students with learning disabilities homework

Five Homework Strategies for Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities

Many students with learning or reading disabilities find homework challenging. Here are five research-based strategies that teachers can use to help students.

On this page:

Strategy 1. give clear and appropriate assignments, strategy 2. make homework accommodations, strategy 3. teach study skills, strategy 4. use a homework calendar, strategy 5. ensure clear home/school communication.

Homework is one aspect of the general education curriculum that has been widely recognized as important to academic success. Teachers have long used homework to provide additional learning time, strengthen study and organizational skills, and in some respects, keep parents informed of their children’s progress.

Generally, when students with disabilities participate in the general education curriculum, they are expected to complete homework along with their peers. But, just as students with disabilities may need instructional accommodations in the classroom, they may also need homework accommodations.

Many students with disabilities find homework challenging, and teachers are frequently called upon to make accommodations for these students. What research supports this practice? This article describes five strategies that researchers have identified that help students with disabilities get the most from their homework. They include:

• Give clear and appropriate assignments
• Make homework accommodations
• Teach study skills
• Use a homework calendar
• Ensure clear home/school communication

Teachers need to take special care when assigning homework. If the homework assignment is too hard, is perceived as busy work, or takes too long to complete, students might tune out and resist doing it. Never send home any assignment that students cannot do. Homework should be an extension of what students have learned in class. To ensure that homework is clear and appropriate, consider the following tips from teachers for assigning homework:

• Make sure students and parents have information regarding the policy on missed and late assignments, extra credit, and available adaptations
• Establish a set homework routine at the beginning of the year
• Assign work that the students can do
• Assign homework in small units
• Explain the assignment clearly
• Write the assignment on the chalkboard and leave it there until the assignment is due
• Remind students of due dates periodically
• Coordinate with other teachers to prevent homework overload

Students concur with these tips. They add that teachers can:

• Establish a routine at the beginning of the year for how homework will be assigned
• Assign homework toward the beginning of class
• Relate homework to classwork or real life (and/or inform students how they will use the content of the homework in real life)
• Explain how to do the homework, provide examples and write directions on the chalkboard
• Have students begin the homework in class, check that they understand, and provide assistance as necessary
• Allow students to work together on homework

Make any necessary modifications to the homework assignment before sending it home. Identify practices that will be most helpful to individual students and have the potential to increase their involvement, understanding, and motivation to learn. The most common homework accommodations are to:

• Provide additional one-on-one assistance to students
• Monitor students’ homework more closely
• Allow alternative response formats (e.g., allow the student to audiotape an assignment rather than handwriting it)
• Adjust the length of the assignment
• Provide a peer tutor or assign the student to a study group
• Provide learning tools (e.g., calculators)
• Adjust evaluation standards
• Give fewer assignments

It is important to check out all accommodations with other teachers, students, and their families. If teachers, students, or families do not find homework accommodations palatable, they may not use them.

Both general and special education teachers consistently report that homework problems seem to be exacerbated by deficient basic study skills. Many students, particularly students with disabilities, need instruction in study and organizational skills. Here is a list of organizational strategies basic to homework:

• Identify a location for doing homework that is free of distractions
• Have all materials available and organized
• Allocate enough time to complete activities and keep on schedule
• Take good notes
• Develop a sequential plan for completing multi-task assignments
• Check assignments for accuracy and completion before turning them in
• Know how to get help when it is needed
• Turn in completed homework on time

Teachers can enhance homework completion and accuracy by providing classroom instruction in organizational skills. They should talk with parents about how to support the application of organizational skills at home.

Students with disabilities often need additional organizational support. Just as adults use calendars, schedulers, lists, and other devices to self-monitor activities, students can benefit from these tools as well. Students with disabilities can monitor their own homework using a planning calendar to keep track of homework assignments. Homework planners also can double as home-school communication tools if they include a space next to each assignment for messages from teachers and parents.

Here’s how one teacher used a homework planner to increase communication with students’ families and improve homework completion rates:

Students developed their own homework calendars. Each page in the calendar reflected one week. There was a space for students to write their homework assignments and a column for parent-teacher notes. The cover was a heavy card stock that children decorated. Students were expected to take their homework planners home each day and return them the next day to class.

In conjunction with the homework planner, students graphed their homework return and completion rates. Another strategy that is linked to homework completion and improved performance on classroom assessments. The teacher built a reward system for returning homework and the planners. On a self-monitoring chart in their planner, students recorded each time they completed and returned their homework assignment by:

• Coloring the square for the day green if homework was completed and returned
• Coloring the square for the day red if homework was not done
• Coloring one-half of the square yellow and one-half of the square red if homework was late

If students met the success criterion, they received a reward at the end of the week, such as 15 extra minutes of recess. The teacher found that more frequent rewards were needed for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities.

