(2016; Updated June 2023) | Useful to Parent Centers, families, and education staff in addressing the needs of students with disabilities.
When schools and teachers personalize learning, students – including students with disabilities – receive a customized learning experience. Students learn at their own pace with structure and support in challenging areas. Learning aligns with interests, needs, and skills, and it takes place in an engaging environment where students gain a better understanding of their strengths.
Personalized Learning & Students with Disabilities
The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has developed several resources to help educators, families, and policymakers understand personalized learning systems and to identify strategies for educators and leaders at all levels to better meet the needs of and appropriately include students with disabilities in personalized learning. These resources include:
Personalized Learning Recommendations
https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Personalized-Learning.WebReady.pdf
Personalized Learning Key Considerations
https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PL-KeyConsiderations.Fin_.pdf
Roadmap for Parents
https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PL-RoadmapForParents.Fin_.pdf
Roadmap for Educators
https://www.ncld.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PL-RoadmapForEducators.Fin_.pdf
More about These Resources | The Process NCLD Used
Over the course of a year, NCLD gathered top special education and personalized learning experts from across the country – including educators, advocates, researchers, state and district leaders, school leaders, and parents of children with disabilities – and engaged them in discussions to learn and explore ways to ensure that personalized learning systems integrate and benefit students with disabilities. NCLD also conducted one-on-one expert interviews and participated in site visits to schools using personalized learning.
NCLD surveyed over 1,800 parents of students with disabilities and found that the majority of parents were not familiar with personalized learning, but nearly all of them wanted to learn more!
Finally, NCLD brought together nearly 50 experts, advocates, and advisors in Washington, DC to consider the recommendations, challenge assumptions, and explore best practices for meeting the needs of students with disabilities through personalized learning. From this research, collaboration, and discussion, NCLD produced this comprehensive set of policy and practice recommendations addressing families, educators, school leaders, district and state leaders, and policymakers, all of whom have a role in ensuring that students with disabilities succeed in school.
Use the links above to download NCLD’s full set of policy and practice recommendations and other materials developed for parents, educators, school and district leaders, and policymakers.