ED5707 builds the instructional repertoire that special educators use to design and deliver effective learning experiences for students with diverse disabilities across academic and functional domains. The course emphasizes evidence-based practice — instructional strategies with research support demonstrating effectiveness for students with disabilities — and how to select, adapt, and implement those strategies in response to individual student data.
Accommodations vs. modifications
| Type | Definition | Effect on Content | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | Changes how a student accesses or demonstrates knowledge | Does NOT change the content or expectations | Extended time, text-to-speech, separate testing room, enlarged print |
| Modification | Changes what a student is expected to learn or demonstrate | DOES change content expectations or complexity | Reduced number of problems, below grade-level text, simplified objectives |
What ED5707 covers
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides the course's proactive design framework. UDL, developed at CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology), calls for curriculum to be designed from the outset with multiple means of representation (how information is presented), multiple means of action and expression (how students demonstrate learning), and multiple means of engagement (how students are motivated and supported). Rather than designing for the "average" student and retrofitting accommodations for students with disabilities, UDL designs for variability from the start — building in flexibility that benefits all learners including those with disabilities. ED5707 develops the skill of designing UDL-aligned lessons and units that reduce the need for individual accommodations by building access in at the design stage.
Explicit instruction is the instructional approach with the most robust research evidence for students with learning disabilities and other high-incidence disabilities. It involves teacher modeling ("I do"), guided practice ("we do"), and independent practice ("you do") — moving gradually from high support to independent performance, with frequent checking for understanding and corrective feedback throughout. ED5707 applies explicit instruction principles across content areas: teaching phonics and reading fluency, math computation and problem-solving strategies, written expression, and study skills. The course distinguishes explicit instruction from discovery learning or inquiry-based approaches, and examines the evidence for when each is most appropriate for students with disabilities.
Writing a UDL lesson design or evidence-based instruction paper?
Our education writers apply UDL principles and explicit instruction frameworks with the instructional specificity Capella's rubric requires.
Key topics you write about in ED5707
- Universal Design for Learning: three principles and their application to lesson and unit design
- Explicit instruction: modeling, guided practice, independent practice, corrective feedback
- Evidence-based practices: how to identify and evaluate research evidence for instructional strategies
- Accommodations and modifications: the distinction, when each is appropriate, how to implement
- Differentiated instruction: tiering content, process, and product in response to student readiness
- Assistive technology: tools that support access to curriculum for students with specific disabilities
- Co-teaching models: how special and general educators collaborate in inclusive settings
Common writing assignments
UDL-designed lesson plan
Students design a lesson incorporating all three UDL principles, specifying how each design choice increases access and reduces barriers for students with varying disabilities and learning needs.
Evidence-based practice analysis
Students research and evaluate the evidence base for a specific instructional strategy for students with a particular disability, summarizing the quality and consistency of research evidence and implications for practice.
The three UDL principles (CAST framework)
- Multiple means of representation: Present information in varied formats (text, audio, video, graphics) so students with different perceptual and language needs can access content
- Multiple means of action and expression: Offer varied ways for students to demonstrate learning (writing, speaking, drawing, technology) rather than a single mode
- Multiple means of engagement: Build in choice, relevance, and self-regulation supports to sustain motivation and effort for learners with diverse interests and executive function needs
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Frequently asked questions
An accommodation changes how a student accesses or demonstrates knowledge without changing the content or learning expectations — extended time, text-to-speech, a scribe, or a separate testing environment all allow a student to access the same curriculum and demonstrate the same knowledge as peers, just through a different pathway. A modification changes what the student is expected to learn — below grade-level text, reduced number of problems, or simplified objectives change the content expectations themselves. This distinction matters because students receiving modifications are not being held to grade-level standards, which has implications for graduation, diploma status, and state testing eligibility.
Explicit instruction is a structured, teacher-led approach that involves directly teaching skills and strategies through clear modeling, guided practice with high rates of feedback, and gradually released independent practice. It is highly effective for students with learning disabilities because it does not assume the implicit skill acquisition that typically developing students often achieve through incidental exposure — students with learning disabilities often need concepts and skills taught directly, broken into smaller steps, with more repetition and corrective feedback than general classroom instruction typically provides. The research base for explicit instruction in reading, math, and writing for students with LD is among the strongest in the special education literature.
Co-teaching involves a general educator and a special educator teaching together in the same classroom to support all students, including those with disabilities. Common co-teaching models include: one teach, one observe (one teacher leads while the other observes students); one teach, one assist (one teacher leads while the other circulates and supports individual students); parallel teaching (both teachers teach the same content simultaneously to split groups); station teaching (students rotate through stations taught by each teacher); alternative teaching (one teacher provides specialized instruction to a small group while the other teaches the larger class); and team teaching (both teachers share equal responsibility for planning, teaching, and assessing). Research supports co-teaching as an inclusion strategy when both teachers are truly co-equal partners with adequate planning time.
Evidence-based practices are identified through systematic examination of research quality and consistency. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), the Council for Exceptional Children's High-Leverage Practices, and IRIS Center resources provide curated lists of practices with evidence ratings for specific disability categories and academic areas. When evaluating research independently, look for randomized controlled trials (highest evidence), strong quasi-experimental studies, and replication across multiple studies and settings. A practice with a single study, regardless of positive results, is not yet evidence-based; multiple replications showing consistent effects across populations and settings provide stronger confidence.