Specially Designed Instruction

Specially designed instruction is the instruction provided to a student with a disability who has an IEP in order to help him/her master IEP goals/objectives. Specially designed instruction is not a part of the Response to Intervention (RtI) or Section 504 of the American’s with Disabilities Act processes, but is specific to a student who qualifies for special education services in order to help him/her master IEP goals/objectives and ensure access to and progress in the general curriculum.

Specially designed instruction goes beyond differentiated instruction and addresses the unique needs that exist because of a student’s disability. Specially designed instruction should be implemented in addition to, not in place of, differentiated instruction. While differentiated instruction offers all students the opportunity to experience a rich learning environment and to have multiple viewpoints, being an effective teacher only meets a portion of the needs that students with learning disabilities may have. The differentiation of instruction may assist in meeting legal mandates, but it is not a one size fi­ts all approach for students with learning disabilities and must be customized even further to meet the requirements of IDEA 2004. For more information on Specially Designed Instruction visit: PGC Network: Progress in the General Curriculum 

Texas has adopted Project Forum’s Seven Step Process for Standards-Based IEPs. In this process, once a student is determined eligible for special education services (i.e., the student has a disability and, because of the disability, has a need for specially designed instruction), there are seven steps to be followed in developing a standards based IEP.