good online and blended learning academic and social behaviors.

Be proactive in your schedule and pacing of content to ensure that unstructured time and activities have clear parameters and expectations for personal, as well as interpersonal behavior. Proactively providing clear examples of acceptable behavior is a good way to support expectations for social interactions. Digital citizenship and acceptable use policies provide supports when dealing with expected student behaviors in online and blended learning environments.

Realize that students might need to be gradually introduced to some instructional formats or delivery systems due to specific aspects of their disability. For example, group work might need to wait until the student is able to demonstrate the ability to work productively with others on tasks. Using the full range of resources available in the LMS might allow you to differentiate or personalize student responses or assignments when the assigned format might be a challenge to the student.

Encourage students to engage in the identification and labeling of their own internal emotional states, and to share those in an appropriate way with the instructional staff. Allowing the students to address issues before they become problems is particularly important to establish and maintain accepting and supportive learning environments. Having student supports built into the online or blended learning structure can be useful when students need extra support or assistance during synchronous and asynchronous sessions.

Offer one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective. Online and blended learning opportunities can be a welcome option for students with emotional impairments. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned.

The strategies and suggestions contained within the student's IEP will go a long way in helping to support and structure learning expectations in an online or blended environment.

For further educational implications of how emotional impairments might impact the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Emotional Impairments or Disabilities, School Social Worker, School Counselors, and School Nurse. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Definition and Determination

For more information on how deaf or hard of hearing is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 30-31 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

The ability of teachers and educational staff to effectively support students in online or blended learning environments who are deaf or hard of hearing might be outside of the experiential base of most educators. Since much of the online or blended environment requires the use of multimedia materials, it is important that teams consult with professionals trained in the educational programming for students with hearing issues, as well as professionals who are trained in the use of assistive technology, both on the learner's systems, the teacher's systems, and with the LMS and platform. Other considerations include:

Working closely with the Assistive Technology consultant to ensure that all systems are compliant with the technical standards necessary to meet federal and state guidelines though the resources provided by the Alt+Shift program through the IDEA Grant Funded Initiative through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education (Michigan Office of Special Education, n.d.). Taking this step increases legal compliance to technical issues and situations and, more importantly, helps to provide appropriate supports for the student. In online and blended learning environments this might include, but is not limited to, sign language interpreters, interveners, closed captioning, or assistive technology devices.

Taking the time to provide students with the training necessary for them to feel comfortable with assistive technology systems so they are competent users of those supports within the online or blended learning environments. Having staff, faculty, parents, as well as students receive training on these supports provide a basis of understanding for program assessment and evaluation.

Augmenting instruction through written materials. Instructional staff should also ensure that there are written supports for the social interactions that occur within the LMS. In online and blended environments, this means these supports should be embedded within every aspect of the LMS.

Being proactive in ensuring that the auditory aspects of the instructional environment are compatible with any student hearing aids or cochlear implants. Create time for instructional faculty, support faculty, and the students to "test drive" any systems before the student is expected to use them in the online or blended learning classroom.

Ensuring that the acoustics of both the student's learning environments, as well as that of the teacher, have been checked for their instructional effectiveness. Attend especially to the background noise that might result when other students participate auditorially. Providing all students technological dos and don'ts related to the need to minimize background noise when speaking benefits all students but is especially important for students with hearing impairments.

Remembering that students who are deaf or hard of hearing often use visual cues and are tuned in to the lips and face of the speaker for cues. Ensure that all participants in the online or blended learning environment face the video camera and speak in a way that supports the visual needs of the students.

Using appropriate lighting to support the student's ability to gain visual information, thus making better sense of the educational and social expectations within the online and blended environments.

Being aware that providing visually busy content to students with hearing impairments may cause confusion and create misunderstandings of content that could be difficult to remediate.

Ensuring that the visuals used to support instruction in online or blended learning settings focus on the key instructional goals, objectives, and elements.

Offering one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective. Some students prefer the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions in online and blended learning environments while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned.

For further educational implications of how deaf or hard of hearing impairments might impact the learning environment, please onsult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Hearing Impairments or Disabilities, Audiologists, Sign Language Interpreters, or Program Interveners. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Visual Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how visual impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 31-32 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

As with supporting students eligible for services under deaf or hard of hearing criteria, students eligible for services under the visual impairment criteria will probably need the support of specially trained professionals to assist the educational team in identifying ways to support students in online and blended learning environments. These additional areas should also be considered for supporting students in an online or blended learning environment:

For further educational implications of how visual impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Visual Impairments or Disabilities and Orientation and Mobility Specialists. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Physical Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how physical impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 32-33 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Students affected by physical impairments will probably require a great deal of physical environmental modifications to support their mobility and learning needs. Programs that support students who have physical disabilities through the use of online or blended learning need to have a solid understanding of the ways that the student's educational functioning might be affected by physical conditions and be able to adapt learning environments creatively to meet their specific educational needs.

In general, educators might want to consider the following when providing supports to students affected by physical disabilities in their online and blended learning environments:

For further educational implications of how physical impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Physical Impairments or Disabilities, the Occupational Therapists, the Physical Therapists, and the School Nurse. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Specific Learning Disability

Definition and Determination

For more information on how specific learning disability is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 36-38 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Students affected by specific learning disabilities often have difficulty in areas of academic performance, and meeting the demands placed upon them in the learning environment. Quite often, students exhibit inconsistent patterns of school performance, having strengths and abilities in some areas of school performance, but not in others. Educators interested in providing appropriate instructional and program supports in online and blended learning environments are encouraged to look at the student's functioning in the areas of written expression, reading ability, and mathematics. More specific suggestions include attending to the following:

For further educational implications of how specific learning disabilities might impact the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Specific Leaning Impairments or Disabilities. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Speech and Language Impairment

Definition and Determination

For more information on how speech and language impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 34-35 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Speech and language issues can influence the way that students receive and understand content, as well as the way in which they are able to demonstrate competency, provide feedback, and interact with others verbally and socially. It is important for professionals supporting students with speech and language impairments in online and blended learning environments to be aware of the specific ways in which the student's learning needs are affected by their disability. Some common considerations are listed below.

For students with receptive speech and language impairments:

Reduce auditory and visual distractions within the online or blended learning environment. Extra stimuli in the learning environment can confuse and interfere with the student's ability to attend to instruction, listen to comments, follow directions, and respond appropriately to interactions.

Provide cues to students so they can distinguish when instruction has begun, so they can better focus on the interactions during that segment of the course.

Provide visuals and concrete examples during instruction. These provide supports for when the verbal components of the instruction have been completed.

Make sure that your speech can be heard and understood by the student. Speak slowly and clearly, at a reasonable pace, and provide opportunities for questioning.

For students with expressive speech and language impairments:

Provide students opportunities to demonstrate competency of the content by using alternative methods for assignments. Have multiple ways to assess course content and provide students options for task and assignment completion.

Provide students extra time to respond when they ask or answer questions.

Realize that students might have difficulty participating in discussions or group work due to their difficulties with articulation, fluency, or voice.

Consider using written discussion boards within the online or blended learning LMS as an alternative to group work.

Work closely with the assistive technology support team to minimize the exacerbation of the student's speech production problems by the auditory hardware that is used by all the students. It may be necessary to work the issue out through technological intervention.

For any student with speech and language impairments, offer one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective. Online and blended learning present different opportunities for students with speech and language issues. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned, and office hours are one way of monitoring progress.

For further educational implications of how speech and language impairments might impact the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Speech and Language Consultant. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Traumatic Brain Injury

Definition and Determination

For more information on how traumatic brain injury is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 46-47 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

The reasons for eligibility under traumatic brain injury vary widely. Each student presents a differing educational scope of need. Make sure that you consult with appropriate medical personnel to understand how the student's injury might affect functioning within online or blended educational learning environments. We know more than ever before about brain anatomy and the impact that insult or injury to specific regions have on the processing of information. Although we have come a long way, the science of learning and understanding localized to sections of the brain are not exact. Some broad considerations that teams should attend to include:

It is important to realize that the student has acquired this injury because of a traumatic event. Emotional issues in dealing with the acceptance of his or her condition might get in the way of cognitive ability. Make sure that appropriate team members are available to assist with any affective or behavioral manifestations that might occur due to acceptance of their injury. In online and blended learning environments, this might present itself in anger, depression, or withdrawal from the academic work, or the people within the setting.

The area of brain that has experienced the trauma will have a dramatic impact on the needs and the abilities of the student in the online and blended learning environment. To support this, provide content that allows students to experience their content in the modalities they are most capable of using, and minimize the use of content in the modalities they have the most difficulty with.

When you design the instruction, make sure that you capitalize on the capabilities that exist within the LMS of the online and blended learning course to provide multiple ways to consider content using visuals, auditory files, texts, and multimedia content.

During instruction, focus instructional materials in the student's least affected modality, while still providing instruction in the modalities that are affected by the injury. This multisensory approach to instruction helps the student receive content and information in multiple channels.

Provide the students with the opportunity to restate back to you what it is covered in class and for the requirements for activities.

Offer one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or a technology integration perspective. Online and blended learning opportunities present a comfortable alternative for students with traumatic brain injuries. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned, and office hours are one way of monitoring progress.

For further educational implications of how traumatic brain injury might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members. The team might also want to consider the following as they for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Additional Considerations

Along with the above consideration, there are a few additional areas that should be considered when developing supports for students with disabilities in online and blended environments.

District Policies and Procedures

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the student's local district or management company to develop and provide special education supports for students with recognized needs under federal and state mandates. Programs need to have appropriate and effective policies in place to ensure that those responsible for the development and provision of online or blended learning programs have the support and direction necessary to ensure that the programs meet the regulatory, fiscal, compliance, and managerial requirements that the organization adheres to for other programmatic offerings. In addition, issues specific to the provision of online or blended learning programs need to be considered when the policies and procedures are promulgated and revised.

Acceptable use policies ensure that programmatic resources are used in a way consistent with appropriate educational programs and services. Having systems developed and maintained in a way to meet the regulatory and legal issues associated with the laws listed above should be ensconced within the policy and procedures for the program. Finally, issues related to acquisition, lending, upgrade, and support need to be stipulated so all participants understand their limits and responsibilities when appropriating the hardware, software, and resources within the online and blended learning program.

Professional Development

Professionals that support students in online or blended learning environments often have a great deal to learn about the most effective way to support student learning with technology. Increasing curricular demands, as well as increases in technological capabilities, often stretch the professional development needs and capabilities of professionals. This is further exacerbated when students' specific needs, codified in individualized programming requirements, add increased demands for professional development supports for faculty and staff working in online and blended learning projects.

One of the greatest challenges for effective professional development supports revolves around the infancy of the research base related to effective programming for students impacted with disabilities within online and blended learning environments. The best things that educators can do is to apply what we currently know about effective online education, effective special education programs and services, quality instruction and methodology, and combine those into a plan that is tailored to meet the individual learning and educational needs of the student impacted by disabilities.

Financial Considerations

Providing appropriate programs and supports often requires school programs to make an investment in instructional materials, transportation, training, equipment, personnel, and facilities. All these areas will need to be addressed when providing programs to support students impacted by disabilities within online and blended learning environments.

Many potential local, state, federal, and grant resources are available. Districts and programs wrestling with the provision of effective online and blended learning options for students should have discussions with their school business officials, child accounting personnel, and directors of special education to ascertain the financial supports and resources that are available, as well as any financial compliance considerations that need to be adhered to before embarking upon planning for the online or blended learning educational program.

Other Supports and Resources

It would be incredibly difficult to discuss all the potential challenges that might exist when districts or programs plan for effective instruction for students impacted by disabilities. Therefore, Appendix B although not intended to be exhaustive, might provide an opportunity to discuss areas that need to be resolved for effective programs and services in online or blended learning environments to occur.

Summary

Supporting students impacted by disabilities in online and blended programs, at first blush, might appear to be a daunting task. There are many technical, legal, logistical, instructional, and educational considerations that need to be made for effective programs and supports to occur. However, for many students impacted by disabilities, the online and blended learning environment might be an opportunity for them to attend to the academics and supports required for educational achievement through targeted educational opportunities, projects, and supports that online or blended learning might offer them.

There are considerable issues that need to be addressed before programs launch into the provision of services that are specifically designed to meet the individualized education needs of students eligible for special education programs and services. This document provides a broad level of support to encourage appropriate development of programs and services for student eligible for special education services. However, this is not an exhaustive coverage of all issues. Discussions with appropriate staff within the district need to be held to identify existing and future supports for effective online and blended learning options built around the student's individual learning needs.

