Instructional Resources

DLM Essential Elements Unpacking

Thanks to the leadership and generosity of Iowa and Emily Thatcher, the DLM Essential Elements are being unpacked by a team of educators in Iowa with the guidance of Claire Greer of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies.  Unpacking has been completed for ELA and Math.  

ELA Unpacking Documents

Mathematics Unpacking Documents

Texts Resources

Shared Reading

Teachers can use shared reading to help students learn to engage, interact, and make meaning from text. During shared reading, teachers read with students, pausing often enough to allow the student to take the lead and minimizing questions until the student is interacting and initiating their own comments or asking their own questions. To learn more about shared reading in DLM, complete the DLM module on Shared Reading and explore other modules and supports at https://sharedreader.org.

Shared Reading Vignettes

Are you having a hard time imagining what shared reading might look like using these books with your students with more complex needs? Here are some vignettes that describe what interactions between teachers and students with the most significant cognitive disabilities might look like. They are arranged by grade level because they link to specific books at each grade level, but read some at the grade levels above and below the levels you teach to get more examples.

3rd Grade Shared Reading Vignette My Father’s Dragon Unit – “Wild Island”

4th Grade Shared Reading Vignette The Birchbark House Unit – “Omakayas”

5th Grade  Shared Reading Vignette The Secret Garden – “Families”

7th Grade  Shared Reading Vignette Hatchett – “Moose”

9th-10th Grade Shared Reading Vignette The White Heron – “Making a Dress”

11th-12th Grade Shared Reading Vignette To Kill a Mockingbird – “Dad Loved the Farm”

Teaching Comprehension

There are three modules that will help you learn to use Anchor-Read-Apply to teach students to comprehend text through listening or reading.  Completing these modules will help you take advantage of the documents below that offer specific lesson ideas linked to each of the DLM Essential Elements in Reading Literature and Reading Information Text. The modules are:

Teaching Text Comprehension: Anchor-Read-Apply

Participants will learn to identify the components of an Anchor-Read-Apply text comprehension lesson, match purposes for reading with anchor activities, and describe the difference between asking question to assess comprehension and teaching students to understand text in increasingly complex ways. 

Generating Purposes for Reading

This module reviews the Anchor-Read-Apply framework for reading comprehension. Participants will learn how to generate purposes for reading using the DLM Essential Elements and review activities to help students activate background knowledge. 

DR-TA and Other Text Comprehension Approaches

Participants will briefly review the anchor-read-apply framework and will be introduced to the DR- TA, KWL, and Yes/No comprehension instructional strategies. 

Anchor-Read-Apply Lesson Supports Linked to DLM Essential Elements

3rd Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

4th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

5th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

6th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

7th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

8th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

9-10th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

11-12th Grade DLM Reading Purposes Anchor Read Apply

All Grade Levels Combined

Familiar Texts

The DLM Alternate Assessment supports students with the most complex disabilities by providing them with the texts they will encounter in the English Language Arts assessment before they encounter them in the assessment.  The FAMILIAR texts will be released as they are available.  In addition, when there are specific objects called out for the assessment, those are described.

The familiar texts for are available through the Educator Resource Page for your state.  If your state participates in the Year-End assessment only, the familiar texts are here:  Educator Resource Page YE.  If your state participates in the Instructionally Embedded Assessment windows, the familiar texts are here: Educator Resource Page IE.

Other Texts

One of the challenges in providing students with the most significant disabilities with access to the general curriculum is finding materials that link directly to the grade level content but are written at a level that is accessible.  As part of the DLM project we have been building a library of companion texts that align with the novels and other books that are generally taught as part of the general education curriculum across the grade levels. 

The books can be accessed at Monarch Reader and read online, on a reader that uses epub files, or offline as Powerpoint files or printed versions of the books.  Most of the books on the Monarch Reader site were written by teachers, students, parents, and others from all over the world. Some books are “Rated M/Mature,” and others may not be appropriate for your students or classroom. Teachers can avoid books that they might find offensive by limiting their search to books that are “Rated E/Everybody” while avoiding books “Rated M/Mature.”  You can find links to the library of “other books” at  https://dlmpd.com/exemplar-text-supports/

Communication Supports

Beginning Communicator Supports

Project Core offers comprehensive supports for communication instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies developed Project Core in response to needs identified through the DLM Alternate Assessments. At the Project Core site you will find: 
Downloadable communication displays
Professional development modules focused on beginning symbolic communication instruction
Teaching and Implementation Supports

More about the DLM Core Vocabulary

DLM Core Vocabulary Overview (PDF, 10 pages, 392 KB) This paper describes the value of using a core vocabulary for students who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), particularly when addressing the communication and academic demands of the DLM Essential Elements.  The paper also includes a detailed description of the selection and ranking process used to identify the 463 words included in the DLM Core Vocabulary.

