This document contains summaries and descriptions of various resources related to special education topics. It provides quick references on laws like IDEA and ADA, court cases that influenced special education, websites with information on interventions and instructional strategies, and resources for working with English language learners and families in poverty. The resources are intended to help teachers better support students with diverse needs.

1. Katie Russell
12/8/15
EDUC-K305
Resource File
Class 2: LRE/UDL/Legislation
At A Glance: Which Laws Do What?
Understood.org has created this useful graphic for teachers and parents that
explains the differences between the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act. This is useful because sometimes I just need a quick reference
to see which one covers a certain area. I could use this to help me quickly find
which law could help a child and their family.
Chapter 1 Table 1.3 A Synopsis of Selected Court Cases Influencing Special Education
Pgs. 11-12
This table is particularly helpful in understanding the legal journey that many
families took throughout U.S. history to ensure that their children would receive a
quality education. These are important to know because they help paint a picture
of the past and how students and families have struggled and it shows what cases
set the legal precedents that we have today.
IN DOE Laws, Rules and Interpretations
This is linked to the Indiana Department of Education’s special education laws
page. Here teachers can access links to all federal and state laws pertaining to
special education. This is a great one stop resource for specific questions about
legislation and how it reads.
Class 3: UDL, Multidisciplinary Team, Assessments, IEP, Related Services, Section 504 &
Accommodation plans
Alphabet Soup Handout
This handout is extremely helpful in understanding all the acronyms and
shortened names for a variety of special education services. There is so much
lingo that goes with special education that it can be confusing, especially as a new
general education teacher. I will keep this with me to refer to when attending
IEP/case conferences and when meeting with the special education teachers in the
building.
INSOURCE IEP/Case Conference Handouts
This is a webpage with several links and PDFs that discuss the IEP/case
conference process in everyday language for parents. These resources would be
useful to share with parents who are anxiously awaiting their child’s first IEP
meeting. These are also great links for general education teachers, like me, to
refresh their memory about their role in an IEP/case conference team.

2. Referral and Evaluation Process
This video explains how the referral and evaluation of children with special needs
works in a public school and shows a mock referral. This video is helpful because
it explains the process in everyday language and gives young teachers like me an
idea of how this will work in my career.
Class 4: Discussions and Preparations
Differentiated Instruction: Resource Roundup
This webpage from Edutopia is a collection of links to articles on differentiated
instruction. This is one of the biggest challenges as a teacher and all of these
resources can help make differentiating an easier process. These resources are
designed for students K-12 and many are specific, such as differentiation in social
media and project-based learning. There are also articles addressing how to help
both struggling and advanced students. This is a great tool set.
Intervention Central
This is an online resource hub of a variety of tools and tricks to address academic
and behavior interventions for children. This is a great website to use if you are
looking for a specific type of intervention and your school doesn’t offer a
resources list for you.
RTI Action Network K-5
This website was created by the National Center for Learning Disabilities. It is
full of resources for parents and teachers about RTI. It has resources for every
aspect of RTI, including diversity (language, race, school setting) and speaking
with parents. This resource is helpful in designing RTI plans, for understanding
the role of assessment, and interpreting the data gleaned from those assessments.
Class 5: UDL/DI/RTI
Templeton Elementary RTI & Academic Interventions
This page is from my field experience school. It has downloadable reading and
math interventions for teachers to use that they actually use in the school’s RTI
program. There are plenty of useful resources that I could implement in my future
classroom to help children who are in Tier 2 interventions.
UDL Guidelines Graphic Organizer
This is the graphic representation of the UDL principles outline by the National
Center on Universal Design for Learning. This is a handy reference to print and
review while lesson planning in the classroom to ensure that the activities in the
classroom align with UDL. Using this will help ensure that all children in the
classroom will be able to participate.
Edutopia What Works for Differentiating Instruction in Elementary Schools

3. This article outlines what an elementary teacher can do to differentiate instruction
in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, and 5 months. It lists several simple, concrete steps
to achieving more differentiation in the classroom. I am saving this because
sometimes it is difficult to figure out where to start with differentiation and I can
use this source as a reference while student teaching and in my first year of
teaching.
Class 6: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity – I am particularly interested in supporting English
language learners in the classroom, so here are three resources I found helpful.
Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) The GO To Strategies: Scaffolding Options for
Teachers of English Language Learners, K-12
This is an excellent resource I found while studying concepts about ELLs for my
pedagogy exam. This website has a 100 page document that teachers can
download that explains strategies that teachers can use for children of all grades
and English proficiency levels. These strategies are outlined explicitly and can
easily be implemented in the classroom.
Cult of Pedagogy 12 Ways to Support ESL Students in the Mainstream Classroom
In this blog post Jennifer Gonzalez shares what she has learned from various ESL
teachers about 12 ways to support ELLs in the classroom. The strategies listed are
easily incorporated into the classroom and actually benefit all children.
Colorin Colorado Oral Language Development and ELLs: 5 Challenges and Solutions
This article is written by Dr. Lindsey Moses Guccione, who co-authored
Comprehension and English Language Learners: 25 Oral Reading Strategies
That Cross Proficiency Levels. This article discusses the first two language
proficiency levels (starting and emerging). These are likely the levels the children
in my ECE classroom will be at. She discusses how to support ELL children
while also supporting all other learners in the classroom. I really like this page
because the author chose to discuss the challenge of social vs. academic language
acquisition, which is typically more difficult for children.
Class 7: Working with Families and Colleagues
NAEYC Supporting Families of Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Programs
Pages 7-9 of this article are helpful in thinking of ideas of how to communicate
with parents and families of the children in the classroom. I know that we have
learned a lot of ways to stay connected with families, but this is a quick reference
that will be helpful when planning how to communicate when I start teaching in
my own classroom.
Understood Through Your Child’s Eyes
This website gives teachers and parents the unique opportunity to experience a
simulation of the challenges and frustrations many children face in the classroom,
such as reading, writing, math, attention, and organization issues. I find this to be