Homework accounts for one-fifth of the time that successful students invest in academic tasks, yet students complete homework in environments over which teachers have no control. Given the fact that many students experience learning difficulties, this creates a major dilemma. Teachers and parents of students with disabilities must communicate clearly and effectively with one another about homework policies, required practices, mutual expectations, student performance on homework, homework completion difficulties, and other homework-related concerns.

Recommended ways that teachers can improve communications with parents include:

• Encouraging students to keep assignment books
• Providing a list of suggestions on how parents might assist with homework. For example, ask parents to check with their children about homework daily
• Providing parents with frequent written communication about homework (e.g., progress reports, notes, letters, forms)
• Sharing information with other teachers regarding student strengths and needs and necessary accommodations

Ways that administrators can support teachers in improving communications include:

• Supplying teachers with the technology needed to aid communication (e.g., telephone answering systems, e-mail, homework hotlines)
• Providing incentives for teachers to participate in face-to-face meetings with parents (e.g., release time, compensation)
• Suggesting that the school district offer after school and/or peer tutoring sessions to give students extra help with homework

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Bryan, T., Nelson, C., & Mathur, S. (1995). Homework: A survey of primary students in regular, resource, and self-contained special education classrooms. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 10(2), 85-90.

Bryan, T., & Sullivan-Burstein, K. (1997). Homework how-to's. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 29(6), 32-37.

Epstein, M., Munk, D., Bursuck, W., Polloway, E., & Jayanthi, M. (1999). Strategies for improving home-school communication about homework for students with disabilities. The Journal of Special Education, 33(3), 166-176.

Jayanthi, M., Bursuck, W., Epstein, M., & Polloway, E. (1997). Strategies for successful homework. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 30(1), 4-7.

Jayanthi, M., Sawyer, V., Nelson, J., Bursuck, W., & Epstein, M. (1995). Recommendations for homework-communication problems: From parents, classroom teachers, and special education teachers. Remedial and Special Education, 16(4), 212-225.

Klinger, J., & Vaughn, S. (1999). Students' perceptions of instruction in inclusion classrooms: Implications for students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 66(1), 23-37.

Polloway, E., Bursuck, W., Jayanthi, M., Epstein, M., & Nelson, J. (1996). Treatment acceptability: Determining appropriate interventions within inclusive classrooms. Intervention In School and Clinic, 31(3), 133-144.

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Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders: a practical, parent-based approach.

Research output : Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

This article provides a limited review of the effects of homework on students with disabilities, the essentials of effective homework programs, and variables that affect home-school partnerships. The emphasis is on students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders who are at risk for academic failure and poor school adjustment. The authors introduce the University of Utah Homework Partners series, which highlights three homework packages: a cooperative learning teams-based approach for classrooms, a package to train parents to be positive academic tutors for their children, and a systematic program to train parents in effective homework practices. The latter package is the major focus of this article because it emphasizes home-school partnerships for students with disabilities. Sanity Savers for Parents: Tips for Tackling Homework is a training program that teaches parents how to assess, design, and troubleshoot an effective in-home homework program for their child. The overall emphasis of this program is on practical interventions that are positive and motivating and include a home-to-school link to maximize the generalization of effects for students with learning and behavior disabilities.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

• Health(social science)
• General Health Professions

Access to Document

• 10.1177/002221949402700901

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• Link to publication in Scopus
• Link to the citations in Scopus

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• behavior disorder Social Sciences 100%
• Learning Disabilities Medicine & Life Sciences 93%
• learning behavior Social Sciences 86%
• homework Social Sciences 79%
• learning disability Social Sciences 71%
• Mental Disorders Medicine & Life Sciences 61%
• Parents Medicine & Life Sciences 56%
• Students Medicine & Life Sciences 53%

T1 - Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders

T2 - a practical, parent-based approach.

AU - Jenson, W. R.

AU - Sheridan, S. M.

AU - Olympia, D.

AU - Andrews, D.