References

Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (n.d.). ATAP: Summary of the AT act. Retrieved from https://www.ataporg.org/.

Burgstahler, S. (2001). Real connections: Making distance learning accessible to everyone. Retrieved from ERIC database https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED475789.pdf (ED 475789).

Center for Educational Networking. (2018). Center for Educational Networking. Retrieved from https://www.cenmi.org/.

Deschaine, M. E. (2018). When policies that impact students with significant disabilities in Michigan backfire. In Conchas, G. Q., Gottfried, M., Hinga, B., & Oseguera, L. (Eds.). Policy goes to school: Case studies on the limitations and possibilities of educational innovation (pp. 25-38). New York, NY: Routledge.

Grainger, R. S., Alpin, C., & Ponnappa-Brenner, G. (2008). Supporting learners with cognitive impairments in online environments. TechTrends, 52(1), 63-69. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-008-0114-4.pdf

Hoffman, B., Hartley, K., & Boone, R. (2005). Reaching accessibility: Guidelines for creating and refining digital learning materials. Intervention in School and Clinic, 40(3), 171-176. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10534512050400030601

iNACOL. (2018, September 7, 2018). Resource Search. Alexandria, VA: Author. Retrieved from https://www.inacol.org/resources/resource-search/?search=&resource_topics=18&resource_types=0&years=&authors=0&organizations=0&sort=date

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/

Kinash, S., Crichton, S., & Kim-Rupnow, W. S. (2004). A review of 2000-2003 literature at the intersection of online learning and disability. American Journal of Distance Education, 18(1), 5-19.

Michigan Department of Education. (n.d.). Flexible learning options. Lansing, MI: Author. Retrieved from https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/MARSE_Supplemented_with_IDEA_Regs_379598_7.pdf.

Michigan Department of Education. (2018). Michigan administrative rules for special education (MARSE) with related IDEA federal regulations. Lansing, MI: Author. Retrieved from https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/MARSE_Supplemented_with_IDEA_Regs_379598_7.pdf.

Michigan Legislature. (n.d.). Michigan Revised School Code (Act 451 of 1976). Retrieved from https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-act-451-of-1976.pdf.

Michigan Legislature. (2018). Michigan legislature - Section 388.1621f. Retrieved from http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(fxaovw5od4hfxa0ggkufdsfz))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-388-1621f

Michigan Office of Special Education. (n.d.). Alt+Shift. Rethink the possible. Realize potential. Retrieved from https://www.altshift.education/resources

Michigan Virtual. (2017). Parent guide to online learning. Lansing, MI: Michigan Virtual University. Available from https://mvlri.org/resources/guides/parent-guide/

REMC Association of Michigan. (2018). About - REMC home. Retrieved from http://www.remc.org/about/

Rice, M., Deschaine, M. E., & Mellard, D. (2018). Describing online learning programs and practices that serve diverse learners. Journal of Online Learning Research, 4(2), 117-121.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C § 794 (d) (1998). Retrieved from https://section508.gov/

Simmons, T., Bauder, D., Abell, M., & Penrod, W. (2008). Delivering the general curriculum: Pre-service teacher perspectives regarding a technological approach for students with moderate and severe disabilities. Information Technology and Disabilities Journal, 12(1). Retrieved from http://itd.athenpro.org/volume12/number1/simmons.html

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. (n.d.). Part 36 nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations and commercial facilities. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleIII_2010/titleIII_2010_regulations.htm

United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). OASAM - Office of the assistant secretary for administration and management (OASAM) - United States department of labor. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (n.d.). Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) overview Retrieved from https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (n.d.). Web content accessibility guideline (WCAG) 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Appendix A

Legal Basis for Services

Providing educational programs and services to students who have disabilities began with legal initiatives in the mid-1970s. Michigan's legal requirements to provide services to these students predates the federal legal requirements for similar services. Michigan has a long history of advocating for students affected by disabilities in ways that exceed federal requirements in breadth, depth, and scope. This continues to be true as the state remains focused on the educational and programmatic needs of students, regardless of need, in face-to-face, online, and blended educational environments.

This section will focus on some salient legal requirements from both the state of Michigan, as well as a federal government perspective. The legal history of both jurisdictions is long and has the potential to be nuanced based on the specifics of each individual situation. The content here is not intended to be exhaustive coverage of the legal requirements for programs and services; it neither constitutes legal advice, nor should it substitute for legal guidance by counsel. The coverage here is intended to provide support for future investigations by organizations and individuals wishing to gain basic information related to the broad requirements that guide effective educational programs and supports for students who have disabilities.

State of Michigan Legal Considerations

The following legal documents should be considered when proposing and implementing an individualized educational plan (IEP) of service for students affected by disabilities within online and blended learning environments.

Michigan State School Code

The Revised School Code (Act 451 of 1976) (Michigan Legislature, n. d.) is an act that:

provides a system of public instruction in elementary and secondary schools; to revise, consolidate, and clarify the laws relating to elementary and secondary education; to provide for the organization, regulation, and maintenance of schools, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to prescribe rights, powers, duties, and privileges of schools, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to provide for the regulation of school teachers and certain other school employees. (p. 1)

Requirements for the education provision of all students, in all settings, is established within the Michigan School Code. Understanding the legislative scope that the state of Michigan expects from educational entities in a holistic fashion provides support when attempting to operationalize individualized educational plans and supports to students who have disabilities.

Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education (MARSE)

Parts of the MARSE with Related IDEA Federal Regulations (Michigan Department of Education, 2018) deal with programs and services for students affected by disabilities are included in the larger Michigan Administrative Rules. Pages 24 and 25 of MARSE provides a definition of special education. It is important for educators, families, and professionals to understand that the definition and rules provided by the state are a result of both legislation, litigation, and rulemaking. As such, these rules provide the supports necessary to guide the development of appropriate educational programs and services to meet the multiplicity of needs that students who have disabilities bring to educational settings, both face-to-face, as well as in online or blended environments.

Special education services are provided to students with eligible conditions to assist them in meeting graduation requirements for general education curriculum established by their local school district that is in alignment with the Michigan School Code. The intent of special education supports and services is to provide students who have disabilities the individualized, appropriate educational supports necessary to assist them in being successful with general education content, within the general education environment, to the greatest extent possible.

It is important for all individuals who are working to provide quality educational support services in online and blended environments to understand the students, how their eligibility for services affects their ability to perform educationally within the general education environment, how the they are able to progress within the general education curriculum, and the ways that appropriate individualized programs and supports might be used effectively within online and blended learning environments.

Section 21f

Section 21f of the State School Aid Act (Michigan Legislature, 2018) is specific to conditions for students wishing to take courses in online or blended learning environments within Michigan. Section 21f allows K-12 students enrolled in a public school or district (full- or part-time) to enroll in up to two online courses per academic term. Districts may deny such enrollment requests as defined in a limited number of circumstances. A student may be enrolled in more than two online courses if the district, the parents, and the student agree that it is in the student's best interest. In such an instance, the district must have an education development plan stating such in their records.

For some students affected by disabilities, the provisions of Section 21f provide a great deal of flexibility in meeting their individual educational needs in a supportive environment that allows the students to focus more upon content in a less socially and behaviorally demanding or distractive learning environment. Section 21f is one proactive educational provision that should be considered when determining if an online or blended learning opportunity is appropriate for students who have a disability.

Michigan Career and College Ready Provisions

Contained within the Michigan School Code (Michigan Legislature, n.d.) are provisions that allow students to be given an opportunity to design flexible learning options that lead to a high school diploma, while still meeting the basic requirements established by the local school board. These provisions for a different set of learning opportunities and curricular expectations are available to all students. The appropriateness of each of these should be considered when attempting to provide support programs and services to students eligible for special education services.

Some of the flexible learning options include:

Virtual Learning Options (described above)

Offline and Project-Based Seat Time Waivers (STWs)

Options for Hours and Days Waivers

Work-Based Learning Experiences

College Course Enrollment and Early/Middle Colleges

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Options

Testing Out

Personal Curriculum

An articulation of each of these programs is beyond the scope of this document. However, it is important to remember that none of these options exist in isolation, and a combination of these opportunities might be appropriate within online or blended learning environments to meet the individualized learning needs of students who have disabilities. For more information, please consult the Michigan Department of Education's Flexible Learning Options (n.d.) document.

Federal Legal Considerations

In addition to state provisions to support students affected by disabilities, there are also corresponding federal legal statutes and requirements that require adherence. A brief discussion will provide a cursory understanding of the requirements with further resources to consider when participating in a planning meeting to address the individual learning needs of students who have disabilities within online or blended learning environments.

Special education programs and services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The provisions for special education services for students eligible for individualized programs and services are included within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) The federal statutes are the minimal level of service required by the federal government for states receiving federal funds. However, as in the case of Michigan, states can choose to offer services beyond those required of the federal government. In the MARSE document (Michigan Department of Education, 2018), there is a side-by-side comparison of the Michigan requirements and definitions for special education programs and services with those provided through IDEA (United States Department of Education, n.d.). For those unfamiliar with special education and the federal requirements, it is strongly suggested that you consider reviewing the resources provided through the United States Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services.

Civil rights reasonable accommodations to access through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Although rules and regulations for special education services are found in the MARSE requirements, some students with disabilities may not be eligible for special education programs and services because their level of academic functioning is greater than the levels specified in special education law; these students might be entitled to academic accommodations based on federal civil rights laws through Section 504 accommodations. This distinction, although apparently nuanced, is incredibly important to understand, since requirements for programmatic supports and the provision of services can be dramatically different, as are the legal requirements for eligibility, program development, evaluation, and due process. For those unfamiliar with these distinctions, it is recommended that you consult the Special Education Supervisor or Director in your district for more direction.

Unlike special education laws that provide opportunities for individualized programs and services to meet educational goals and objectives, the federal provisions listed below provide students with recognized and documented disabilities federal support to effectively access educational programs and services.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) usually is associated with covering employment issues, there are times when the ADA covers access to educational programs for people affected by federally recognized disabilities. Title III of the ADA

prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of 12 categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreation facilities, and doctors' offices) and requires newly constructed or altered places of public accommodation-as well as commercial facilities (privately owned, nonresidential facilities such as factories, warehouses, or office buildings)-to comply with the ADA Standards. (United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, n.d.).

Eligible students are not allowed to be discriminated against due to a legally recognized disability in educational settings. This law has tremendous impact on the ways that identified computer facilities are designed to maximize access to all students, especially for students who have physical or visual disabilities.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 504)

Section 504 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 504), the precursor to the ADA, states that schools need to provide supports to meet the needs of students with disabilities in a manner consistent with the way that they provide supports to meet the needs of students who are not affected by disabilities. The intent of this law is to give students eligible under a federally-recognized category the services and supports necessary for them to access the general education curriculum and environment. Generally, students with Section 504 accommodations receive services that are not as extensive as those that students who are eligible for special education services receive, since they do not qualify for special education services.

Areas where this particular law might be appropriate are in the design and access of computer labs, ergonomics of equipment, and the availability of training for staff to ensure compliance with the act's requirements. Other areas of the program might also be affected. Consult with a legal professional for more program specific requirements and recommendations.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 508)

Section 508 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 508) is of primary importance and concern for educational programs providing online and blended learning opportunities for students with disabilities. The intent of this act is for organizations receiving federal funds to provide access to online content in a way that is accessible to all users, regardless of the level or type of disability the end user might experience. Programs need to ensure that their online and multimedia content are accessible for all users.

To support Section 508, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) ⁹ provide a checklist for programs to help ensure compliance with the issues related to accessibility of multimedia content in online and blended programs. This information is a good first step for consideration. It is recommended that the instructional team faithfully consider all portions of the technical compliance aspects to provide a quality instructional and educational experience for all students.

Assistive Technology Act of 1998

The Assistive Technology Act supports state efforts to improve the provision of assistive technology to individuals of all ages with disabilities through comprehensive statewide programs of technology-related assistance...

To provide States with financial assistance that supports programs designed to maximize the ability of individuals with disabilities and their family members, guardians, advocates, and authorized representatives to obtain assistive technology devices and assistive technology service s (Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, n.d., para. 2).

The federal government has made access for all students to quality educational programs and services a priority. The increase in technological capabilities for instructional technology has provided tremendous supports for students who have disabilities and require assistive technology. This support aids not just the student, but also the programs and family members that help them understand the ways that assistive technology can be incorporated into their learning to increase educational flexibility and academic achievement.

