Remote Learning Strategies for Students with IEPs

An Educator's Guidebook

Kathryn A Welby, Kathryn Welby

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367741501
• eBook ISBN: 9781000410457
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Classroom Management

This succinct guidebook provides educators with the essentials they need to navigate remote learning for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Filled with practical tools and excerpts from teachers in the field, this book explores tips to share with parents, alongside synchronous and asynchronous strategies that can help make IEPs possible in a remote environment. Ideal for special educators, coaches, service providers, and leaders, this is the go-to resource for supporting IEPs outside the traditional classroom.

1
Introduction

The most valuable resource that all educators have is each other. Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.

– Robert John Meehan

Parents, educators, administrators, and children across the country are struggling to keep up, barely keeping their heads above water. The challenges of remote special education are intense, the demands are high, and the specifics on the “how” are blurry. As I recently read on a billboard, “being part of history is exhausting!” and I could not agree more! The purpose of this guidebook is not to sugarcoat the reality of the struggle but to combine and share successes that have emerged from the struggle. As we experience this new chapter of educational history, we need to think beyond the textbook and beyond the schoolhouse walls because I can predict confidently that textbooks and possibly the schoolhouse itself are changing and, perhaps, slowly fading away. The notion that education can only happen in schools is no longer valid – learning can happen anywhere.

Purpose

The media, published surveys, and chatter throughout the schools continuously report a mountain of challenges related to remotely teaching children requiring special education services, but what about the success stories? Countless educators across the country are utilizing strategies that are effective and working well for them. It is time their voices are heard, and their success is shared to help our colleagues who continue to face challenges. This book and the motivation behind the research provide an optimistic approach to address some of the undeniable difficulties of remote learning, particularly for children with learning challenges and disabilities.

Specifically, this book aims to improve remote learning for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Use this book as a guide or reference when planning activities and communications for your remote classroom. Pick and choose from the variety of suggestions offered throughout each chapter. When teaching children with various learning needs and challenges, we must acknowledge that every child is different, and each child’s needs are different. What works for one child may not work for another; therefore, an assortment of ideas and tools are shared from diverse educators’ perspectives working in very different geographic locations throughout the country.

In combination with research and practice, this book was created to provide educators with practical and useful strategies to improve remote learning for students with IEPs that can be utilized immediately. This guidebook is packed with ideas, techniques, resources, and success stories to read and keep handy as a reference when planning and teaching your remote classroom. Teaching academics and providing services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language to children who receive special education services remotely can be challenging. This book will address the complexity of the challenges and offer suggestions to:

1. Build relationships and community with students in the remote classroom.
2. Increase parent engagement in a remote setting.
3. Conduct a virtual IEP meeting.
4. Convert IEP accommodations to the remote classroom.
5. Develop practical synchronous teaching activities.
6. Develop effective asynchronous teaching activities.
7. Utilize paraprofessionals in the remote classroom.
8. Provide parents with suggestions and tips to help their children independently succeed at home.

While there is still a great deal to learn on how to address all learners’ needs remotely, suggestions to these and many other remote obstacles are answered throughout the guidebook. The strategies are a foundation of knowledge upon which you can build and learn.

Background

As a consequence of the global pandemic, tens of millions of students experienced a dramatic switch in how their education was delivered, from in-person, in-school delivery to remote, home-based learning. As the coronavirus began spreading across the United States, education as we know it changed abruptly.

A few weeks after the school’s sudden closure, educators, parents, and others started asking for help on how to teach children with special education needs remotely. I could have provided a theoretical perspective on what should work based on special education learning theories and my knowledge as a special education teacher and professor. Still, I was far from an expert at the novel practice of teaching children with disabilities remotely. In my opinion, the theory is important, but the practice and experiences are even more important when working with children diagnosed with a variety of disabilities and learning challenges. What works for one child may not work for another child, even with the same diagnosis and medical makeup. As Dr. Stephen Shore famously stated, “if you’ve met one person diagnosed with autism, you’ve met one person diagnosed with autism”. I learned quickly that the statement holds true for all diagnosed disabilities and learning challenges. Successfully teaching children who require special education services is not only a science but an art that relies heavily on trial and error, reflection, and purposeful relationship development. To learn effective strategies for teaching children with special education needs remotely, I turned to the many outstanding and experienced teachers, administrators, and service providers in the field that are working with children with IEPs.