N1 - Copyright: This record is sourced from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

PY - 1994/11

Y1 - 1994/11

N2 - This article provides a limited review of the effects of homework on students with disabilities, the essentials of effective homework programs, and variables that affect home-school partnerships. The emphasis is on students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders who are at risk for academic failure and poor school adjustment. The authors introduce the University of Utah Homework Partners series, which highlights three homework packages: a cooperative learning teams-based approach for classrooms, a package to train parents to be positive academic tutors for their children, and a systematic program to train parents in effective homework practices. The latter package is the major focus of this article because it emphasizes home-school partnerships for students with disabilities. Sanity Savers for Parents: Tips for Tackling Homework is a training program that teaches parents how to assess, design, and troubleshoot an effective in-home homework program for their child. The overall emphasis of this program is on practical interventions that are positive and motivating and include a home-to-school link to maximize the generalization of effects for students with learning and behavior disabilities.

AB - This article provides a limited review of the effects of homework on students with disabilities, the essentials of effective homework programs, and variables that affect home-school partnerships. The emphasis is on students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders who are at risk for academic failure and poor school adjustment. The authors introduce the University of Utah Homework Partners series, which highlights three homework packages: a cooperative learning teams-based approach for classrooms, a package to train parents to be positive academic tutors for their children, and a systematic program to train parents in effective homework practices. The latter package is the major focus of this article because it emphasizes home-school partnerships for students with disabilities. Sanity Savers for Parents: Tips for Tackling Homework is a training program that teaches parents how to assess, design, and troubleshoot an effective in-home homework program for their child. The overall emphasis of this program is on practical interventions that are positive and motivating and include a home-to-school link to maximize the generalization of effects for students with learning and behavior disabilities.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0028545418&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0028545418&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/002221949402700901

DO - 10.1177/002221949402700901

M3 - Review article

C2 - 7806956

AN - SCOPUS:0028545418

SN - 0022-2194

JO - Journal of Learning Disabilities

JF - Journal of Learning Disabilities

It’s Time to Rethink Homework for Students With Disabilities

Editor's Note

If you’re looking for creative inspiration, check out the Daily Inspirations group on The Mighty.

I’m just going to say it: Homework is a thorn in the side of most parents raising children with disabilities. In case you haven’t experienced it, let me explain:

Other relevant stories: • What Does Meth Do to Someone Who Has ADHD? • Difference Between ADHD and Autism • ADHD Iceberg • What is ADHD?

You wake up in the morning ready to implement your well-crafted morning routine that includes the most efficient way to get your child clothed, fed, packed up, and in the car with the fewest moments of frustration, tears and conflict with siblings. Because school is hard for your child, making it through the morning routine and into the school building is your child’s first triumph of the day. During that school day, your child is faced with challenging tasks. There will be spoken language to process , pencils to grip, a body to keep still, transitions to initiate, social interactions to understand, and non-preferred academic work to complete.

Your child will probably be exhausted when they get to you at pick-up. This is understandable. They have just “left it all on the field” in the classroom. They need time to recover, to engage in preferred play, and to rest and reconnect with you. But before they can rest, some days your child will have a therapy appointment to work on emotional regulation, language skills, motor skills, or sensory needs.

What happens when they get home? There is more to do. There is homework. Your child does not yet work independently so you are now their teacher, except you don’t have a degree in special education. Not only are you trying to help your exhausted child, you are also trying to cook dinner, pick up a sibling from dance, and return a work call because you left work early to be home with your child after school. You are exhausted, too. Does this sound familiar?

So, why are we giving homework to our students with disabilities? There are many costs, but are there any benefits? I think there can be — if we first determine a student’s readiness for homework and we then plan to support them. Here’s how.

The Need for Play

Some schools in America have begun doing away with assigning homework before fifth grade due to the developmental need for play and movement. Elementary-aged children are still learning through play and need time for unstructured play or structured arts, music, or sports time after school. A school day’s-worth of academic learning is enough at this age and young children need time outside to move their bodies, free time to recover from the demands placed on them, and quiet time to be alone with their thoughts or to connect with their family.

Prior to being developmentally ready for independent work, I believe the only homework that should be assigned is nightly reading with a parent, adult family member, or older sibling. Reading with someone builds connection, imagination, and social comprehension skills that create feelings of security and confidence, which both lead to a love of learning.

Why Children With Disabilities May Not Be Homework-Ready Alongside Their Same-Age Peers

For children with anxiety surrounding academic work due to a learning disability, attention difficulties, or sensory overload, they are often exhausted from the school day. A child’s optimal time for focusing and learning may not be 4:00-6:00 pm, much less 7:00-9:00 pm. If a child is fighting or refusing to do homework, there is a reason. As parents and educators, we must pay attention to these patterns of emotional distress, figure out the cost and benefit of homework, and collaborate with teachers on a plan for the most supportive learning experience, either in the classroom or at home.