Cautions

It is vitally important that providers of online and blended educational services for students with disabilities realize their legal obligation to meet both the spirit of the laws and regulations, but also the letter of the programs established in individually developed student educational plans. Litigation of these cases within each of these areas have caused courts to rule in favor of the spirit of the law when deciding for many plaintiffs. It is important to remember that these laws were promulgated to assist individuals who have disabilities in gaining access to buildings, programs, and services. Therefore, for programs to ignore these important federal legislative initiatives sends the wrong signal to the constituent users of the programs and services being provided in online and blended learning programs.

It is important to recognize that these laws require a solid understanding of the rules and requirements, and it is important for all involved to be cognizant of their requirements. Programs providing services to students affected by disabilities in online and blended environments should have qualified, trained professionals available to help the team interpret how state and federal laws affect the learning environment.

Additionally, it is important for school administrators to work with the Special Education administrators within their Intermediate School District (ISD), Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), or Regional Educational Service District (RESD) when discussing issues related to school finance or compliance for the special education programs and services being offered to the student in the online or blended learning environment. The reliance upon special education millages for program costs varies across the state (Deschaine, 2018), and the responsibilities for the expenditures of special education services also varies based upon the ISD's, RESA's, or RESD's Special Education Plan. Working closely with the administrators in these larger regional districts will provide support and insight that will be important when determining the best way to support students with disabilities in online or blended learning environments.

Appendix B

Pedagogy and Technology

It would be quite difficult to discuss all the potential challenges that might exist when districts or programs plan for effective instruction for students affected by disabilities. Therefore, Appendix B, although not intended to be exhaustive, may provide an opportunity to discuss areas that need to be resolved for the establishment of effective programs and services in online or blended learning environments. Fortunately, there are many valuable supports and resources available to assist in effective program planning, instruction, and supports when providing online or blended education to students living with a variety of disabilities. The following resources can offer additional support.

Michigan Virtual

Michigan Virtual has been in existence for 20 years to support quality online and blended learning environments for all students. Michigan Virtual is a result of Michigan legislation codified in the school code, and the programs, services and supports that they provide are completed under the direction of a group of professionals with a variety of experiences.

Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL)

The Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) helps educators identify sound educational practices related to technology as well as understand the implications of rapid changes in technology. Recognizing the challenges in preparing students, we strive to encompass the entire educational community from preschool through college level.

MACUL's Special Interest Group for Inclusive Learning (SIG INC)

The organization's website states the purpose of SIG INC is to share knowledge concerning specialized technology and effective practices for enhancing opportunities for students with disabilities. SIG INC promotes professional learning for educators as they strive to meet students' diverse learning needs.

MACUL's Special Interest Group for Online and Blended Learning (SIG OBL)

According to their website, the mission of SIG OBL is to support educators and students in their work with online and blended learning. SIG OBL provides a forum for online learning, blended learning, mobile learning devices, and instructional tools and strategies for teaching and learning online.

Regional Educational Media Center (REMC) Association of Michigan

There are many ways that educators of students affected by disabilities need supports in online and blended learning environments. The local REMC Association of Michigan may be of added support and assistance to teams as they design and develop appropriate interventions. Their mission and scope, as described on their website is to "provide proactive leadership to the Michigan educational community by participating with other organizations in building a vision that supports quality teaching and learning and provides equity to Michigan's pre-K-12 students.

"The REMC Association of Michigan will accomplish this within the framework of the following principles:

Improve learning for all students.

Support constituents and improve teaching and learning statewide through future-focused collaboration, leadership, and service.

Empower teachers to create high quality, engaging instructional environments when they have access to the necessary skills, tools, and rich sources of information.

Provide effective cost savings through statewide cooperative purchasing, which allows local resources to be reallocated to enhance teaching and learning.

Advance statewide connectivity through delivery systems and infrastructure."

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

According to their website, ISTE "inspires the creation of solutions and connections that improve opportunities for all learners by delivering: practical guidance, evidence-based professional learning, virtual networks, thought-provoking events and the ISTE Standards." Standards have been developed that describe the technology skills and competencies that students, teachers, and administrators should possess in technology rich environments. These resources would be an excellent resource for teams that are trying to ascertain the feasibility of online or blended learning environments as an option for students living with disabilities.

Legal/Legislative Supports

Michigan has several formal programs that provide direct services and indirect consultation to school districts and programs needing support in providing adequate educational services to students who have by disabilities, regardless of format or delivery system.

Center for Educational Networking of Michigan (CEN)

CEN of Michigan is an IDEA Grant Funded Initiative through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education. In addition to direct services, CEN provides a repository of documents related to the legal requirements for special education programs and services and also provides assistive technology supports for programs assisting students eligible for special education services.

Intermediate School Districts (ISDs)

The state of Michigan has 56 ISDs. The programs and services offered by ISDs provide and coordinate direct essential services to constituent local education agencies and school districts within their boundaries to facilitate programming, teaching, and learning for all students. Many ISDs provide direct programs or consultative services for students who have disabilities.

Programs experiencing challenges in meeting the educational needs of students living with a disability in online and blended settings should consider contacting the Director of Special Education in their ISD that is responsible for special education supports. To find the ISD responsible for supporting local programs, the following maps might be of assistance. The first is provided by the State of Michigan. The second is provided by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators.

General Supports

The intent of this document is to assist in the creation and implementation of appropriate educational programs and services for those living with disabilities as they engage in online or blended programs. A brief description of the ways that disabilities has been included, but there are other information options available. There are many professional and advocacy organizations or associate resources for content that can be helpful for those wishing to find out more about the ways specific components of an eligibility category might possibly affect functioning in online or blended learning environments.

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Supporting Students with Disabilities in K-12 Online and Blended Learning | Michigan Virtual

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Appropriately supporting students in online and blended learning environments requires a great deal of instructional planning and preparation. The intent of this document is to supply educational teams content that will provide support for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs and services for students with disabilities enrolled in online and blended learning environments.

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Supporting Students with Disabilities in Blended and Online Learning

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Supporting Students with Disabilities in Blended and Online Learning

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Introduction

The field of online and blended learning has a rich history of pursuing personalized and competency-based education. As evidence, consider that at the time of writing this, iNACOL, a major advocacy organization in K-12 online and blended learning had over 50 resources tagged under personalized learning (iNACOL, 2018). This approach to education - an approach that recognizes that each child comes with unique strengths and weaknesses - represents an opportunity to break away from commonly-held mindsets that view students with disabilities from a deficit perspective that often fails to recognize the exceptional strengths these students also possess. All students, not just students with disabilities, benefit from specialized supports and services to differentiate instruction within online programs. Thus, while this report focuses more specifically on supporting students with disabilities in online and blended environments, much of the information here may help all students.

As an aside, it is expected that many readers of this report will be familiar with the background on special education law. Appendix A is provided for those less fluent in this area. Appendix A provides a primer on both Michigan and federal law pertaining to students with disabilities and may be important background context for the rest of the report.

IEP Teams and Online Provider Considerations

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the Individual Educational Program (IEP) teams, and those helping to design or deliver the online or blended learning experience, to keep in the forefront of their decision making the difference between the promise of the potential of the technology and the individual needs of the student in question. However, that is not to say that an online or blended learning program will be appropriate for every student and meet every learning need. According to Rice, Deschaine, and Mellard (2018), it is important "... to take a more cautious route because we take seriously the responsibility to make online learning available to everyone, everywhere. To ensure that these goals of increased access are met, educators and scholars need to ask important questions about who is participating in K-12 online learning and whether all students are benefiting (p. 118).

Providing proper supports to students with disabilities in online and blended learning environments requires the attention of all involved in the planning and execution of the student's educational program and plan as well as the aforementioned comprehensive approach to the child. Attention to sound instructional strategies that differentiate learning opportunities, expected learning outcomes, student-specific supports, and student voice can help maximize student success. Because IEP teams play such an integral role in the educational experience of students with disabilities, each individual role on the IEP team can play an important part in shaping the best experience.

Students

Students have always played a central role in their own learning; but with the advent of online and blended learning opportunities, this role is even more pronounced. Students who are affected by disabilities have an important perspective related to their own learning needs and abilities, and their voice needs to be heard. They need to have the opportunity to express the ways that their learning abilities and challenges can influence the development of a quality support program developed for the online and blended learning platforms.

According to the Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education (MARSE) with Related IDEA Federal Regulations (Michigan Department of Education, 2018), to the greatest extent possible, students should be members of the planning team that is putting together the education plans, programs, goals, objectives, and evaluations for their special education program; this would extend to online and blended learning environments. To be active participants in this process, students must be self-aware of both their abilities and areas in which they struggle, be able to self-advocate and state their needs to the adults responsible for creating and providing the programs and services, and be able to provide feedback throughout their education so revisions can be made to the programs and supports as necessary. Such awareness will likely be difficult for students with no prior familiarity with online learning. Consideration should be given to preparing students through information about or orientations to online learning prior to completing plans so that students can gain a more informed perspective from which to speak and make decisions.

Instructional Staff (General Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Paraprofessionals, and Ancillary Support Staff)

Educators continue to have a central role in any educational program developed for students eligible for special education programs and services. Issues related to curriculum, instruction, assessment, materials, methodology, and technology all need to be attended to in order to ensure that the required supports are in place to assist and allow the students with disabilities to be educated in the least restrictive environment in online and blended learning settings.

Educators need to be open minded about instructional potential and advocate for the presentation of all perspectives during the planning process. The needs of the student, parents, programs, and the teachers themselves should be discussed prior to the implementation of a plan. Consequently, educators need to have a great deal of training, information, ideas, and resources to aid them in supporting the needs of students in online and blended learning environments.

Mentors

Students who have disabilities often need additional peer or instructor supports to help them navigate the instructional opportunities and requirements that they experience in school. When appropriate, individuals who act as supports in educational environments should be active members in the development of educational interventions and the implementation of the programs and services, as well as in the evaluation of the program and service effectiveness. In Michigan, online learners are required to have a school employee - or in some cases, the parent - assigned as a mentor. Peers can also be a source of support to students, modeling appropriate behavior in class and in social situtations, for example. Although it may not be realistic, ideally, mentors and peers would have the technological, social, and academic skills necessary to help guide their students. In addition, their insights can be of considerable benefit as a source of informal formative assessment to assist the other team members as they attempt to appropriately plan for and support the student. For more information about these types of supports please see the Grand Valley State University's Statewide Autism Resources.

Parents

Parents are the first teachers of their children and play an important role in their longitudinal educational, social, behavioral, and affective development. As such, parents should be ready to discuss the aspirations and fears they have related to their child's programs. Additionally, parents have a great deal to offer in discussions related to the desired outcomes of yearly plans and the influence online and blended learning have in meeting those desired outcomes. The importance of parents being active members in discussions and plans that are designed and developed to meet the needs of their children receiving special services in online and blended settings cannot be overstated because they will not have the ease that comes from experience interacting with students and other members of the support team in a traditional setting; instead, they will be navigating the technology and design of a unfamiliar modality of teaching and learning.

Parents are provided a great deal of support, deference, and responsibilities for the appropriate programming for their children who are eligible for special education services in Michigan. A top priority of parental involvement in all IEP programs is related to identifying the student's strengths and weaknesses and the most appropriate ways to meet their needs. For our discussion, this input of student capabilities extends to the online and blended learning environment and the areas where supports would be necessary. Since their information and input is critical to success in online learning, all parental input and participation should be officially documented by the IEP team.

Many parents who have not experienced online or blended learning may be inadequately prepared for optimal participation in IEP meetings without being provided the information about what to expect with online learning. One resource that may help educate parents is Michigan Virtual's Parent Guide to Online Learning (2017). Parents wanting more information about their roles and responsibilities related to the educational opportunities for their children are encouraged to contact the administrator of the program responsible for the provision of special education programs and services for their child.

Administrators

Administrators are ultimately responsible for the provision of quality education programs and services for students under their care within their programs. The issues related to providing thoughtful and quality online and blended services and programs for students with disabilities might at first be viewed as a challenging task by most educators. It is the administrator's responsibility to help allay the fears and trepidations of the students, parents, staff, and faculty through the advocacy for good assessment, quality technological supports, integrity of content delivery, powerful and poignant professional development for all involved, and a commitment towards implementation with fidelity across all aspects of the program.

Administrators often are legally the only ones who can obligate the school to provide services and who have the responsibility to allocate school resources to create learning opportunities outside of the traditional educational community where the student receives instruction. A willingness to explore options and to identify resources is necessary to meet the individual learning needs of the students with disabilities.

