D758 introduces special education teachers to a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies.
WGU's guidebook lists its focus areas: intensifying and individualizing interventions, making decisions from progress-monitoring data, collaborating with general education teachers and paraprofessionals, teaching to mastery, promoting generalization, and teaching students cognitive strategies such as self-assessment and problem solving.
The difficulty is specificity. It is easy to write that a teacher will use modeling and feedback. It is harder to say what the teacher will model, how many prompts a student needs, and when to fade support. This course rewards that precision.
Course at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| University | Western Governors University |
| Code | D758 (confirm on your degree plan) |
| Level | Undergraduate teacher preparation |
| Size | 3 competency units |
| Learners | Students with mild to moderate exceptionalities |
What D758 Covers
| Competency (WGU wording, summarized) | In practice |
|---|---|
| Analyses how data is used to intensify strategies and interventions | Deciding when and how to change instruction after progress checks |
| Applies cognitive strategies supporting memory, attention, self-regulation, self-determination and independence | Teaching students how to learn, not just what to learn |
| Uses systematic instruction with prompting procedures | Planned sequences of modeling, guided practice and fading |
Key Concepts Explained
Intensifying Instruction
When data show too little progress, a teacher can adjust dose (more time), group size (smaller), explicitness (more modeling) or feedback (more frequent). Choose the change that matches the problem.
Example: A student's weekly fraction quiz scores stay flat for three weeks in a group of eight. The next step might be a group of three, daily 15-minute sessions, concrete models first and immediate corrective feedback, with scores checked again in two weeks.
Prompting and Fading
Prompts help a student succeed; they must also be reduced so the student becomes independent. A typical hierarchy moves from full model to partial prompt to a simple cue to none.
Example: Teaching a student to start a writing task: first model all steps, then give a checklist, then a single cue ("What is first?"), then no prompt, recording the level needed each day.
Cognitive Strategies
Self-monitoring checklists, mnemonic devices and think-alouds help students manage memory and attention. Teach the strategy explicitly and practice it before expecting independent use.
Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them
| Assignment type | What it tests | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| Data-based decision plan | Linking progress data to changes | State the data, the problem, the change and the next check |
| Strategy instruction plan | Systematic teaching | Sequence steps, prompts and fading explicitly |
| Collaboration description | Working with colleagues | Name roles of the general educator and paraprofessional |
A Competency-by-Competency Approach
- Data: practice reading a short progress graph and writing one decision sentence.
- Cognitive strategies: pick two and write exactly how you would teach each.
- Systematic instruction: draft a prompt hierarchy for one skill.
- Mastery and generalization: note how you would test the skill in a new setting.
A Worked Teaching Sequence
Systematic instruction is easiest to understand through one skill. Take adding fractions with unlike denominators for a student with mild learning needs.
| Phase | Teacher action | Student action | Prompt level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Thinks aloud while solving with fraction strips | Watches and answers questions | Full model |
| Guided | Solves a second problem with the student | Completes steps with help | Partial prompt |
| Independent with cue | Gives a checklist | Solves alone using the checklist | Written cue |
| Independent | Monitors and records accuracy | Solves without cues | None |
Progress data then decide whether the student moves on, repeats a phase or receives a more intensive version. That decision is the heart of the course.
Common Intensification Moves
When data show too little progress, teachers have several levers. Naming the lever you pull, and why, is what turns a general statement into an instructional decision.
| Lever | What changes | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Time | More minutes or sessions per week | The strategy works but the dose is low |
| Group size | Smaller group or one-to-one | The student needs more responses and feedback |
| Explicitness | More modeling and examples | Errors suggest misunderstanding |
| Feedback | Faster, more specific correction | Errors repeat |
| Materials | Concrete supports or simplified text | Access, not understanding, is the barrier |
Making the Plan Easy to Grade
Name the learner, the skill and the setting in the first lines. Then present the plan in the same order the competencies appear: data decisions, cognitive strategies, systematic instruction.
Use one heading for each and finish every section with a one-sentence statement of how you will know it worked. That final sentence is often the difference between describing a strategy and showing an instructional decision.
Where Students Get Stuck
- Naming strategies without detail. Describe the steps.
- Forgetting to fade. Independence is the goal.
- No data link. Every change needs a reason.
- Ignoring generalization. Plan practice across settings.
Study Tips for D758
- Use one skill across all competencies to keep examples consistent.
- Write a step-by-step lesson script of one minute.
- Keep terms such as mastery and generalization defined in your own words.
- Check the rubric before submitting.
How We Help with D758
Send the instructions, rubric and notes. We explain strategies, prepare custom plans or review your draft. Elementary applications follow in D759.
GradeEssays is independent of Western Governors University. Our work is a study and reference aid: use it to understand the method, then write and submit your own work under WGU's academic integrity policy.
Every order is written from scratch, plagiarism-checked, includes free revisions within the scope of your original request, and is refunded in full if it is late.
Strengthen Your D758 Plan
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Frequently Asked Questions
Evidence-based strategies for intensifying and individualizing instruction for students with exceptionalities, using progress data.
The dual licensure bachelor's guidebook lists 3. The master's counterpart, D766, is 2 units.
Planned teaching that sequences modeling, guided practice and prompting, with prompts faded over time.
A student using a skill in new settings, with new people and materials.
Those with mild to moderate exceptionalities, per the guidebook competencies.
No. We tutor, give custom plans and feedback. You submit your own work.