When Are Students Ready for Homework? Focus First on Executive Functioning Skills

The benefit of homework is in the extra practice that leads to the mastery of a concept, either academic or organizational, and higher confidence of that skill when the student returns to school the following day. While the benefit of homework in the elementary years is often to master reading, writing, and math skills, homework for fifth graders and beyond should focus on executive functioning. In order to complete homework independently, students must have solid executive functioning skills .

Our executive functioning encompasses our planning, organizing, initiating, attending, shifting focus, and execution of tasks. We need these skills to turn our ideas into plans and our plans into actions. Our executive functioning, located in the frontal lobe of our brain, does not fully develop until our mid-20s . When we assign homework to pre-teens and teenagers without also teaching them how to organize and execute the work, we are doing them a huge disservice.

A Warning About Middle School

Most children shift from needing a parent to sit down with them to complete homework to completing it on their own sometime between third and fifth grades. However, children with learning disabilities , ADHD , anxiety , and/or autism spectrum disorders may not be able to work independently for several more years, which can lead into their middle school years.

When the load of middle school homework increases before a child’s ability to work independently, we are met with frustration from the child and their parents. Many parents have found it helpful to ask your child’s IEP team for modified homework where teachers can assign the amount of homework they know the student is capable of completing independently. More challenging tasks that could help the student grow, such as long-term projects and reports, can be assigned with the student’s need for support in mind, such as shorter deadlines on smaller portions of a project to teach time management.

Teach a Work/Life Balance

After graduate school, I remember the relief I felt when I didn’t have homework anymore. Now, I go out of my way to plan healthy boundaries in my own life so I don’t bring work home. Shouldn’t we be teaching children how to have healthy boundaries around work and play? Shouldn’t we be teaching them how to balance work completion and time with family and friends? All children would benefit from these lessons; however, our differently-wired children are our most vulnerable to this work/life balance and their discomfort is demanding we change the system for them.

When homework is assigned in the same way for everyone, we ignore the fact that each student has a different amount of gas in their tank. Some have fuel for homework at the end of the day and some just do not. When we ask students to keep working after school when their tank is on empty, we likely damage their love of learning and fill them with dread for tomorrow.

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Dr. Emily King is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina. She received her Ph.D. in School Psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill and previously provided school-based mental health services in Houston, Texas. Dr. King has worked with children and families for over 15 years and specializes in Autism, ADHD, and anxiety. She is also the mother of two energetic boys who are her best teachers. Follow Dr. King's blog "Parenting...on your own path" at www.dremilyking.com/blog or on Facebook @dremilyking and Twitter @emilywkingphd.

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How to Help Students with Learning Disabilities Focus on Their Strengths

I sat across the table from Dawn, a wide-eyed eight-year-old girl in pigtails, bracing myself to tell her the news. 

I have told students they have a learning disability hundreds of times over my 20 years as a school psychologist. But there was something about her earnest and expectant face that made me pause.

Was giving her an official label going to make her feel stigmatized and defeated? 

Would the benefits of having access to more specialized services outweigh the cost to her academic self-esteem?

I carefully explained how her brain worked with a visual aid of her brain in pictures. I told her where she was strong and where she needed to do “brain pushups” to get stronger. And I told her that she had something called “dyslexia.”

And she jumped out of her chair, smiled ear to ear, screamed “YES!,” and did a move I’ve seen in sports celebrations many times—the signature victory arm pump. 

Wait, what? 

As it turns out, I had also tested her brother a few years before, and he had dyslexia, too. He had told her that knowing he had dyslexia made him not feel stupid, and that it really helped his teachers understand how his brain worked differently. Dawn told me, “So this means I’m not dumb!”

According to labeling theory , when you label a student with a learning disability, this creates a problem—they hold lower expectations for themselves and others hold lower expectations of them. In turn, the student may live up to these low expectations. However, the research supporting this claim is controversial. Although students with learning disabilities do tend to struggle with lower achievement and hold negative beliefs about their academic abilities , some researchers point out that it is difficult to disentangle what is causing these challenges. It gets murky—would Dawn be behind her classmates in reading because she has dyslexia, because she doesn’t have access to high-quality support programs, or because her teachers and parents now hold lower expectations for her?