Online Providers

Though not typically on an IEP team, providers of online and blended programs are the subject and content experts related to the courses not being offered by the school or district. As such, they should be able to discuss the ways that they have met the individualized educational needs of students in the past and recommend appropriate, student-centered programs and services necessary to meet the specifically-designed instructional supports developed for the student under consideration. Online providers need to reflect upon all feedback provided from other IEP team members as they attempt to improve the courses within the Universal Design in Learning (UDL) framework, thus leading to greater accessibility and success for the students with disabilities.

Representatives from the organization who can speak for the program and allocate supports and resources should be ready to discuss ways that they will be able to address the needs of students who have disabilities from an instructional, academic, social, emotional, or intellectual programming perspective.

Course Designers

Course designers are experts in providing quality instructional experiences so that the goals and objectives of the curriculum can be mastered. These professionals are in a unique position to support the differentiated and individual educational needs of students with disabilities.

Course designers can discuss the scope and sequence of the instruction, the pace with which the instruction can be delivered, and the ways that activities and expectations for performance have been designed to support the needs of students in the general education setting. This information is invaluable to a team that has been assembled to develop individualized supports for students who have disabilities. Course designers must understand how individual educational needs affect the general education expectation and progression of content, as well as potential ways that the course can accommodate individual student's programmatic needs.

Categorical or Eligibility Criteria and Characteristics

As IEP teams meet to construct their plans, they should ensure the plans are informed by the specifics of the student's disability. As explained earlier, MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018), provides guidance for programming requirements for students with disabilities. According to MARSE, a student with a disability is defined as:

a person who has been evaluated according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and these rules, and is determined by an individualized education program team, an individualized family service plan team, or an administrative law judge to have one or more of the impairments specified in this part that necessitates special education or related services, or both, who is not more than 25 years of age as of September 1 of the school year of enrollment, and who has not graduated from high school. A student who reaches the age of 26 years after September 1 is a "student with a disability" and entitled to continue a special education program or service until the end of that school year. (p. 26-27)

The following sections provide content for each of the recognized eligibility categories that exist in the MARSE rules. It is important to recognize that for students to receive special educational services under Michigan law, the school district needs to conduct an eligibility determination. Once eligibility is ascertained, it then becomes the responsibility of the district to make a good faith effort in providing an appropriate IEP with programs and services specifically tailored to meet the needs of the child. Readers wishing a more extensive discourse on the issues of eligibility and programmatic access should contact the Supervisor or Director of Special Education in the district where the student is receiving their academic instruction.

The following eligibility categories exist in Michigan for the provision of special education programs and services: autism, cognitive impairments, other health impairments, emotional impairments, deaf or hard of hearing, visual impairments, physical impairments, specific learning disability, speech and language impairment, and traumatic brain injury. Each subsection below will provide direction about where to go for definitional and determination information and will offer a few pedagogical considerations that might be of use when educators and instructional personnel are providing support programs and services in online and blended learning environments.

Autism

Definition and Determination

For more information on how Autism is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 44-46 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Since autism is a spectrum disorder, educators will find themselves dealing with a wide range of situations that have an impact on appropriate educational functioning and abilities in an online or blended learning environment. When developing programs and services to meet the needs of students who have autism, the following pedagogical considerations should be discussed:

For further educational implications of how autism might affect the online or blended learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Autism or Disabilities. The team might also want to consider the following resources as they plan for supporting students with autism in online and blended learning environments:

Cognitive Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how cognitive impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 28 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Those wanting to provide appropriate educational programs and supports for students eligible for services under the cognitive impairment program requirements might want to consider the following pedagogical suggestions:

Attempt to provide repetition of content using multiple modalities when providing instruction. Most educational materials are written; capitalize on the wide variety of multimedia capabilities afforded by the online or blended environments to help demonstrate content concepts.

Take the steps necessary to assess student understanding of content in appropriate ways. Written reports may not allow students to provide the breadth or depth of their understanding in a way that a verbal presentation might. Additionally, online or blended environments provide students with cognitive impairments the opportunity to use differentiated output through technological tools.

New or novel situations may cause confusion and have an impact on educational performance. Realize that students may have issues with adaptive behavior. Take the time to explain changes in instructional routines and use this as an opportunity to pre-teach content. Providing instructional videos or screen shots of the specific behaviors that are expected in the online or blended learning environment will assist in the development of new skills. Communicate the changes to the mentor and parent so they can provide support and answer questions the student may have.

Be explicit in letting the students know what is expected of them for educational performance. Provide examples from past student work projects so the students with cognitive impairments has a better understanding of the features they must attend to.

When appropriate, let students work with peers or mentors so they have another perspective on the academic content. Using the chat, discussion board, or video conferencing features that are part of the online or blended environment will allow students the opportunity to socially interact with peers or mentors as they collaboratively work through the assignment.

Online and blended learning opportunities often are the saving grace for students with cognitive impairments. Many prefer the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content. This loss of physical proximity can also contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned. It is strongly suggested that online and blended program personnel provide direct one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective.

For further educational implications of how cognitive impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Cognitive Impairments or Disabilities. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Other Health Impairments

(h4)Definition and Determination

For more information on how other health impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 33-34 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

The complexity and multiplicity of issues that students eligible for services under the other health impairments programming rules requires professionals to consider a wide variety of pedagogical interventions. Some of these might include:

Understand the impact that the student's condition has on their stamina, patience, and ability to interact with others in the environment. Students that are emotionally or physically stressed may not have the ability to process content at the moment, and the use of recorded content either for instruction or student assignments might allow them to participate more fully in the program. Although online and blended learning environments might be a less stressful situation, with more relaxed social interactions, at times, these settings can cause a great deal of stress on the student experiencing the impact of their health impairments.

Educational programs, even those delivered in online or blended learning formats, often require students to attend to long periods of content or activity. For students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) it might be important for them to have instructional content or activities broken into smaller segments, thus allowing them to focus on the objectives in a way that does not cause undue stress or anxiety.

Often, students with other health impairments are unable to meet deadlines for tests and assignments due to medical issues related to their impairments. When this happens, the use of the technological features of the LMS might assist with the need to extend time to complete assignments. Medical conditions and the progression of disease or injury affect students differently. Recognize these situations when putting together units of instruction and personalizing instruction for these students.

It is important for the IEP Team members and instructional staff to understand the ways that the progression of the disease might affect the educational functioning of students in online and blended learning environments. Different seasons, or stages of the disease might deleteriously impact the student's functioning more than other times.

Due to the variety of health-related issues that might be covered under this category of service, recognize that the incorporation of specialized equipment or assistive technology might be necessary for online or blended learning instruction. It is important for all members of the team to be familiar with the extra supports that the assistive technological capabilities provide, the limitations of the systems, and the impact the assistive technology has on both learner and teacher behavior.

Working closely with the Assistive Technology consultant to ensure that all systems are compliant with the technical standards necessary to meet federal and state guidelines though the resources provided by the Alt+Shift program through the IDEA Grant Funded Initiative through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education (Michigan Office of Special Education, n.d.). Taking this step increases legal compliance to technical issues and situations, and more importantly, helps to provide appropriate supports for the student.

IEP Teams should provide an appropriate level of adult or peer supports necessary to help assist the student with medical issues to better understand initial content, to practice or rehearse instructional strategies, or to appropriately assess educational functioning.

Online and blended learning opportunities often are the saving grace for students with health impairments. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content. This loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned. It is strongly suggested that online and blended program personnel provide direct one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective.

For further educational implications of how other health impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Other Health Impairments or Disabilities, Assistive Technology Consultants, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, or School Nurses. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Emotional Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how emotional impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 29-30 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Most teachers have the ability to meet the cognitive and affective needs of their students in the general education environment. Students that have issues with affective, social, or emotional interactions with teachers and peers often require more nuanced attention to the way in which social interactions occur within the learning environment, since these have the distinct potential of having a dramatic impact on student academic achievement. To this end, teachers providing service in online and blended environments might want to consider the following:

Recognize that all students eligible for services are different. Some students might exhibit extremely outgoing behaviors, while others might exhibit behaviors that are very withdrawn and isolated. This might be difficult to identify in your interactions with the students in online or blended learning settings. Working closely with the team - especially the mentor - to identify how the student presents themselves in face-to-face settings might provide ideas for ways to effectively support behaviors in the virtual environment.

Make expectations clear and be very consistent in application of consequences in order to provide a structured environment. This can best be done by having rules, procedures, routines, policies, or expectations specifically addressed in educational and behavioral materials. Online and blended learning environments have a great deal of structure built into the program. For example, the length of instructional videos can be curtailed to meet the instructional needs of students. The IEP Team should use this structure as a support when making behavioral requirements known to the student.

Provide the students with self-monitoring resources, such as check lists, rubrics, or planning guides. This helps them visually scaffold expectations and provides cognitive supports when affective challenges present themselves. Using multimedia examples that focus on the expected work and behaviors is a good way to assist students' understanding, and practice good online and blended learning academic and social behaviors.

Be proactive in your schedule and pacing of content to ensure that unstructured time and activities have clear parameters and expectations for personal, as well as interpersonal behavior. Proactively providing clear examples of acceptable behavior is a good way to support expectations for social interactions. Digital citizenship and acceptable use policies provide supports when dealing with expected student behaviors in online and blended learning environments.

Realize that students might need to be gradually introduced to some instructional formats or delivery systems due to specific aspects of their disability. For example, group work might need to wait until the student is able to demonstrate the ability to work productively with others on tasks. Using the full range of resources available in the LMS might allow you to differentiate or personalize student responses or assignments when the assigned format might be a challenge to the student.

Encourage students to engage in the identification and labeling of their own internal emotional states, and to share those in an appropriate way with the instructional staff. Allowing the students to address issues before they become problems is particularly important to establish and maintain accepting and supportive learning environments. Having student supports built into the online or blended learning structure can be useful when students need extra support or assistance during synchronous and asynchronous sessions.

Offer one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective. Online and blended learning opportunities can be a welcome option for students with emotional impairments. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned.

The strategies and suggestions contained within the student's IEP will go a long way in helping to support and structure learning expectations in an online or blended environment.

For further educational implications of how emotional impairments might impact the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Emotional Impairments or Disabilities, School Social Worker, School Counselors, and School Nurse. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Definition and Determination

For more information on how deaf or hard of hearing is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 30-31 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

The ability of teachers and educational staff to effectively support students in online or blended learning environments who are deaf or hard of hearing might be outside of the experiential base of most educators. Since much of the online or blended environment requires the use of multimedia materials, it is important that teams consult with professionals trained in the educational programming for students with hearing issues, as well as professionals who are trained in the use of assistive technology, both on the learner's systems, the teacher's systems, and with the LMS and platform. Other considerations include:

Working closely with the Assistive Technology consultant to ensure that all systems are compliant with the technical standards necessary to meet federal and state guidelines though the resources provided by the Alt+Shift program through the IDEA Grant Funded Initiative through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education (Michigan Office of Special Education, n.d.). Taking this step increases legal compliance to technical issues and situations and, more importantly, helps to provide appropriate supports for the student. In online and blended learning environments this might include, but is not limited to, sign language interpreters, interveners, closed captioning, or assistive technology devices.

Taking the time to provide students with the training necessary for them to feel comfortable with assistive technology systems so they are competent users of those supports within the online or blended learning environments. Having staff, faculty, parents, as well as students receive training on these supports provide a basis of understanding for program assessment and evaluation.

Augmenting instruction through written materials. Instructional staff should also ensure that there are written supports for the social interactions that occur within the LMS. In online and blended environments, this means these supports should be embedded within every aspect of the LMS.

Being proactive in ensuring that the auditory aspects of the instructional environment are compatible with any student hearing aids or cochlear implants. Create time for instructional faculty, support faculty, and the students to "test drive" any systems before the student is expected to use them in the online or blended learning classroom.

Ensuring that the acoustics of both the student's learning environments, as well as that of the teacher, have been checked for their instructional effectiveness. Attend especially to the background noise that might result when other students participate auditorially. Providing all students technological dos and don'ts related to the need to minimize background noise when speaking benefits all students but is especially important for students with hearing impairments.

Remembering that students who are deaf or hard of hearing often use visual cues and are tuned in to the lips and face of the speaker for cues. Ensure that all participants in the online or blended learning environment face the video camera and speak in a way that supports the visual needs of the students.

Using appropriate lighting to support the student's ability to gain visual information, thus making better sense of the educational and social expectations within the online and blended environments.

Being aware that providing visually busy content to students with hearing impairments may cause confusion and create misunderstandings of content that could be difficult to remediate.

Ensuring that the visuals used to support instruction in online or blended learning settings focus on the key instructional goals, objectives, and elements.

Offering one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective. Some students prefer the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions in online and blended learning environments while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned.