In April 2020, I reached out to a few colleagues with a quick survey, and they shared the survey with other effective educators. Within a week, over 90 teachers throughout the Northeast contributed success stories teaching students with IEPs in a remote environment. Using the information collected from the educators throughout the Northeast, I combined and shared the results through virtual professional development to help teachers finish off the 2019–2020 school year.

Unfortunately, back to school 2020 and education did not resume to a standard in-person approach. Tens of millions of students began the school year completely remote, including 13 of the 15 largest school districts in the US. Many other school districts adopted a hybrid or blended learning model that included a mix of remote learning and in-person learning. The main concern cited was safety for staff and students. As many school districts continued with full or partial remote education, the expectations for educators amplified.

Given the greater expectations for academic and service delivery combined with the continued challenges of educating students with disabilities and learning challenges remotely, I decided to formalize the research. I expanded this project with outreach to educators across the US to share successful strategies and tools. Luckily, I collected hundreds of strategies from over 250 educators across the country. I also used my prior knowledge and experiences as a special education teacher to add approaches and recommendations for converting IEP accommodations and assistive technology into remote practice. With the hundreds of collected strategies and in a combination of practice, this book was created to provide educators with practical and useful strategies to improve remote learning for students with IEPs.

Eventually, the 2020 pandemic will be a distant memory, but the educational landscape will most likely forever change. By building more opportunities for remote learning options designed for all learners, including students who receive special education services, we as educators must prepare for the future. Like many others, I predict that remote learning will be a part of education’s future going forward. Together, we are experiencing history.

Who Would Benefit From Reading This Guidebook?

The intended audience is preschool through high school educators working remotely with students with learning challenges and disabilities. Specifically, all educators who work remotely with children on IEPs would benefit from the strategies in this guidebook, such as:

• ◆ Teachers (all types).
• ◆ Administrators.
• ◆ Paraprofessionals.
• ◆ Occupational therapists.
• ◆ Physical therapists.
• ◆ Speech and language pathologists.
• ◆ School counselors.
• ◆ Behaviors specialists.
• ◆ Tutors.
• ◆ Teacher preparation students.
• ◆ All other outside service providers.

Parents of children with IEPs could also benefit from learning the content outlined in the chapters. In a nutshell, the intended audience is all educators and parents working remotely with children with learning challenges and disabilities. Most strategies outlined in this guidebook could be used for all learners at all ability levels.

The Structure of the Book

Each chapter contains a brief yet relevant introduction of the topic then dives into the research, remote strategies, success stories, quick tips from educators, highlighted resources, and a summary of important points brought up within the chapter. The goal is for an easy reading guidebook with quick references to refer to and manage your remote instruction for students with IEPs.

Chapter 2 – Remote Learning and Special Education: The Challenge and the Research

As a consequence of the global pandemic of 2020, tens of millions of students experienced their education come to a rapid halt. As coronavirus began spreading across the US, the educational landscape changed, and it changed quickly. With the sudden shift to remote learning, educators across the country faced a massive dilemma of changing decades of teaching and learning seemingly overnight. The interruption in learning has been incredibly hard on students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Media and research report that the switch has been difficult for parents and school districts across the country, yet according to the author’s recently distributed survey, educators feel that they have successfully taught children with IEPs remotely. Chapter 2 is the book’s foundation, highlighting the challenges of remote learning, an overview of the author’s collected research, and a snapshot of results. By examining the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its application to the remote environment in parallel with the challenges of remote learning, the purpose of the research is to improve remote education for students with IEPs.