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A six-day workshop to transform teachers' understanding of themselves and their students

We don’t really know. But the reality is that, in our public schools, access to special services sometimes depends upon having a diagnosis or label—and it’s possible that the way we treat students with these labels is holding them back. Here are several research-backed tips for educators and parents to reduce the negative effects of labels and the stigma around them. 

1. Don’t focus on the labels

Language is powerful. Even a subtle shift in language can influence how students see themselves and how stigmatized they feel. A 2018 article by researcher Mark Weist and his colleagues offers a number of suggestions for reducing the stigma of labels:

• When a label is required, describe to the student why labels are used. For example, “Labels help us understand why reading is hard for you and what the research says about how to help. Labels can also give you more specific help that you might not be able to get without the label. But we are all going to focus on what we are going to do to help, not what we call it.”
• Use person-centered language. Instead of referring to a student as a “dyslexic student,” refer to them as “a student with dyslexia.” 
• When possible, especially with younger students, use less stigmatizing language in describing their challenges (e.g., “learning differences” versus “learning disorder” or “severe dyslexia”).

By using this language, we’re trying to prevent students from overidentifying with their challenges and weaknesses.

2. Focus on the “sea of strengths” around the “islands of weakness” 

What if you were defined only by your greatest weakness? Focusing on strengths isn’t just a nice thing to do; it’s essential for students with learning disabilities (and all students) to feel good about themselves as learners.

Get Support

Did you know that every public school has access to the services of a school psychologist, who can provide support for students with learning challenges? School psychologists are uniquely qualified members of school teams who support students’ ability to learn and teachers’ ability to teach. They can be reached by inquiring directly at the school or the district’s central office, or locating contact information on the school or district website.

Renowned dyslexia expert Sally Shaywitz of the The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity coined this phrase: “Dyslexia is an island of weakness surrounded by a sea of strengths.” When students see their weaknesses as “islands,” their challenges become more specific and manageable (e.g., “I need help figuring out long words”) rather than global and difficult to tackle (e.g., “I am not good at reading”).

Using specific language can also foster a “growth mindset” more conducive to learning. Rather than thinking, “I don’t have a math brain because I have dyscalculia,” students might say, “I need to do brain pushups in math.” The same goes for adults when we talk about students; instead of saying, “He has a major reading and learning deficit,” we can make it more specific and manageable by saying, “He has areas of strength and weakness in learning to read that we can address through phonics instruction.” 

Research is also emerging on the sea of “hidden strengths” of students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities:

• Strong visual-spatial thinking and skill in figuring out patterns
• The ability to make unique associations between concepts
• Strengths in seeing the “big picture” and creative problem solving

As educators and parents, we can highlight these strengths with students like Dawn (who, incidentally, scored off the charts on tests of visual logic puzzles). Indeed, all students would profit from having a spotlight on their unique talents and skills and not just on their core weaknesses.

“Often times we focus on the difficulties, but they have these incredible superpowers,” says psychologist Tracy Alloway, whose new children’s book series turns children’s learning disabilities into superpowers. Bringing those “superpowers” to the front of the discussion is a tool for empowering those with learning disabilities and helping other children appreciate their classmates’ unique talents, as well.

3. Foster self-awareness and self-advocacy skills

Not only can we focus on the extraordinary strengths these students already have, but we can also help them cultivate other strengths they’ll need to be successful.

Being diagnosed with a learning disability does not have to resign students to a life of struggle, frustration, and poor achievement. In a 30-year study by the Frostig Center , students with learning disabilities did better in their academic and personal lives if they had these six skills and resources:


• Self-awareness: Recognizing their unique talents and accepting their challenges.
• Proactivity: Believing in the power to make changes, taking responsibility for their actions, making decisions and acting upon them. 
• Perseverance: Learning from hardships and not giving up when tasks get hard.
• Goal setting: Making realistic and attainable goals, taking into account strengths and areas of need.
• Support systems: Identifying people who can provide support and actively seeking out support.
• Emotional coping strategies: Recognizing stress triggers for learning difficulties and developing effective means of coping with them.

As parents and educators, we would be well-served to focus on cultivating these social-emotional and behavioral skills so that students with learning disabilities can emerge from their educational experience with success in school and life.

Several researchers offer practical ways to support these resilience skills, using brain-based research. In their book The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child , psychotherapists Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson share how parents and educators can help students strengthen their sense of balance, resilience, insight, and empathy. This “balanced brain” helps students with different learning profiles think more flexibly, be more willing to take chances and make mistakes, and manage adversity and big feelings. All of these traits are essential for learners, especially those who have additional frustration due to the challenges of their learning differences. 