For further educational implications of how deaf or hard of hearing impairments might impact the learning environment, please onsult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Hearing Impairments or Disabilities, Audiologists, Sign Language Interpreters, or Program Interveners. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Visual Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how visual impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 31-32 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

As with supporting students eligible for services under deaf or hard of hearing criteria, students eligible for services under the visual impairment criteria will probably need the support of specially trained professionals to assist the educational team in identifying ways to support students in online and blended learning environments. These additional areas should also be considered for supporting students in an online or blended learning environment:

For further educational implications of how visual impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Visual Impairments or Disabilities and Orientation and Mobility Specialists. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Physical Impairments

Definition and Determination

For more information on how physical impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 32-33 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Students affected by physical impairments will probably require a great deal of physical environmental modifications to support their mobility and learning needs. Programs that support students who have physical disabilities through the use of online or blended learning need to have a solid understanding of the ways that the student's educational functioning might be affected by physical conditions and be able to adapt learning environments creatively to meet their specific educational needs.

In general, educators might want to consider the following when providing supports to students affected by physical disabilities in their online and blended learning environments:

For further educational implications of how physical impairments might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Physical Impairments or Disabilities, the Occupational Therapists, the Physical Therapists, and the School Nurse. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Specific Learning Disability

Definition and Determination

For more information on how specific learning disability is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 36-38 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Students affected by specific learning disabilities often have difficulty in areas of academic performance, and meeting the demands placed upon them in the learning environment. Quite often, students exhibit inconsistent patterns of school performance, having strengths and abilities in some areas of school performance, but not in others. Educators interested in providing appropriate instructional and program supports in online and blended learning environments are encouraged to look at the student's functioning in the areas of written expression, reading ability, and mathematics. More specific suggestions include attending to the following:

For further educational implications of how specific learning disabilities might impact the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Teacher Consultant for Students with Specific Leaning Impairments or Disabilities. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Speech and Language Impairment

Definition and Determination

For more information on how speech and language impairment is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 34-35 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

Speech and language issues can influence the way that students receive and understand content, as well as the way in which they are able to demonstrate competency, provide feedback, and interact with others verbally and socially. It is important for professionals supporting students with speech and language impairments in online and blended learning environments to be aware of the specific ways in which the student's learning needs are affected by their disability. Some common considerations are listed below.

For students with receptive speech and language impairments:

Reduce auditory and visual distractions within the online or blended learning environment. Extra stimuli in the learning environment can confuse and interfere with the student's ability to attend to instruction, listen to comments, follow directions, and respond appropriately to interactions.

Provide cues to students so they can distinguish when instruction has begun, so they can better focus on the interactions during that segment of the course.

Provide visuals and concrete examples during instruction. These provide supports for when the verbal components of the instruction have been completed.

Make sure that your speech can be heard and understood by the student. Speak slowly and clearly, at a reasonable pace, and provide opportunities for questioning.

For students with expressive speech and language impairments:

Provide students opportunities to demonstrate competency of the content by using alternative methods for assignments. Have multiple ways to assess course content and provide students options for task and assignment completion.

Provide students extra time to respond when they ask or answer questions.

Realize that students might have difficulty participating in discussions or group work due to their difficulties with articulation, fluency, or voice.

Consider using written discussion boards within the online or blended learning LMS as an alternative to group work.

Work closely with the assistive technology support team to minimize the exacerbation of the student's speech production problems by the auditory hardware that is used by all the students. It may be necessary to work the issue out through technological intervention.

For any student with speech and language impairments, offer one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or from a technology integration perspective. Online and blended learning present different opportunities for students with speech and language issues. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned, and office hours are one way of monitoring progress.

For further educational implications of how speech and language impairments might impact the learning environment, please consult with your team members, especially the Speech and Language Consultant. The team might also want to consider the following as they plan for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Traumatic Brain Injury

Definition and Determination

For more information on how traumatic brain injury is defined and determined in Michigan, please refer to page 46-47 of the MARSE (Michigan Department of Education, 2018).

Pedagogical Considerations

The reasons for eligibility under traumatic brain injury vary widely. Each student presents a differing educational scope of need. Make sure that you consult with appropriate medical personnel to understand how the student's injury might affect functioning within online or blended educational learning environments. We know more than ever before about brain anatomy and the impact that insult or injury to specific regions have on the processing of information. Although we have come a long way, the science of learning and understanding localized to sections of the brain are not exact. Some broad considerations that teams should attend to include:

It is important to realize that the student has acquired this injury because of a traumatic event. Emotional issues in dealing with the acceptance of his or her condition might get in the way of cognitive ability. Make sure that appropriate team members are available to assist with any affective or behavioral manifestations that might occur due to acceptance of their injury. In online and blended learning environments, this might present itself in anger, depression, or withdrawal from the academic work, or the people within the setting.

The area of brain that has experienced the trauma will have a dramatic impact on the needs and the abilities of the student in the online and blended learning environment. To support this, provide content that allows students to experience their content in the modalities they are most capable of using, and minimize the use of content in the modalities they have the most difficulty with.

When you design the instruction, make sure that you capitalize on the capabilities that exist within the LMS of the online and blended learning course to provide multiple ways to consider content using visuals, auditory files, texts, and multimedia content.

During instruction, focus instructional materials in the student's least affected modality, while still providing instruction in the modalities that are affected by the injury. This multisensory approach to instruction helps the student receive content and information in multiple channels.

Provide the students with the opportunity to restate back to you what it is covered in class and for the requirements for activities.

Offer one-on-one "office hours" or tutorials, at least initially, until all involved have a better feel for the areas of strength and need that might exist from the learner's perspective, the instructor's perspective, the mentor's perspective, or a technology integration perspective. Online and blended learning opportunities present a comfortable alternative for students with traumatic brain injuries. Many prefer and may require the low stress and impact of reduced face-to-face interactions while being able to focus more intentionally on the content; however, the loss of physical proximity could contribute to confusion about performance for all concerned, and office hours are one way of monitoring progress.

For further educational implications of how traumatic brain injury might affect the learning environment, please consult with your team members. The team might also want to consider the following as they for supporting students in online and blended learning environments:

Additional Considerations

Along with the above consideration, there are a few additional areas that should be considered when developing supports for students with disabilities in online and blended environments.

District Policies and Procedures

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the student's local district or management company to develop and provide special education supports for students with recognized needs under federal and state mandates. Programs need to have appropriate and effective policies in place to ensure that those responsible for the development and provision of online or blended learning programs have the support and direction necessary to ensure that the programs meet the regulatory, fiscal, compliance, and managerial requirements that the organization adheres to for other programmatic offerings. In addition, issues specific to the provision of online or blended learning programs need to be considered when the policies and procedures are promulgated and revised.

Acceptable use policies ensure that programmatic resources are used in a way consistent with appropriate educational programs and services. Having systems developed and maintained in a way to meet the regulatory and legal issues associated with the laws listed above should be ensconced within the policy and procedures for the program. Finally, issues related to acquisition, lending, upgrade, and support need to be stipulated so all participants understand their limits and responsibilities when appropriating the hardware, software, and resources within the online and blended learning program.

Professional Development

Professionals that support students in online or blended learning environments often have a great deal to learn about the most effective way to support student learning with technology. Increasing curricular demands, as well as increases in technological capabilities, often stretch the professional development needs and capabilities of professionals. This is further exacerbated when students' specific needs, codified in individualized programming requirements, add increased demands for professional development supports for faculty and staff working in online and blended learning projects.

One of the greatest challenges for effective professional development supports revolves around the infancy of the research base related to effective programming for students impacted with disabilities within online and blended learning environments. The best things that educators can do is to apply what we currently know about effective online education, effective special education programs and services, quality instruction and methodology, and combine those into a plan that is tailored to meet the individual learning and educational needs of the student impacted by disabilities.

Financial Considerations

Providing appropriate programs and supports often requires school programs to make an investment in instructional materials, transportation, training, equipment, personnel, and facilities. All these areas will need to be addressed when providing programs to support students impacted by disabilities within online and blended learning environments.

Many potential local, state, federal, and grant resources are available. Districts and programs wrestling with the provision of effective online and blended learning options for students should have discussions with their school business officials, child accounting personnel, and directors of special education to ascertain the financial supports and resources that are available, as well as any financial compliance considerations that need to be adhered to before embarking upon planning for the online or blended learning educational program.

Other Supports and Resources

It would be incredibly difficult to discuss all the potential challenges that might exist when districts or programs plan for effective instruction for students impacted by disabilities. Therefore, Appendix B although not intended to be exhaustive, might provide an opportunity to discuss areas that need to be resolved for effective programs and services in online or blended learning environments to occur.

Summary

Supporting students impacted by disabilities in online and blended programs, at first blush, might appear to be a daunting task. There are many technical, legal, logistical, instructional, and educational considerations that need to be made for effective programs and supports to occur. However, for many students impacted by disabilities, the online and blended learning environment might be an opportunity for them to attend to the academics and supports required for educational achievement through targeted educational opportunities, projects, and supports that online or blended learning might offer them.

There are considerable issues that need to be addressed before programs launch into the provision of services that are specifically designed to meet the individualized education needs of students eligible for special education programs and services. This document provides a broad level of support to encourage appropriate development of programs and services for student eligible for special education services. However, this is not an exhaustive coverage of all issues. Discussions with appropriate staff within the district need to be held to identify existing and future supports for effective online and blended learning options built around the student's individual learning needs.

References

Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (n.d.). ATAP: Summary of the AT act. Retrieved from https://www.ataporg.org/.

Burgstahler, S. (2001). Real connections: Making distance learning accessible to everyone. Retrieved from ERIC database https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED475789.pdf (ED 475789).

Center for Educational Networking. (2018). Center for Educational Networking. Retrieved from https://www.cenmi.org/.

Deschaine, M. E. (2018). When policies that impact students with significant disabilities in Michigan backfire. In Conchas, G. Q., Gottfried, M., Hinga, B., & Oseguera, L. (Eds.). Policy goes to school: Case studies on the limitations and possibilities of educational innovation (pp. 25-38). New York, NY: Routledge.

Grainger, R. S., Alpin, C., & Ponnappa-Brenner, G. (2008). Supporting learners with cognitive impairments in online environments. TechTrends, 52(1), 63-69. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-008-0114-4.pdf

Hoffman, B., Hartley, K., & Boone, R. (2005). Reaching accessibility: Guidelines for creating and refining digital learning materials. Intervention in School and Clinic, 40(3), 171-176. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10534512050400030601

iNACOL. (2018, September 7, 2018). Resource Search. Alexandria, VA: Author. Retrieved from https://www.inacol.org/resources/resource-search/?search=&resource_topics=18&resource_types=0&years=&authors=0&organizations=0&sort=date

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004). Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/

Kinash, S., Crichton, S., & Kim-Rupnow, W. S. (2004). A review of 2000-2003 literature at the intersection of online learning and disability. American Journal of Distance Education, 18(1), 5-19.

Michigan Department of Education. (n.d.). Flexible learning options. Lansing, MI: Author. Retrieved from https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/MARSE_Supplemented_with_IDEA_Regs_379598_7.pdf.

Michigan Department of Education. (2018). Michigan administrative rules for special education (MARSE) with related IDEA federal regulations. Lansing, MI: Author. Retrieved from https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/MARSE_Supplemented_with_IDEA_Regs_379598_7.pdf.

Michigan Legislature. (n.d.). Michigan Revised School Code (Act 451 of 1976). Retrieved from https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-act-451-of-1976.pdf.

Michigan Legislature. (2018). Michigan legislature - Section 388.1621f. Retrieved from http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(fxaovw5od4hfxa0ggkufdsfz))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-388-1621f

Michigan Office of Special Education. (n.d.). Alt+Shift. Rethink the possible. Realize potential. Retrieved from https://www.altshift.education/resources

Michigan Virtual. (2017). Parent guide to online learning. Lansing, MI: Michigan Virtual University. Available from https://mvlri.org/resources/guides/parent-guide/

REMC Association of Michigan. (2018). About - REMC home. Retrieved from http://www.remc.org/about/

Rice, M., Deschaine, M. E., & Mellard, D. (2018). Describing online learning programs and practices that serve diverse learners. Journal of Online Learning Research, 4(2), 117-121.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C § 794 (d) (1998). Retrieved from https://section508.gov/

Simmons, T., Bauder, D., Abell, M., & Penrod, W. (2008). Delivering the general curriculum: Pre-service teacher perspectives regarding a technological approach for students with moderate and severe disabilities. Information Technology and Disabilities Journal, 12(1). Retrieved from http://itd.athenpro.org/volume12/number1/simmons.html

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. (n.d.). Part 36 nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations and commercial facilities. Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleIII_2010/titleIII_2010_regulations.htm

United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). OASAM - Office of the assistant secretary for administration and management (OASAM) - United States department of labor. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (n.d.). Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) overview Retrieved from https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (n.d.). Web content accessibility guideline (WCAG) 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Appendix A

Legal Basis for Services

Providing educational programs and services to students who have disabilities began with legal initiatives in the mid-1970s. Michigan's legal requirements to provide services to these students predates the federal legal requirements for similar services. Michigan has a long history of advocating for students affected by disabilities in ways that exceed federal requirements in breadth, depth, and scope. This continues to be true as the state remains focused on the educational and programmatic needs of students, regardless of need, in face-to-face, online, and blended educational environments.

