Susan Courey

Seamless Transition and Long-Term Support for Individuals with Severe Intellectual Disabilities

The amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004 reiterate the significance of producing real postsecondary education, employment, and independent living outcomes. However, current employment data continue to show widespread unemployment and very limited access to inclusive community environments and services for adults with severe intellectual disabilities. On the contrary, data from the Transition Service Integration Model (N. J. Certo et al., 2003) demonstrate that these recalcitrant problems could be attenuated if two changes are implemented: The transition from school to adulthood components of IDEIA be strengthened to explicitly authorize school districts to subcontract with appropriate private agencies at the point of transition to produce direct-hire, individualized employment and adult living outcomes and that the federal government amend the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act to provide an entitlement to long-term support, creating a service system which parallels the functions of IDEIA after school exit.

Improved Lesson Planning With Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Efficient lesson planning with universal design for learning (UDL) enables teachers to more effectively meet students’ individual needs. In this study, a comparison of lesson plans by teacher candidates in a teacher preparation program before and after UDL training is presented. After training, teachers (n = 45) incorporated more differentiated options and varied teacher strategies based on UDL principles into their lesson plans, so that the content was more accessible to all students. A variety of changes and options was examined, and examples of commonly occurring choices selected by the teacher candidates were provided. The improved multiplicity of options in lesson planning demonstrates a better understanding of UDL principles; however, teachers need more experience in actually implementing the UDL principles in their classrooms.

Dynabooks: Supporting Teachers to Engage All Learners in Key Literacies

We focus on how a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework can be used to design Dynabooks that are sensitive to the needs of all learners as they engage in sense making, expression, and inquiry in challenging domains. UDL directs our attention to multiple representations, supports for students’ action and expression, and ways to engage diverse students with material. We report on how a UDL approach has been developed in Dynabooks for reading, science, and mathematics and discuss some key challenges going forward, as well as the lessons for educators.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Human Rights

In a most surprising way, it has come to our attention that our graduate students, who are diligently studying to become special education teachers, had a limited understanding of human rights, but a significant interest in learning about the topic. We teach at a California State University in one of this nation’s most liberal cities.