Tapping into our students’ potential

At home and in the classroom, educators and parents can easily get tripped up on the language to use with students with learning disabilities. Having a strength-based lens and a few scripts ready can make a big difference in how the students we interact with see themselves as learners.  

We could all take a lesson from my student, Dawn, on positive mindset. When I later shared Dawn’s reaction to being diagnosed with dyslexia with her mother, we both teared up a little. Dawn gave me hope that as educators and parents, we can cultivate that resilience and strength in all the students who come to us with diverse learning needs.

About the Author

Rebecca Branstetter

Rebecca Branstetter, Ph.D. , is a school psychologist, speaker, and author on a mission to help children be the best they can be in school and in life by supporting school psychologists, educators, and parents. She is the co-creator of the “Make It Stick Parenting” course, which provides parents tools to build their child’s social-emotional learning, and creator of the “Peace of Mind Parenting” course. She is also the founder of The Thriving School Psychologist Collective, an online community dedicated to improving mental health and learning supports in public schools. Learn more at  www.thrivingschoolpsych.com .

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Homework and students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders: a practical, parent-based approach

Affiliation.

• 1 Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 84112.
• PMID: 7806956
• DOI: 10.1177/002221949402700901

This article provides a limited review of the effects of homework on students with disabilities, the essentials of effective homework programs, and variables that affect home-school partnerships. The emphasis is on students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders who are at risk for academic failure and poor school adjustment. The authors introduce the University of Utah Homework Partners series, which highlights three homework packages: a cooperative learning teams-based approach for classrooms, a package to train parents to be positive academic tutors for their children, and a systematic program to train parents in effective homework practices. The latter package is the major focus of this article because it emphasizes home-school partnerships for students with disabilities. Sanity Savers for Parents: Tips for Tackling Homework is a training program that teaches parents how to assess, design, and troubleshoot an effective in-home homework program for their child. The overall emphasis of this program is on practical interventions that are positive and motivating and include a home-to-school link to maximize the generalization of effects for students with learning and behavior disabilities.

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‘A Unique Challenge’: What English Learners With Disabilities Need

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Students with disabilities face a gamut of challenges when it comes to accessing high-quality K-12 education, including a shortage of specialized teachers. The nation’s growing English-learner population faces outsized needs as their English-language proficiency scores remain lower than pre-COVID-19-pandemic averages , and immigrant English learners in particular require more trauma-informed instruction.

English learners who also have disabilities face their own intersectional issues, researchers and advocates say. They range from schools locking students out of dual-language programs in favor of English-only special education programs, language barriers between schools and families, and teachers ill-equipped to serve their students’ needs.

“It’s a complex issue. If it was easy, we would have probably figured out a better way forward by now,” said Sarah Salinas, an assistant professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato’s department of special education. “[This group] includes students that are at the intersection potentially of cultural differences, linguistic differences, and disability differences.”

According to federal data from the school year 2020-21 , nearly 14 percent of all students ages 5 through 21 enrolled in public schools were served under IDEA Part B. Of those students, 11.7 percent were English learners.

As this dual-identified population continues to grow, researchers and advocates offer some potential systemic solutions to many of the prevailing challenges these students and their families face.

A lack of access to bilingual education

One of the top concerns researchers and parents alike shared in interviews with Education Week when it comes to English learners with disabilities is a lack of access to bilingual education or dual-language programs.

Parents are encouraged to speak only English with dual-identified students, in part because of a flawed assumption that bilingualism will confuse them or hinder their academic progress or language progress, said Nikkia Borowski, a Ph.D. candidate in inclusive education at Syracuse University who studies access to bilingualism among such students.

She added that there is also the idea that dual-language programs are enrichment programs designed for academically gifted students, locking dual-identified students out in the process.

This preference for English-only instruction for English learners with disabilities plays out in smaller contexts as well, such as speech-generating devices students use that are programmed only in English.

“As a result, the students are missing access to a bilingual identity and missing access to really important cultural aspects as well,” Borowski said.

There is also the matter of how federal policy works for these dual-identified students.

Both the Equal Education Act of 1968 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act apply to this student population.

The IDEA, in its 2004 reauthorization, defines a least restrictive environment as the premise of providing services to a student with the greatest access to the general education curriculum, without any explicit mention of what these services look like for multilingual students, Salinas said. The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 focuses on language access for students whose first language is not English without explicit mention of education access for students with disabilities.

So while dual-identified students stand at the intersection of distinct federal policies and laws, the policies and laws are not intersectional themselves.