This section will focus on some salient legal requirements from both the state of Michigan, as well as a federal government perspective. The legal history of both jurisdictions is long and has the potential to be nuanced based on the specifics of each individual situation. The content here is not intended to be exhaustive coverage of the legal requirements for programs and services; it neither constitutes legal advice, nor should it substitute for legal guidance by counsel. The coverage here is intended to provide support for future investigations by organizations and individuals wishing to gain basic information related to the broad requirements that guide effective educational programs and supports for students who have disabilities.

State of Michigan Legal Considerations

The following legal documents should be considered when proposing and implementing an individualized educational plan (IEP) of service for students affected by disabilities within online and blended learning environments.

Michigan State School Code

The Revised School Code (Act 451 of 1976) (Michigan Legislature, n. d.) is an act that:

provides a system of public instruction in elementary and secondary schools; to revise, consolidate, and clarify the laws relating to elementary and secondary education; to provide for the organization, regulation, and maintenance of schools, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to prescribe rights, powers, duties, and privileges of schools, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to provide for the regulation of school teachers and certain other school employees. (p. 1)

Requirements for the education provision of all students, in all settings, is established within the Michigan School Code. Understanding the legislative scope that the state of Michigan expects from educational entities in a holistic fashion provides support when attempting to operationalize individualized educational plans and supports to students who have disabilities.

Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education (MARSE)

Parts of the MARSE with Related IDEA Federal Regulations (Michigan Department of Education, 2018) deal with programs and services for students affected by disabilities are included in the larger Michigan Administrative Rules. Pages 24 and 25 of MARSE provides a definition of special education. It is important for educators, families, and professionals to understand that the definition and rules provided by the state are a result of both legislation, litigation, and rulemaking. As such, these rules provide the supports necessary to guide the development of appropriate educational programs and services to meet the multiplicity of needs that students who have disabilities bring to educational settings, both face-to-face, as well as in online or blended environments.

Special education services are provided to students with eligible conditions to assist them in meeting graduation requirements for general education curriculum established by their local school district that is in alignment with the Michigan School Code. The intent of special education supports and services is to provide students who have disabilities the individualized, appropriate educational supports necessary to assist them in being successful with general education content, within the general education environment, to the greatest extent possible.

It is important for all individuals who are working to provide quality educational support services in online and blended environments to understand the students, how their eligibility for services affects their ability to perform educationally within the general education environment, how the they are able to progress within the general education curriculum, and the ways that appropriate individualized programs and supports might be used effectively within online and blended learning environments.

Section 21f

Section 21f of the State School Aid Act (Michigan Legislature, 2018) is specific to conditions for students wishing to take courses in online or blended learning environments within Michigan. Section 21f allows K-12 students enrolled in a public school or district (full- or part-time) to enroll in up to two online courses per academic term. Districts may deny such enrollment requests as defined in a limited number of circumstances. A student may be enrolled in more than two online courses if the district, the parents, and the student agree that it is in the student's best interest. In such an instance, the district must have an education development plan stating such in their records.

For some students affected by disabilities, the provisions of Section 21f provide a great deal of flexibility in meeting their individual educational needs in a supportive environment that allows the students to focus more upon content in a less socially and behaviorally demanding or distractive learning environment. Section 21f is one proactive educational provision that should be considered when determining if an online or blended learning opportunity is appropriate for students who have a disability.

Michigan Career and College Ready Provisions

Contained within the Michigan School Code (Michigan Legislature, n.d.) are provisions that allow students to be given an opportunity to design flexible learning options that lead to a high school diploma, while still meeting the basic requirements established by the local school board. These provisions for a different set of learning opportunities and curricular expectations are available to all students. The appropriateness of each of these should be considered when attempting to provide support programs and services to students eligible for special education services.

Some of the flexible learning options include:

Virtual Learning Options (described above)

Offline and Project-Based Seat Time Waivers (STWs)

Options for Hours and Days Waivers

Work-Based Learning Experiences

College Course Enrollment and Early/Middle Colleges

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Options

Testing Out

Personal Curriculum

An articulation of each of these programs is beyond the scope of this document. However, it is important to remember that none of these options exist in isolation, and a combination of these opportunities might be appropriate within online or blended learning environments to meet the individualized learning needs of students who have disabilities. For more information, please consult the Michigan Department of Education's Flexible Learning Options (n.d.) document.

Federal Legal Considerations

In addition to state provisions to support students affected by disabilities, there are also corresponding federal legal statutes and requirements that require adherence. A brief discussion will provide a cursory understanding of the requirements with further resources to consider when participating in a planning meeting to address the individual learning needs of students who have disabilities within online or blended learning environments.

Special education programs and services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The provisions for special education services for students eligible for individualized programs and services are included within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) The federal statutes are the minimal level of service required by the federal government for states receiving federal funds. However, as in the case of Michigan, states can choose to offer services beyond those required of the federal government. In the MARSE document (Michigan Department of Education, 2018), there is a side-by-side comparison of the Michigan requirements and definitions for special education programs and services with those provided through IDEA (United States Department of Education, n.d.). For those unfamiliar with special education and the federal requirements, it is strongly suggested that you consider reviewing the resources provided through the United States Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services.

Civil rights reasonable accommodations to access through the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Although rules and regulations for special education services are found in the MARSE requirements, some students with disabilities may not be eligible for special education programs and services because their level of academic functioning is greater than the levels specified in special education law; these students might be entitled to academic accommodations based on federal civil rights laws through Section 504 accommodations. This distinction, although apparently nuanced, is incredibly important to understand, since requirements for programmatic supports and the provision of services can be dramatically different, as are the legal requirements for eligibility, program development, evaluation, and due process. For those unfamiliar with these distinctions, it is recommended that you consult the Special Education Supervisor or Director in your district for more direction.

Unlike special education laws that provide opportunities for individualized programs and services to meet educational goals and objectives, the federal provisions listed below provide students with recognized and documented disabilities federal support to effectively access educational programs and services.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) usually is associated with covering employment issues, there are times when the ADA covers access to educational programs for people affected by federally recognized disabilities. Title III of the ADA

prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of 12 categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreation facilities, and doctors' offices) and requires newly constructed or altered places of public accommodation-as well as commercial facilities (privately owned, nonresidential facilities such as factories, warehouses, or office buildings)-to comply with the ADA Standards. (United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, n.d.).

Eligible students are not allowed to be discriminated against due to a legally recognized disability in educational settings. This law has tremendous impact on the ways that identified computer facilities are designed to maximize access to all students, especially for students who have physical or visual disabilities.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 504)

Section 504 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 504), the precursor to the ADA, states that schools need to provide supports to meet the needs of students with disabilities in a manner consistent with the way that they provide supports to meet the needs of students who are not affected by disabilities. The intent of this law is to give students eligible under a federally-recognized category the services and supports necessary for them to access the general education curriculum and environment. Generally, students with Section 504 accommodations receive services that are not as extensive as those that students who are eligible for special education services receive, since they do not qualify for special education services.

Areas where this particular law might be appropriate are in the design and access of computer labs, ergonomics of equipment, and the availability of training for staff to ensure compliance with the act's requirements. Other areas of the program might also be affected. Consult with a legal professional for more program specific requirements and recommendations.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 508)

Section 508 of the Rehabilitations Act of 1973 (Section 508) is of primary importance and concern for educational programs providing online and blended learning opportunities for students with disabilities. The intent of this act is for organizations receiving federal funds to provide access to online content in a way that is accessible to all users, regardless of the level or type of disability the end user might experience. Programs need to ensure that their online and multimedia content are accessible for all users.

To support Section 508, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) ⁹ provide a checklist for programs to help ensure compliance with the issues related to accessibility of multimedia content in online and blended programs. This information is a good first step for consideration. It is recommended that the instructional team faithfully consider all portions of the technical compliance aspects to provide a quality instructional and educational experience for all students.

Assistive Technology Act of 1998

The Assistive Technology Act supports state efforts to improve the provision of assistive technology to individuals of all ages with disabilities through comprehensive statewide programs of technology-related assistance...

To provide States with financial assistance that supports programs designed to maximize the ability of individuals with disabilities and their family members, guardians, advocates, and authorized representatives to obtain assistive technology devices and assistive technology service s (Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, n.d., para. 2).

The federal government has made access for all students to quality educational programs and services a priority. The increase in technological capabilities for instructional technology has provided tremendous supports for students who have disabilities and require assistive technology. This support aids not just the student, but also the programs and family members that help them understand the ways that assistive technology can be incorporated into their learning to increase educational flexibility and academic achievement.

Cautions

It is vitally important that providers of online and blended educational services for students with disabilities realize their legal obligation to meet both the spirit of the laws and regulations, but also the letter of the programs established in individually developed student educational plans. Litigation of these cases within each of these areas have caused courts to rule in favor of the spirit of the law when deciding for many plaintiffs. It is important to remember that these laws were promulgated to assist individuals who have disabilities in gaining access to buildings, programs, and services. Therefore, for programs to ignore these important federal legislative initiatives sends the wrong signal to the constituent users of the programs and services being provided in online and blended learning programs.

It is important to recognize that these laws require a solid understanding of the rules and requirements, and it is important for all involved to be cognizant of their requirements. Programs providing services to students affected by disabilities in online and blended environments should have qualified, trained professionals available to help the team interpret how state and federal laws affect the learning environment.

Additionally, it is important for school administrators to work with the Special Education administrators within their Intermediate School District (ISD), Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), or Regional Educational Service District (RESD) when discussing issues related to school finance or compliance for the special education programs and services being offered to the student in the online or blended learning environment. The reliance upon special education millages for program costs varies across the state (Deschaine, 2018), and the responsibilities for the expenditures of special education services also varies based upon the ISD's, RESA's, or RESD's Special Education Plan. Working closely with the administrators in these larger regional districts will provide support and insight that will be important when determining the best way to support students with disabilities in online or blended learning environments.

Appendix B

Pedagogy and Technology

It would be quite difficult to discuss all the potential challenges that might exist when districts or programs plan for effective instruction for students affected by disabilities. Therefore, Appendix B, although not intended to be exhaustive, may provide an opportunity to discuss areas that need to be resolved for the establishment of effective programs and services in online or blended learning environments. Fortunately, there are many valuable supports and resources available to assist in effective program planning, instruction, and supports when providing online or blended education to students living with a variety of disabilities. The following resources can offer additional support.

Michigan Virtual

Michigan Virtual has been in existence for 20 years to support quality online and blended learning environments for all students. Michigan Virtual is a result of Michigan legislation codified in the school code, and the programs, services and supports that they provide are completed under the direction of a group of professionals with a variety of experiences.

Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL)

The Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) helps educators identify sound educational practices related to technology as well as understand the implications of rapid changes in technology. Recognizing the challenges in preparing students, we strive to encompass the entire educational community from preschool through college level.

MACUL's Special Interest Group for Inclusive Learning (SIG INC)

The organization's website states the purpose of SIG INC is to share knowledge concerning specialized technology and effective practices for enhancing opportunities for students with disabilities. SIG INC promotes professional learning for educators as they strive to meet students' diverse learning needs.

MACUL's Special Interest Group for Online and Blended Learning (SIG OBL)

According to their website, the mission of SIG OBL is to support educators and students in their work with online and blended learning. SIG OBL provides a forum for online learning, blended learning, mobile learning devices, and instructional tools and strategies for teaching and learning online.

Regional Educational Media Center (REMC) Association of Michigan

There are many ways that educators of students affected by disabilities need supports in online and blended learning environments. The local REMC Association of Michigan may be of added support and assistance to teams as they design and develop appropriate interventions. Their mission and scope, as described on their website is to "provide proactive leadership to the Michigan educational community by participating with other organizations in building a vision that supports quality teaching and learning and provides equity to Michigan's pre-K-12 students.