Chapter 3 – Relationship Building

Developing and establishing relationships between educators and students is an essential first step in creating a remote classroom. The power of relationships builds trust, creates a feeling of belonging, and can increase achievement and learning. In educational settings, research suggests that positive and established student-teacher relationships can foster student engagement, influence motivation, increase participation, and improve student achievement. Chapter 3 emphasizes the importance of relationship building and provides strategies to build and strengthen relationships remotely. Educators across the country share strategies that have worked in their remote classrooms. Many of these strategies can be used for students of all ability levels.

Chapter 4 – Parent/Caregiver Engagement

For a successful remote learning experience for children with learning challenges and disabilities, parent engagement is crucial. Involvement, mutual decision making, collaboration, and ongoing communication are essential for the child’s success. Parents and educators should work as a coordinated, supportive team to create a home school partnership built around the child’s success. Chapter 4 intends to share successful strategies to encourage parent engagement and partnerships to add to a sense of stability and consistency in the unpredictable world of remote learning.

Chapter 5 – The Remote IEP Meeting

As a result of the global pandemic of 2020, school shutdowns forced IEP meetings to take place remotely. The virtual IEP meeting started as a temporary solution to the inability to meet in person. However, educators have noted the benefits of the remote IEP meeting, and some predict remote sessions could turn into the preferred choice for team meetings well into the future. Educators report, through survey results with follow-up interviews, ideas and best practices for successful remote IEP meetings. A collection of district-wide forms, agendas, and meeting norms were collected to understand useful and practical strategies to carry out the remote IEP meeting, from pre-meeting preparation through post-meeting signatures. The remote IEP meeting can be as effective as in-person meetings with proper logistical and personal preparation. Establishing roles, creating effective privacy practices, instituting norms, access to technology, and following an agenda can ensure successful implementation of the remote IEP meeting.

Chapter 6 – Remote Accommodations and Assistive Technology

Accommodations and assistive technology are essential and required in the remote learning environment for students with IEPs. The challenge is effectively transferring the accommodations from in-person learning to the remote classroom. Chapter 6 demonstrates that many accommodations can be replicated at home through educational technology, virtual applications, available household items, or various assistive technology options. Grouped by presentation, setting, response, and scheduling, the most frequently used in-person IEP accommodations are explored and reproduced for remote learning.

Chapter 7 – Synchronous Activities and Strategies

After years of teaching, earning multiple degrees, and incorporating professional development hours, many educators would soon need to learn how to teach children with diagnosed disabilities – in real-time, over the Internet – and they must do so while continuing to adhere to all the IDEA laws, to reinforce IEP goals and objectives, and to provide appropriate accommodations. A collection of synchronous strategies to engage children with disabilities and learning challenges are shared in Chapter 7. The strategies communicated in this chapter are a collection of successful approaches by educators who, in 2020, had to quickly pivot their teaching to the remote learning classroom with little training or guidance. Through trial and error, the dedicated educators working with students with IEPs share their victories. Of course, every child is different, and what works for one may not work for another, but this collection of ideas and approaches should supply a foundation of tricks and tools to attempt.

Chapter 8 – Asynchronous Activities and Strategies

Some might think that creating independent asynchronous learning activities for students with learning challenges is an impossible feat, but outstanding educators across the country are proving the skeptics wrong. Through initial student coaching, parent support, and proper preparation, educators are making it happen – and surpassing expectations. Educators have found strategies to keep students with IEPs on task and achieve IEP goals with minimal teacher intervention during scheduled asynchronous learning time. A...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Remote Learning and Special Education: The Challenge and the Research
• 3 Relationship Building
• 4 Parent/Caregiver Engagement
• 5 The Remote IEP Meeting
• 6 Remote Accommodations and Assistive Technology
• 7 Synchronous Activities and Strategies
• 8 Asynchronous Activities and Strategies
• 9 Paraprofessionals and Remote Learning
• 10 Tips and Tools to Share With Parents
• 11 Conclusion: Bringing It All Together