And even though an English-learner tool kit from the U.S. Department of Education’s office of English-language acquisition reminds educators that a student’s English learner and disability-related educational needs must be met, what ultimately ends up happening is special education and IDEA are consistently prioritized over bilingual education services, Salinas said.

Policymakers have talked about reauthorizing IDEA with more explicit mentions of the needs of dual-identified students, though such a move remains hypothetical, Salinas added.

But even before policies and practices can better align to the linguistic, cultural, and disability-related needs of students, another challenge is at play that presents a quicker potential solution.

The need to reassess communication between schools and families

Navigating IDEA and individual education programs, or IEPs, can already be a daunting task for families. Doing so while English is not the family’s home language is all the more complicated.

Under IDEA, districts must ensure that a student’s parents understand the proceedings of the IEP team meeting, including taking steps such as providing a translator.

In an April survey by the EdWeek Research Center, 65 percent of participating district and school leaders said they offered translation services for special education programming for students whose first language is not English. 37 percent said they did so for all relevant languages spoken by students and families.

Meanwhile, 6 percent of leaders said they do not offer such a service although they have special education students with that need.

Even when considering that 37 percent said their school or districts covered all relevant languages in translation needs, there’s a question of whether the translators involved were trained professionals who understand things like IEPs, or if Spanish-language teachers and bilingual receptionists were called in instead, said Christy Moreno, the chief community advocacy and impact officer of the Missouri-based family-advocacy group Revolucion Educativa.

Moreno, a trained interpreter and translator herself, said offering translation services is the minimum schools and districts must offer families. High-quality translation is key to ensuring families are fully informed of their rights, she added.

“I’ve seen IEPs that are done by Google Translate,” Moreno said.

In addition to investing in proper translation and interpretation, Moreno said educators need to proactively ensure that parents understand how to ask questions about their children’s education. That includes taking into account cultural barriers at play such as stigma within the Latino community over the experiences of students in special education.

Lizdelia Piñón, an emergent bilingual education associate for the Texas-based advocacy nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association, or IDRA, knows all too well how important it is for families to advocate for their children. Her Spanish-speaking 11-year-old triplets require several accommodations for their autism, cerebral palsy, ADHD, and more.

On several occasions, Piñón said she had to file formal complaints against her local school district to ensure her children’s linguistic and special education needs were met—including pushing back against an attempt to reduce the time her triplets spent with their special education teacher.

However, one systemic issue she sees is a lack of proper training among educators on how to best work with dual-identified students.

The need for better teacher preparation

Piñón worked as a bilingual teacher for about 10 years. She knows that existing bilingual teachers can get their certification in special education as well. But there is a gap of information in both programs, she said, leaving teachers without full context on how to best work with dual-identified students.

“I think that educating English learners with disabilities is a unique challenge for our teachers,” Piñón said.

Overall, there aren’t many teacher-preparation programs that train teachers on what to do in bilingual special education classrooms, said Salinas of Minnesota State University.

Recognizing that knowledge gap, Piñón worked on legislation signed into law in 2021 in Texas to create a bilingual special education certification. However, approval of the new certificate program remains stalled within the state board of education.

Yet, a temporary solution to such knowledge gaps in teacher preparation lies in strategic collaboration among educators, Salinas said.

Such work isn’t always possible between special education and bilingual education teachers on account of tight school schedules and other barriers, she added.

Still, it’s a strategy researchers focusing on English learners say can mitigate not only a lack of bilingual and special education teachers but also address how little training general education teachers have when it comes to working with English learners and special education students overall.

Coverage of students with learning differences and issues of race, opportunity, and equity is supported in part by a grant from the Oak Foundation, at www.oakfnd.org . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage. A version of this article appeared in the May 22, 2024 edition of Education Week as ‘A Unique Challenge’: What English Learners With Disabilities Need

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New advances in technology are upending education, from the recent debut of new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT to the growing accessibility of virtual-reality tools that expand the boundaries of the classroom. For educators, at the heart of it all is the hope that every learner gets an equal chance to develop the skills they need to succeed. But that promise is not without its pitfalls.

“Technology is a game-changer for education – it offers the prospect of universal access to high-quality learning experiences, and it creates fundamentally new ways of teaching,” said Dan Schwartz, dean of Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE), who is also a professor of educational technology at the GSE and faculty director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning . “But there are a lot of ways we teach that aren’t great, and a big fear with AI in particular is that we just get more efficient at teaching badly. This is a moment to pay attention, to do things differently.”