"The REMC Association of Michigan will accomplish this within the framework of the following principles:

Improve learning for all students.

Support constituents and improve teaching and learning statewide through future-focused collaboration, leadership, and service.

Empower teachers to create high quality, engaging instructional environments when they have access to the necessary skills, tools, and rich sources of information.

Provide effective cost savings through statewide cooperative purchasing, which allows local resources to be reallocated to enhance teaching and learning.

Advance statewide connectivity through delivery systems and infrastructure."

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

According to their website, ISTE "inspires the creation of solutions and connections that improve opportunities for all learners by delivering: practical guidance, evidence-based professional learning, virtual networks, thought-provoking events and the ISTE Standards." Standards have been developed that describe the technology skills and competencies that students, teachers, and administrators should possess in technology rich environments. These resources would be an excellent resource for teams that are trying to ascertain the feasibility of online or blended learning environments as an option for students living with disabilities.

Legal/Legislative Supports

Michigan has several formal programs that provide direct services and indirect consultation to school districts and programs needing support in providing adequate educational services to students who have by disabilities, regardless of format or delivery system.

Center for Educational Networking of Michigan (CEN)

CEN of Michigan is an IDEA Grant Funded Initiative through the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education. In addition to direct services, CEN provides a repository of documents related to the legal requirements for special education programs and services and also provides assistive technology supports for programs assisting students eligible for special education services.

Intermediate School Districts (ISDs)

The state of Michigan has 56 ISDs. The programs and services offered by ISDs provide and coordinate direct essential services to constituent local education agencies and school districts within their boundaries to facilitate programming, teaching, and learning for all students. Many ISDs provide direct programs or consultative services for students who have disabilities.

Programs experiencing challenges in meeting the educational needs of students living with a disability in online and blended settings should consider contacting the Director of Special Education in their ISD that is responsible for special education supports. To find the ISD responsible for supporting local programs, the following maps might be of assistance. The first is provided by the State of Michigan. The second is provided by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators.

General Supports

The intent of this document is to assist in the creation and implementation of appropriate educational programs and services for those living with disabilities as they engage in online or blended programs. A brief description of the ways that disabilities has been included, but there are other information options available. There are many professional and advocacy organizations or associate resources for content that can be helpful for those wishing to find out more about the ways specific components of an eligibility category might possibly affect functioning in online or blended learning environments.

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Supporting Students with Disabilities in K-12 Online and Blended Learning | Michigan Virtual

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Appropriately supporting students in online and blended learning environments requires a great deal of instructional planning and preparation. The intent of this document is to supply educational teams content that will provide support for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs and services for students with disabilities enrolled in online and blended learning environments.

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Virtual Zoom for Youth impacted by social isolation

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Virtual Zoom for Youth impacted by social isolation

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A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus Teaching Tolerance

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A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus Teaching Tolerance

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Last week, as schools across the nation closed their doors to slow the spread of the coronavirus, TT reached out to our community to learn what support you needed at this time. Among the most common responses was a call for trauma-informed practices to support students over the coming weeks and months.

For guidance, we reached out to our friends at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network with a series of questions. A group of researchers, psychologists and educators were quick to respond. We're grateful to Laura Danna, Dr. Jane Halladay Goldman, Dr. Jen Maze, Dr. George Ake and Dr. Isaiah Pickens for their answers, and we hope their recommendations offer some much-needed support during this difficult time.

We know that in some districts, schools have just closed, while in others, there's an expectation that classes will shift to distance learning. This change can be a challenge for educators as well as students. From a trauma-informed standpoint, what do educators need to be conscious of as they navigate this transition?

Establishing a routine and maintaining clear communication are crucial.

Maintaining and communicating predictable routines is very important. Doing so helps students to maintain a sense of psychological safety-a sense that they can manage stress or connect with someone who can help them manage stress.

It is important not to assume that students understand your routine is changing due to current events. Even if routines shift as you determine the best ways of connecting, taking the time to explain the changes and provide a predictable agenda is helpful. It will reduce student stress and increase their confidence that important adults in their lives are capable of taking care of them.

It's also important that educators ensure that the information they provide to students is digestible. Moving to remote learning and having fewer direct interactions can make assignments feel more overwhelming and daunting-particularly when several directions are given at once. Break directions down into smaller bites when necessary and encourage students to ask clarifying questions even if it appears they understand.

Finally, we can't assume students' experiences with remote learning or their understanding of a global pandemic are universal. Encourage students to lead the way in sharing what they understand and do not understand about their current situation. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, such as, "How are you feeling about not being in school?" which can provide insight without letting assumptions guide the conversation. Approach students' experiences with curiosity. Aim to clarify misinformation and connect students with other important adults (such as family) who help them feel safe.

Relationships and well-being can take priority over assignment and behavioral compliance.

In shifts to distance learning, educators will need to actively focus on maintaining attitudes of inclusivity. Now more than ever, students should feel valued and welcome regardless of their background or identity.

Remember that students may be dealing with many different home life situations while trying to maintain their academics, and there are myriad reasons they may be embarrassed to share about why they can't complete assignments. Educators should communicate that, regardless of challenges, students' efforts are appreciated.

In work with students right now, educators should let relationships be the focus. It is important to ensure students have structure and to hold high expectations. But students will fare best if they know their teachers care about their well-being just as much as their behavior and assignment compliance.

Educators can display their investment by creating relational rituals before checking on distance learning assignments with students. For example, students and educators can share one tough moment and one hopeful moment of the day, or educators and students can share one new lesson they learned about themselves during the day. Participating in these shares can help educators build and maintain connection despite the distance.

What are a few key points educators need to understand about stress, trauma and their effects? Are there specific approaches to student support they should be prioritizing during this crisis?

When people are facing stress and difficult life circumstances, it can particularly affect three areas: a sense of safety, feelings of connectedness and feelings of hope. In each of these areas, educators can make an impact.

Sense of Safety

A sense of safety is the belief that your needs-and the needs of those you care about-will be met. It is a belief that you will be protected from harm and that those around you will be safe. Educators can expect that many students' sense of safety will be compromised right now. None of us have ever seen a time like this, when institutions that provide safety and structure are closed, and the news talks about death rates and hospital bed shortages. For the many families that are experiencing or will experience significant income loss, this crisis may also mean food insecurity or an inability to pay rent and bills-all of which can severely damage a child's sense of safety.

But there are steps educators can take to support a sense of safety in children. They can:

Reach out, provide space and encourage students to connect with them or another trusted adult or counselor to talk about their safety concerns. Offer students a way to connect if there is something that they need help with or are worried about.

Encourage students to talk to friends or family members on the phone.

Help students plan some virtual playdates to distract them from their worries.

Recommend or include in lesson plans and packets some fun, free activities that kids can do at home.

Encourage families and caregivers to avoid watching the news in front of their children (as that can be upsetting), keep as much of a regular family routine as possible, and plan activities such as going for walks or hikes or playing board or video games together.

Connectedness

Connectedness refers to having relationships with others who can understand and support you. As we are practicing social distancing and have closed most public places, educators will need to get creative to help students feel connected.

To foster a sense of connectedness, educators can:

Make time to ask students about something fun they are doing right now.

Greet students by name and create a touch-free or virtual routine (similar to a handshake, a hug or a high five) to invite connection, either online or at meal pick-up.

Consider putting students together in small groups to work on projects or activities and encouraging students to work together online or by phone. These activities may include virtual puzzles or scavenger hunts. The key is to help the student feel connected to others in the class by sharing an important part of themselves that helps the class get to know them better. Foster a sense of community by highlighting each student's contribution to the group activity.

Plan activities through the use of web-conferencing sites that allow students to see, hear and interact with each other and their teacher.

Talk directly about the importance of connecting with others.

Incorporate space for play and fun activities into online lesson plans or take-home packets.

Hope

Hope is the expectation that everything will work out and the feeling that things will be all right. Right now, many people may be feeling discouraged, hopeless or angry. Adults and students may be feeling a great sense of loss for activities that will not be taking place as usual. Students particularly may be disappointed in missing out on sports, competition, performances and other important rituals of the spring semester.

To encourage a sense of hope, educators can:

Have students connect with someone in their family or community to ask a person they respect how they stayed hopeful in troubled times.

Teach about other historical times of crisis, including how these ended and communities rebounded.

Encourage students to get fresh air and to move when possible.

Share some of the many stories of hope and helping that have come out of this current crisis.

Share a positive affirmation or a strength of a student-it can go a long way right now.

Let students know that people find help in different ways, including through spiritual beliefs and practices, and encourage students to discuss things that bring them hope.

Facilitate and encourage students meeting virtually or by phone with a trusted adult who can show them a different perspective, help to identify their talents and strengths, list their options and resources, and encourage and support them.

In addition to the suggestions above, are there any activities for students (either for online classes or that students can do independently) that you recommend educators try?

Now is a time to provide opportunities for students to complete activities that affirm their competence, sense of self-worth and feelings of safety. There are many social emotional learning practices and wellness activities that teachers can encourage students to complete independently or online.

These activities can promote self-regulation when students are feeling stressed and provide a healthy sense of control over controllable aspects of an overwhelming situation. Some possible social emotional and wellness practices can include the following:

Promote self-awareness by having students review a feelings chart and share how they are feeling. To help them communicate their feelings, encourage the use of a scale, such as, "On a scale of 1-10, how bored are you feeling?" or "Are you feeling a little lonely, somewhat lonely, or very lonely?"

Recommend quick mindfulness or self-soothing exercises such as smelling a flower or completing four-corner breathing prior to completing the lesson. Four-corner breathing simply involves inhaling deeply and exhaling deeply four times. Students can complete this breathing exercise by standing up and taking one inhale and exhale breath while facing each of the four corners in a room.

Model and normalize a range of emotions by giving students opportunities to express themselves in nonverbal ways. This may include drawing a picture about how their lesson or day is going or showing the most important thing that happened to them that day. Teachers can complete this exercise first and share with students to model how to share with others in a way that feels safe and helps us feel connected.

Have students complete a virtual or long-distance appreciation or gratitude circle. Encourage students to write one thing they appreciate about classmates. Add your own, and then give each student the appreciations written about them.

Give students the chance to share what they've learned or a chance to teach their classmates. This can include having students find and teach brief self-soothing or mindfulness exercises that promote self-regulation.

Are there students in particular situations that educators should be keeping closer contact with during this period? Do you have recommendations for ways educators can reach out?

While not all families have a history of exposure to trauma, children with identified histories of trauma may be especially vulnerable to the impact of significant changes in schedule, routine and expectations that come with social distancing, canceled classes, remote learning and reliance on caregivers for academics.

Other students may also be at additional risk during this time:

students who have had anxiety;

students who have depression or suicidal ideation;

students who have learning and attention disorders;

students whose families may have lost jobs or income;

students who have loved ones particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus;

students who have a caregiver who is a healthcare worker or in another occupation where they are exposed to the virus or are being asked to respond in an intense way;

students who may be less supervised because of caregivers' work.

Even remotely, however, there are ways that educators can provide extra support to these students:

Educators can reach out to caregivers to check in and offer or explain the supports that they typically use in the classroom with their children.

Educators can set up individual conferences via computer or phone to check in with students and ask about their safety and worries.

Educators can and should connect with school mental health professionals to know how they can connect students and families with them when necessary.

What kinds of stressors or potential trauma will families and caregivers be facing during this time that educators should be aware of? How can educators help?

In general, it is important to consider that the stress adults might be facing during this time of uncertainty will probably be mirrored in children. Families could be dealing with high levels of stress, and they probably will be for an extensive amount of time. Educators can consider sharing messages about how families need to give themselves some space when emotions run high, and they can model how to regulate emotions to help children cope.

Educators should have an appreciation for how kids might respond to stress and consider how stress might play out by age group. Whenever possible, they should share this information with caregivers.

Educators can also play a role in promoting the message that caretakers should try their best to establish a routine, involve children in the development of their own schedules, and maintain reasonable expectations of children, knowing that some changes are just difficult to predict.

Finally, we understand that in other countries, rates of domestic violence and child abuse have increased during the COVID-19 crisis. Stress and increased isolation are risk factors for abuse. Families experiencing difficult financial issues or job loss during this time might be especially at risk. But all families will be under increased stress and isolation with varying levels of support and resources.

For more information about child trauma and child traumatic stress, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has many resources to help educators and caretakers better understand the impact, consequences and resilience of children and families exposed to trauma. This page is a good place to start.

What steps do you recommend for educators who want to be there for their students but who might also be dealing with their own stress right now?

Practice self-kindness, and remember that it is best to take care of yourself before you try to take care of anyone else.