4. helpful because it gives me a better understanding of what it feels like for the
child. I like that an expert speaks at the end of the simulation about what teachers
and families can do to support children with these various challenges.
Collaborating with Parents
This video series shows a variety of mock parent-teacher interactions and explains
how to successfully collaborate with parents. This resource was helpful to view
for the class discussion and offered a variety of tips for working with families. I
liked that it addressed various kinds of interactions and offered tips for teachers to
make those interactions as productive as possible.
Class 8: Low and High Incidence Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders
Dr. Cathy Pratt PowerPoint Handout
This was the most valuable presentation I have ever had in a class. Dr. Pratt not
only gave us sound advice for working with children with autism, but she gave us
wonderful advice about setting up expectations and positive discipline in the
classroom for all children. I took an unbelievable amount of notes on my handouts
and intend to save them and refer to them when I begin working in my own
classroom.
Opening the Classroom Door for Children with Autism
This is a useful article that explained how the principles of UDL could positively
influence the learning environment for children with autism. I will surely use
these ideas in my classroom in the future, especially when children with autism
are a part of my classroom community.
Indiana Resource Center for Autism
This resource hub features links on various topics, including behavior,
communication, sensory, and self-help, that go to pages filled with articles full of
information pertaining to children and adults with autism. These will be extremely
helpful when designing a UDL environment for my classroom. My favorite of the
pages is the one on sensory strategies because it features strategies that could help
any child who is struggling with sensory issues.
Class 9: Breaking Night – Impact of Poverty on Learning
5 Ways to Help Students Affected by Generational Poverty
This simple and straightforward article created by a teacher on Edutopia gives
teachers simple advice about supporting children who are trapped in generational
poverty. These are as simple as “love them,” “do not ask for money,” and “keep
high expectations.” While these seem so natural to some, I know several teachers
who do not remember these or apply these when working with children. I will
keep these in mind as I entered my student teaching in a poverty-stricken
environment.

5. Leading Learning for Children From Poverty
This article on AMLE offers teachers even more tips on working with children in
poverty. Some of these I view as extremely important, such as creating a caring
and believing environment, utilizing children’s interests, and having clear and
consistent expectations. While these benefit all children, they are especially
important for children who may come from unstable environments.
Poor Teaching for Poor Children…in the Name of Reform
This article from Alfie Kohn discusses the depressing teaching that children in
poverty typically experience, especially in urban school environments. This
article discusses the differences between affluent teaching and “poverty” teaching.
Children in poverty often experience skill and drill while affluent children
typically experience project-based learning. This is something to keep in mind as
a teacher, because we know all children learn better through real experiences and
children in poverty deserve these experiences as much as any other child.
Class 10: Co-Teaching and Assistive Technology
Co-Teaching Presentation by James Robinson
The notes I took on James’s presentation were very helpful. In the realm of early
childhood education, co-teaching and having multiple adults in the classroom is
typical. I enjoyed learning about the various models and what the roles of the
teachers are in each model.
Standard Technology Tools Checklist for Elementary
This resource is a long list of technology resources that could be used to assist
children in the classroom. It has several categories such as written language,
reading, math, organization, communication, computer access, and social
resources. This will be a useful reference when looking for different technological
resources to use in the classroom.
Effective Co-Teaching Strategies
This is an article with a chart of various co-teaching models side-by-side that
shows how they differ. What’s most interesting about this is that it also discusses
the potential issues that could arise with each model.
Class 11: Fish in a Tree – Disabilities and Bullying
Intervention on Eyes on Bullying
This webpage discusses exactly what teachers and caregivers should do when
they witness bullying. It talks about immediately intervening and what steps to
take next. The next page on the website discusses the follow up to the
intervention. These steps will be useful when I am in a public school classroom
where bullying often occurs.
PromotePrevent Preventing Bullying in Early Childhood

6. This website has various webpages that discuss bullying in early childhood. There
is a 60 page downloadable PDF full of all the information on this webpage for
teachers to print and reference. It includes information such as how bullying in
early childhood develops, how to prevent bullying by promoting assertiveness and
empathy activities, and how to intervene when it occurs. I’m really excited about
this resource because this is the first resource I have found about bullying with
young children. I look forward to using the information in this PDF in my future
classroom.
Bullying in the Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Stopping It
I really enjoyed this resource shared in class because all of the steps are extremely
practical. It is obvious that this was written by a teacher in the field, which is what
I like about it. I am still questioning if I should discourage tattling in the
classroom, but this article certainly gives me a lot to implement and think about it.