For K-12 schools, this year also marks the end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding program, which has provided pandemic recovery funds that many districts used to invest in educational software and systems. With these funds running out in September 2024, schools are trying to determine their best use of technology as they face the prospect of diminishing resources.

Here, Schwartz and other Stanford education scholars weigh in on some of the technology trends taking center stage in the classroom this year.

AI in the classroom

In 2023, the big story in technology and education was generative AI, following the introduction of ChatGPT and other chatbots that produce text seemingly written by a human in response to a question or prompt. Educators immediately worried that students would use the chatbot to cheat by trying to pass its writing off as their own. As schools move to adopt policies around students’ use of the tool, many are also beginning to explore potential opportunities – for example, to generate reading assignments or coach students during the writing process.

AI can also help automate tasks like grading and lesson planning, freeing teachers to do the human work that drew them into the profession in the first place, said Victor Lee, an associate professor at the GSE and faculty lead for the AI + Education initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning. “I’m heartened to see some movement toward creating AI tools that make teachers’ lives better – not to replace them, but to give them the time to do the work that only teachers are able to do,” he said. “I hope to see more on that front.”

He also emphasized the need to teach students now to begin questioning and critiquing the development and use of AI. “AI is not going away,” said Lee, who is also director of CRAFT (Classroom-Ready Resources about AI for Teaching), which provides free resources to help teach AI literacy to high school students across subject areas. “We need to teach students how to understand and think critically about this technology.”

Immersive environments

The use of immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality is also expected to surge in the classroom, especially as new high-profile devices integrating these realities hit the marketplace in 2024.

The educational possibilities now go beyond putting on a headset and experiencing life in a distant location. With new technologies, students can create their own local interactive 360-degree scenarios, using just a cell phone or inexpensive camera and simple online tools.

“This is an area that’s really going to explode over the next couple of years,” said Kristen Pilner Blair, director of research for the Digital Learning initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, which runs a program exploring the use of virtual field trips to promote learning. “Students can learn about the effects of climate change, say, by virtually experiencing the impact on a particular environment. But they can also become creators, documenting and sharing immersive media that shows the effects where they live.”

Integrating AI into virtual simulations could also soon take the experience to another level, Schwartz said. “If your VR experience brings me to a redwood tree, you could have a window pop up that allows me to ask questions about the tree, and AI can deliver the answers.”

Gamification

Another trend expected to intensify this year is the gamification of learning activities, often featuring dynamic videos with interactive elements to engage and hold students’ attention.

“Gamification is a good motivator, because one key aspect is reward, which is very powerful,” said Schwartz. The downside? Rewards are specific to the activity at hand, which may not extend to learning more generally. “If I get rewarded for doing math in a space-age video game, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be motivated to do math anywhere else.”

Gamification sometimes tries to make “chocolate-covered broccoli,” Schwartz said, by adding art and rewards to make speeded response tasks involving single-answer, factual questions more fun. He hopes to see more creative play patterns that give students points for rethinking an approach or adapting their strategy, rather than only rewarding them for quickly producing a correct response.

Data-gathering and analysis

The growing use of technology in schools is producing massive amounts of data on students’ activities in the classroom and online. “We’re now able to capture moment-to-moment data, every keystroke a kid makes,” said Schwartz – data that can reveal areas of struggle and different learning opportunities, from solving a math problem to approaching a writing assignment.

But outside of research settings, he said, that type of granular data – now owned by tech companies – is more likely used to refine the design of the software than to provide teachers with actionable information.

The promise of personalized learning is being able to generate content aligned with students’ interests and skill levels, and making lessons more accessible for multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Realizing that promise requires that educators can make sense of the data that’s being collected, said Schwartz – and while advances in AI are making it easier to identify patterns and findings, the data also needs to be in a system and form educators can access and analyze for decision-making. Developing a usable infrastructure for that data, Schwartz said, is an important next step.

With the accumulation of student data comes privacy concerns: How is the data being collected? Are there regulations or guidelines around its use in decision-making? What steps are being taken to prevent unauthorized access? In 2023 K-12 schools experienced a rise in cyberattacks, underscoring the need to implement strong systems to safeguard student data.

Technology is “requiring people to check their assumptions about education,” said Schwartz, noting that AI in particular is very efficient at replicating biases and automating the way things have been done in the past, including poor models of instruction. “But it’s also opening up new possibilities for students producing material, and for being able to identify children who are not average so we can customize toward them. It’s an opportunity to think of entirely new ways of teaching – this is the path I hope to see.”

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