TRANSCRIPT

Multi-tiered System of Support and Universal Design for Learning with Dr. Loui Lord Nelson Feb. 22, 2016

Today we are recording a live podcast on the topic of multi-tiered systems of support and universal design for learning. Our guest today is Dr. Loui Lord Nelson, the author of Design and Deliver: Planning and Teaching Using Universal Design for Learning. She's an instructional design specialist and a member of the SWIFT product team. So welcome, Loui. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Why don’t you just begin by telling us a little bit about your role at SWIFT and your role in supporting inclusive education. Sure. My role in SWIFT has been varied. And it's been very exciting. Part of it is, I provide guidance around the design of products that embed universal design for learning. And I have also partnered with some of our states in introducing the framework of universal design for learning at their PLIs, their professional learning institutes. And I also help vet products that we are going to place on the Field Guide. Great. So you mention universal design for learning and that's, our topic for today: universal design for learning and multi-tiered systems of support. Can you define that for our listeners? Sure. I'll start with universal design for learning. That is a framework. It's a collection of best practices from the educational and Brain Sciences. I'll break that down a little bit. When CAST, which used to be known as the Center for Applied special technology, now they just go by CAST, as they began 30 years ago they were collecting best practices more specifically from the fields of special education and the neurosciences; and they were looking at ways that our students with more significant disabilities could access learning, and then hopefully be included within the general education environment. As their learning expanded, and they moved into the psychological sciences and also the brain sciences, then came the organization of this wonderful framework and the grouping of all of these different ideas. So the framework is a guiding tool. UDL



is the first and foremost framework of this information, guiding tools. But underlying all of that great information are some important concepts. One of them is called variability. And that's where we recognize that every single person is unique in how they learn so, comparisons are like the thumbprint or snowflakes when people need to think about a literal object. But it has to do with the fact that when I walk into an environment, based on the context of that environment, I'm going to learn a certain way. Maybe I'll feel comfortable and I can also just read the information, I'll get it. I may enter a different environment in a totally different context, and because of the information that's being delivered to me, I need to hear it. Or I need to work with it. So as an individual learner, I change. I shift in my learning as I move from environment to environment. Every learner does this. So if we know this, then we design our environments recognizing that every learner is variable. They're going to shift based on the context, so we need to provide all of those opportunities embedded within our lessons and environment. And, how does that work with multi-tiered systems of support? Clearly the concept of variability is really important, so what does that mean for educators, especially within the context of a multi-tiered system of support. You’re exactly right, variability is extremely important for us to plan for within our classrooms and within the context of MTSS. First, let me talk about variability a little bit more. And I want to talk about variability as something that’s systematic. CAST has the term of systematic variability. And this is to help us get into our brains that all of us, all of us learn differently. And we all learn differently across different contexts. When you have that embedded and ingrained or you're even just playing around with it, it can start to make your lesson planning and your environment design a little different because you begin to look at what doesn't change within your environment. Or maybe what always is the same for every single student. And how might you look at some of those things and provide options for your students in ways that will help them maintain their engagement or their learning, or their ability to talk about things and to represent their knowledge and to show their knowledge within that environment. So for example, if you're only showing the date in your classroom and you are in an elementary setting. In one way, that means writing it in print. Of Monday February fifteenth two thousand and sixteen. But, you don't have a calendar. You actually would probably think that was a little crazy. Especially if you teach really young children. But something else to consider is that not all learners think



about dates in the same way. So why don't we provide a month view calendar in every classroom, so that all students can associate, because some students are not going to associate that February fifteenth two thousand and sixteen falls on a Monday, even though it says that, they need a different type of a visual support for them to go, “h, oh Monday, first day of my five day school week.” That's just a small example of something within the environment that now all the sudden you're thinking, “I've got different types of thinkers and learners in my classroom.” Now, when it comes to the lesson piece, then you start building these options in. Specific to that lesson and much more specific to the goal of the lesson. That's where you build from in every opportunity. So within an MTSS environment many tend to immediately go to the R.T.I. part. Which are those tiers, And so I’ll the talk about those. We have tier one and two and three. And, UDL belongs across all of those tiers, first and foremost Universal Design for learning, which helps us plan for the variability within all of our environments and for all of our students should be in place for everyone to experience. And this helps them have access to supports that in some cases these students might not have had access to unless they were identified in one of the other tiers. But by allowing students to have access to those supports, just as a general planning and within the environment. Then you're not spending time identifying where other students might need all of these other additional supports. They are already there. The options are there. Now, if you have students and it has been identified that they need either tier two or tier three supports, you don't throw UDL out, you're still looking. And you're still planning the entire environment and all of your lessons using UDL but you might look at those specific supports for those students and ensuring that those supports are really working for them. And that maybe there might be other options that would help those students on top of those that are suggested within the tier two and tier three supports. Going back to the concept of variability. It is something that we can't see. And it's something that we have to consistently think about. And it's something that we practice. Over time and possibly. Quite possibly. There are many educators who weren't provided these types of options growing up. They didn't see them in action within their learning environments. No one helped them understand what that can look like. And this is why I always, always suggest. When you're looking at the UDL guidelines or you're getting started with any of these concepts you start small. And you begin by choosing a checkpoint, or a guideline that just makes sense to you. And you think. Oh OK. Alright, the calendar example that makes sense to me. To have both types of representations around here because I know there are some students that for some reason they cannot keep in their heads that today is Monday. And today is



February fifteenth. And we're talking about something that's due on Friday. But they can't. They can't get that in their head. But when I give them the calendar representation, “oh they can see that.” So it's just a bit of a shift. And it can happen. And it can happen easily if we all just allow that to happen and allow ourselves to understand, and believe in and take in the concept of variability. So as we close today. Can you just leave our listeners with what is your vision for the future what is your hope for the future of education? What do you want to see in the next 5, 10, 15 years? My hope for education is that we do build more inclusive environments. That feels like such an easy answer because that's what this podcast is all about. But when we have more inclusive environments in our classrooms, then, when those students graduate and go out into the community, they are better prepared to work with everyone in the community. And there are plenty of instances, in our business communities where they need to have the diverse workforce. And they recognize that everyone brings together their talents and their skills and improves the company. When we have those inclusive environments, though, we have to think about, well, when we want those inclusive environments, we have to think about how we’re designing them. I'm obviously a proponent of universal design for learning, so I'm going to say that I hope that to get every environment out there. And my goal is to help people understand how all of these other components and things that we talk about in education, how they merge together with universal design for learning. And how one enhances the other, and they become giant partners. So I would hope that in the next five years, I would continue to see the growth of universal design for learning within the classrooms. There are wonderful people working on fidelity instruments so that would help satisfy others in the field. And then within the next 10 years it would be my dream that universal design of learning is so well known that people are having to maybe have the framework open in front of them all the time, it's just a natural way of thinking. So that in 15 years we have these beautifully, diverse classrooms that are so naturally run that students have become those expert learners they become those purposeful and motivated and resourceful and knowledgeable and strategic goal directed learners that we want them to be. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much Loui for sharing your vision with our listeners. And for our listeners, if you'd like to learn more, please visit swiftschools.org, where you can click on more SWIFT stories and you can also



learn more about universal design for learning and multi-tiered systems of support. Remember SWIFT is a national K-8 Center that provides academic and behavioral support to promote the learning and academic achievement for all students, including students with disabilities and those with the most extensive needs.