Author: CLDS

Extended descriptions of the Initial and Distal Precursor Linkage Levels for the most frequently address DLM Essential Elements are now available!

The descriptions help explain the link between these lowest Linkage Levels and the target DLM Essential Elements and provide teaching ideas.  You can access the files in multiple formats:

Extended Descriptions DLM Essential Elements Initial and Distal Precursors MATH – pdf

Extended Descriptions DLM Essential Elements Initial and Distal Precursors ELA – pdf

You can also link the the descriptions for Math and ELA in  Google Sheets

The Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Public TV, the University of Northern Iowa, and the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at UNC Chapel Hill partnered to create a new and exciting resource.  On the site, you’ll find videos of teachers engaged in reading and writing instruction with students with significant cognitive disabilities.  The students range in age and significance of need (including students who use AAC). There are also examples of many different types of classrooms.   In addition to the videos, you will find information about the DLM Essential Elements addressed and links to additional resources.

Check it out!

http://iptv.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/ela-strategies-for-students-with-cognitive-disabilities/ 

The facilitated versions of the DLM Professional Development Modules provide a perfect solution for Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) that are focused on the needs of learners with significant cognitive disabilities.  The modules provide the members of the PLC with focused content and ready-made discussion topics and activities that allow them to apply the information to their own students and make sense of data they may be collecting over time.

For more information about using the DLM Professional Development Modules in PLCs, check out this document.

We have been working to identify existing resources that might be useful to you as you work to teach the DLM Essential Elements. We’ve organized what we’ve found so far on Pinterest Boards. Here is a list of boards for you to check out:

DLM: Compose and Decompose Numbers https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-compose-and-decompose-numbers/
DLM: Data Analysis and Probability https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-data-analysis-and-probability/
DLM: Fractions https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-fractions/
DLM: Functions https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-functions/
DLM: Geometry https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-geometry/
DLM: Instructional Practice https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-instructional-practice/
DLM: Measurement https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-measurement/
DLM: Number Sense https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-number-sense/
DLM: Operations https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-operations/
DLM: Patterning and Algebra https://www.pinterest.com/cgreer7/dlm-patterning-and-algebra/

Willans Hill School in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia has been providing comprehensive literacy instruction to their students with significant cognitive disabilities for several years.  They built a web site to share their approach and successes with other educators.  Check out their what they have to say about writing instruction and watch videos of writing in action at:

http://www.literacyatwillanshill.net.au/content/writing

You can learn about writing instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities through the DLM Professional Development Modules. The modules you want to look for include:

Module 12:  Writing: Text Types and Purposes

Check out the link to Instructional Resources above to find new resources posted about Alternate Pencils.  The resources needed to create the color-coded eye-gaze frame and print alphabet flip chart are available for you to download free-of-charge.

Check out this cool video about Tar Heel Reader.  It was created by a colleague and friend in Europe, Paul Andres.

The familiar texts used in the DLM alternate assessment are being shared using  Tar Heel Reader (http://tarheelreader.org).  This is a very large library of open-source, accessible, texts for individuals with disabilities of all ages.  Tar Heel Reader was started as a way to address the extreme shortage of easy-to-read books on topics that appeal to older students. Books are contributed to the site by teachers, students, parents, and others from around the world.   There are books on the site that are inappropriate for some audiences.  Reviewers do their best to make sure these books are marked with the CAUTION.  As a result, students should NOT be sent independently to the Tar Heel Reader site.  They should be sent to collections or sets of favorites that teachers create using the tools built into the site.  Teachers can avoid books that they might find offensive by limiting their search to books that are “Reviewed Only” and “Rated E/Everybody.”

Links to the books that are the familiar texts used in the DLM Assessment are provided on this site.  They are available as individual books for teachers to download or read using Powerpoint, and they are available as collections by grade level.

We encourage you to use other books or write your own books on Tar Heel Reader, but remember that it is a library that teachers visit to select books for students – and that students visit when particular collections of books have been identified.