Take time to check in with yourself to gain insight into where you may be struggling. Once you identify the issues, work to create a plan to address the issues you can control and to work on letting go of the ones you cannot.

Utilize social supports as needed. Consider planning a virtual coffee break or lunch hour with colleagues or other educators via Zoom, where you might share strategies that are or are not working, talk about what you're cooking or watching on Netflix, and experience a much-needed sense of community

Create a routine that includes getting up at a regular time, getting ready and dressed for the day, a work schedule, some way to move your body and some breaks to connect to others.

Remember that, as adults, we are the best predictors of how our students and children are doing; they are watching and listening to us. When we take care of ourselves, we're showing them how they can take care of themselves, too.

Are there any specific resources, articles or other information you recommend?

Some of the answers above were adapted from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) publications, including:

These resources from the NCTSN expand on some of the recommendations above:

These resources from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress can be helpful:

Educators can may find these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) useful:

These resources from Substance Abuse Mental Health Services (SAMSHA) may also provide support:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus Teaching Tolerance

# data[].attributes.subject
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus Teaching Tolerance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Last week, as schools across the nation closed their doors to slow the spread of the coronavirus, TT reached out to our community to learn what support you needed at this time. Among the most common responses was a call for trauma-informed practices to support students over the coming weeks and months.

For guidance, we reached out to our friends at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network with a series of questions. A group of researchers, psychologists and educators were quick to respond. We're grateful to Laura Danna, Dr. Jane Halladay Goldman, Dr. Jen Maze, Dr. George Ake and Dr. Isaiah Pickens for their answers, and we hope their recommendations offer some much-needed support during this difficult time.

We know that in some districts, schools have just closed, while in others, there's an expectation that classes will shift to distance learning. This change can be a challenge for educators as well as students. From a trauma-informed standpoint, what do educators need to be conscious of as they navigate this transition?

Establishing a routine and maintaining clear communication are crucial.

Maintaining and communicating predictable routines is very important. Doing so helps students to maintain a sense of psychological safety-a sense that they can manage stress or connect with someone who can help them manage stress.

It is important not to assume that students understand your routine is changing due to current events. Even if routines shift as you determine the best ways of connecting, taking the time to explain the changes and provide a predictable agenda is helpful. It will reduce student stress and increase their confidence that important adults in their lives are capable of taking care of them.

It's also important that educators ensure that the information they provide to students is digestible. Moving to remote learning and having fewer direct interactions can make assignments feel more overwhelming and daunting-particularly when several directions are given at once. Break directions down into smaller bites when necessary and encourage students to ask clarifying questions even if it appears they understand.

Finally, we can't assume students' experiences with remote learning or their understanding of a global pandemic are universal. Encourage students to lead the way in sharing what they understand and do not understand about their current situation. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, such as, "How are you feeling about not being in school?" which can provide insight without letting assumptions guide the conversation. Approach students' experiences with curiosity. Aim to clarify misinformation and connect students with other important adults (such as family) who help them feel safe.

Relationships and well-being can take priority over assignment and behavioral compliance.

In shifts to distance learning, educators will need to actively focus on maintaining attitudes of inclusivity. Now more than ever, students should feel valued and welcome regardless of their background or identity.

Remember that students may be dealing with many different home life situations while trying to maintain their academics, and there are myriad reasons they may be embarrassed to share about why they can't complete assignments. Educators should communicate that, regardless of challenges, students' efforts are appreciated.

In work with students right now, educators should let relationships be the focus. It is important to ensure students have structure and to hold high expectations. But students will fare best if they know their teachers care about their well-being just as much as their behavior and assignment compliance.

Educators can display their investment by creating relational rituals before checking on distance learning assignments with students. For example, students and educators can share one tough moment and one hopeful moment of the day, or educators and students can share one new lesson they learned about themselves during the day. Participating in these shares can help educators build and maintain connection despite the distance.

What are a few key points educators need to understand about stress, trauma and their effects? Are there specific approaches to student support they should be prioritizing during this crisis?

When people are facing stress and difficult life circumstances, it can particularly affect three areas: a sense of safety, feelings of connectedness and feelings of hope. In each of these areas, educators can make an impact.

Sense of Safety

A sense of safety is the belief that your needs-and the needs of those you care about-will be met. It is a belief that you will be protected from harm and that those around you will be safe. Educators can expect that many students' sense of safety will be compromised right now. None of us have ever seen a time like this, when institutions that provide safety and structure are closed, and the news talks about death rates and hospital bed shortages. For the many families that are experiencing or will experience significant income loss, this crisis may also mean food insecurity or an inability to pay rent and bills-all of which can severely damage a child's sense of safety.

But there are steps educators can take to support a sense of safety in children. They can:

Reach out, provide space and encourage students to connect with them or another trusted adult or counselor to talk about their safety concerns. Offer students a way to connect if there is something that they need help with or are worried about.

Encourage students to talk to friends or family members on the phone.

Help students plan some virtual playdates to distract them from their worries.

Recommend or include in lesson plans and packets some fun, free activities that kids can do at home.

Encourage families and caregivers to avoid watching the news in front of their children (as that can be upsetting), keep as much of a regular family routine as possible, and plan activities such as going for walks or hikes or playing board or video games together.

Connectedness

Connectedness refers to having relationships with others who can understand and support you. As we are practicing social distancing and have closed most public places, educators will need to get creative to help students feel connected.

To foster a sense of connectedness, educators can:

Make time to ask students about something fun they are doing right now.

Greet students by name and create a touch-free or virtual routine (similar to a handshake, a hug or a high five) to invite connection, either online or at meal pick-up.

Consider putting students together in small groups to work on projects or activities and encouraging students to work together online or by phone. These activities may include virtual puzzles or scavenger hunts. The key is to help the student feel connected to others in the class by sharing an important part of themselves that helps the class get to know them better. Foster a sense of community by highlighting each student's contribution to the group activity.

Plan activities through the use of web-conferencing sites that allow students to see, hear and interact with each other and their teacher.

Talk directly about the importance of connecting with others.

Incorporate space for play and fun activities into online lesson plans or take-home packets.

Hope

Hope is the expectation that everything will work out and the feeling that things will be all right. Right now, many people may be feeling discouraged, hopeless or angry. Adults and students may be feeling a great sense of loss for activities that will not be taking place as usual. Students particularly may be disappointed in missing out on sports, competition, performances and other important rituals of the spring semester.

To encourage a sense of hope, educators can:

Have students connect with someone in their family or community to ask a person they respect how they stayed hopeful in troubled times.

Teach about other historical times of crisis, including how these ended and communities rebounded.

Encourage students to get fresh air and to move when possible.

Share some of the many stories of hope and helping that have come out of this current crisis.

Share a positive affirmation or a strength of a student-it can go a long way right now.

Let students know that people find help in different ways, including through spiritual beliefs and practices, and encourage students to discuss things that bring them hope.

Facilitate and encourage students meeting virtually or by phone with a trusted adult who can show them a different perspective, help to identify their talents and strengths, list their options and resources, and encourage and support them.

In addition to the suggestions above, are there any activities for students (either for online classes or that students can do independently) that you recommend educators try?

Now is a time to provide opportunities for students to complete activities that affirm their competence, sense of self-worth and feelings of safety. There are many social emotional learning practices and wellness activities that teachers can encourage students to complete independently or online.

These activities can promote self-regulation when students are feeling stressed and provide a healthy sense of control over controllable aspects of an overwhelming situation. Some possible social emotional and wellness practices can include the following:

Promote self-awareness by having students review a feelings chart and share how they are feeling. To help them communicate their feelings, encourage the use of a scale, such as, "On a scale of 1-10, how bored are you feeling?" or "Are you feeling a little lonely, somewhat lonely, or very lonely?"

Recommend quick mindfulness or self-soothing exercises such as smelling a flower or completing four-corner breathing prior to completing the lesson. Four-corner breathing simply involves inhaling deeply and exhaling deeply four times. Students can complete this breathing exercise by standing up and taking one inhale and exhale breath while facing each of the four corners in a room.

Model and normalize a range of emotions by giving students opportunities to express themselves in nonverbal ways. This may include drawing a picture about how their lesson or day is going or showing the most important thing that happened to them that day. Teachers can complete this exercise first and share with students to model how to share with others in a way that feels safe and helps us feel connected.

Have students complete a virtual or long-distance appreciation or gratitude circle. Encourage students to write one thing they appreciate about classmates. Add your own, and then give each student the appreciations written about them.

Give students the chance to share what they've learned or a chance to teach their classmates. This can include having students find and teach brief self-soothing or mindfulness exercises that promote self-regulation.

Are there students in particular situations that educators should be keeping closer contact with during this period? Do you have recommendations for ways educators can reach out?

While not all families have a history of exposure to trauma, children with identified histories of trauma may be especially vulnerable to the impact of significant changes in schedule, routine and expectations that come with social distancing, canceled classes, remote learning and reliance on caregivers for academics.

Other students may also be at additional risk during this time:

students who have had anxiety;

students who have depression or suicidal ideation;

students who have learning and attention disorders;

students whose families may have lost jobs or income;

students who have loved ones particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus;

students who have a caregiver who is a healthcare worker or in another occupation where they are exposed to the virus or are being asked to respond in an intense way;

students who may be less supervised because of caregivers' work.

Even remotely, however, there are ways that educators can provide extra support to these students:

Educators can reach out to caregivers to check in and offer or explain the supports that they typically use in the classroom with their children.

Educators can set up individual conferences via computer or phone to check in with students and ask about their safety and worries.

Educators can and should connect with school mental health professionals to know how they can connect students and families with them when necessary.

What kinds of stressors or potential trauma will families and caregivers be facing during this time that educators should be aware of? How can educators help?

In general, it is important to consider that the stress adults might be facing during this time of uncertainty will probably be mirrored in children. Families could be dealing with high levels of stress, and they probably will be for an extensive amount of time. Educators can consider sharing messages about how families need to give themselves some space when emotions run high, and they can model how to regulate emotions to help children cope.

Educators should have an appreciation for how kids might respond to stress and consider how stress might play out by age group. Whenever possible, they should share this information with caregivers.

Educators can also play a role in promoting the message that caretakers should try their best to establish a routine, involve children in the development of their own schedules, and maintain reasonable expectations of children, knowing that some changes are just difficult to predict.

Finally, we understand that in other countries, rates of domestic violence and child abuse have increased during the COVID-19 crisis. Stress and increased isolation are risk factors for abuse. Families experiencing difficult financial issues or job loss during this time might be especially at risk. But all families will be under increased stress and isolation with varying levels of support and resources.

For more information about child trauma and child traumatic stress, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has many resources to help educators and caretakers better understand the impact, consequences and resilience of children and families exposed to trauma. This page is a good place to start.

What steps do you recommend for educators who want to be there for their students but who might also be dealing with their own stress right now?

Practice self-kindness, and remember that it is best to take care of yourself before you try to take care of anyone else.

Take time to check in with yourself to gain insight into where you may be struggling. Once you identify the issues, work to create a plan to address the issues you can control and to work on letting go of the ones you cannot.

Utilize social supports as needed. Consider planning a virtual coffee break or lunch hour with colleagues or other educators via Zoom, where you might share strategies that are or are not working, talk about what you're cooking or watching on Netflix, and experience a much-needed sense of community

Create a routine that includes getting up at a regular time, getting ready and dressed for the day, a work schedule, some way to move your body and some breaks to connect to others.

Remember that, as adults, we are the best predictors of how our students and children are doing; they are watching and listening to us. When we take care of ourselves, we're showing them how they can take care of themselves, too.

Are there any specific resources, articles or other information you recommend?

Some of the answers above were adapted from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) publications, including:

These resources from the NCTSN expand on some of the recommendations above:

These resources from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress can be helpful:

Educators can may find these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) useful:

These resources from Substance Abuse Mental Health Services (SAMSHA) may also provide support:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Free webinar trainings for Mandated Reporters

# data[].attributes.subject
Free webinar trainings for Mandated Reporters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
PFSA is offering FREE virtual Mandatory Reporter Training

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?

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We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique? We are always happy to customize trainings for specific schools, groups, or organizations. For more information about these programs or about hosting a live training at your school, click HERE , or go to the " Host a Training " tab on at the top of the page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Free membership is required to access some portions of the site. You must be logged in to register for free webinars and/or interact in the forums. CLICK HERE to log in or sign up.

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We know webinars are convenient, but when it comes to meaningful, lasting instruction, we are strong believers that nothing beats a live, in-person training. That just happens to be our specialty! Below is a sampling of some of the many live trainings that we offer. Looking for something specific or unique?