DLM “First 40″ Core Vocabulary (PDF, 1 page, 281 KB) This table includes the DLM “First 40” recommended core vocabulary words for students and a description of how these words were selected.  The “First 40” core vocabulary words are particularly useful for students who need AAC systems with a limited set of words and symbols due to motor, sensory, and or cognitive challenges.

DLM Core Vocabulary-Resource (XLSX, 27 KB) DLM Core Vocabulary is a list of words that have been determined to be highly useful for communicating in both social and academic contexts. The words are listed in rank order of utility based on a variety of factors that are fully explained in the DLM Core Vocabulary Overview paper. This word list includes vocabulary that is necessary for the DLM Essential Elements. (This list is also available in PDF format.)Columns on the spreadsheet include the following:

  • Column A: Core vocabulary words
  • Column B: Priority score. A larger number indicates greater utility.
  • Column C: A score of 1 indicates that this word was included in the AAC core vocabulary research that we reviewed.
  • Column D: Initial DLM Essential Element for which the word is needed.
  • Column E-G: Additional Essential Elements for which the word is needed. These lists are not exhaustive.

Here are some examples of communication displays that present the top 40 DLM Core Vocabulary words. Each has 4 words per page on 10 pages. As described in the DLM Core Vocabulary and Communication Module, we suggest that you select the one that uses the symbols already used in your school. Print the pages in a size that meets the needs of your student(s). Then laminate and bind them together so that you can start modeling their use across activities throughout the day.
DLM First 40 with Boardmaker Picture Communication Symbols (PDF)
DLM First 40 with Widgit Symbols in Print to Communicate 2 (PDF)
DLM First 40 with N2Y Symbolstix (PDF)

3D Printer Tactile Symbols for Core Vocabulary

The Center for Literacy and Disability Studies has a different project that is focused on the use of core vocabulary to support symbolic communication development for students with significant cognitive disabilities.  Several of the students in the project have multiple disabilities including deafblindness.  They need tactile symbols and there are not existing tactile symbols that systematically represent core vocabulary. To address the need, we are developing tactile symbols that can be printed on a 3D printer. These are currently in development and are likely to change as we learn more, but we have decided to share them because we understand that the need is not limited to the students in our project.  Here is a picture of the symbols:

Top View Example 3D Symbols

 You’ll need access to a 3D printer that can print in multiple colors (we use multiple colors to take advantage of any residual vision the student may have), and you’ll need to use 3D design software to view and/or modify these files (we use http://tinkercad.com).  Each symbol has braille (on the top to support orientation and accommodate the fact that most of the students in our project can only manipulate the object with one hand); the label is stamped in print (to ensure that sighted communication partners call the symbol by the correct name); and a specific tactile representation of the word.  The colors and shapes are organized as follows: Green Square (prepositions) Red Triangle (verbs) Blue Heart (adjectives) Yellow Circle (adverbs/conjunctions) White Hexagon (pronouns) We will be adding to the symbols over time.  The symbols can be found here, at the Project Core website

Writing Resources

The DLM Alternate Assessment will assess writing for all students at all grade levels.  There are numerous professional development modules focused on writing instruction.  One of the modules focuses on Alternate Pencils that are required for students who cannot use a standard pencil, pen, keyboard, or computer-based technology for writing. Below are files required to create two of the most widely used alternate pencils.  They are intended to get you started, but you may have to develop other alternatives for your students.  

To learn more, complete the Online Alternate Pencils module.

Eye Gaze Frames

Flip Charts

Description of Alternate Pencils (on the CLDS Website)

Lesson Supports

Self-reflection and observations forms are intended to help educators reflect on their own teaching and engage meaningfully in conversations with others who observe their teaching.

English Language Arts

For most instruction aimed at students working at the Initial and Distal Precursor Linkage Levels:
Shared Reading Self-Reflection and Observation (PDF)
Emergent Writing Self-Reflection and Observation (PDF)

For most instruction aimed at students working at the Proximal Precursor and Target levels:
Reading Comprehension Self-Reflection and Observation (PDF)
Conventional Writing Self-Reflection and Observation (PDF)

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