Universal Design for Learning + Individualised Education Plan: Not Opponents. Partners. 🧩

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) asks: “How can I design for the many?” An individualised education plan (PEI/IEP) asks: “How can I support the one?” Are these two frameworks opponents – or partners?

In this episode, we dismantle the false dilemma and show how UDL and IEP exist on a single continuum of support. Drawing on the Tiered Support Pyramid, we explore how proactive universal design reduces the need for intensive individualisation – and how, for some learners, UDL alone is not enough. We discuss the neuroscience of learner variability (Todd Rose’s “jagged profiles”) and why intensive intervention can literally rewire the brain (Sally Shaywitz). Finally, we offer five practical principles for integrating UDL and PEI in your daily classroom, including a concrete example of a student with dyslexia who learns alongside peers because universal design + individualised accommodations work together.

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Transcript

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Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to Teaching English to Kids, a journey of our learning. As usual, I'm your host, Paola Pando, and I'm very happy you are here today. This is our ninth episode, season two, and we are going to continue the second part, exploration of inclusive education. Last week we explored the individualized education plan. In Spanish you say plan educativo individualizado, and that is the roadmap for students with specific learning needs. We talk about what this plan is and when it's appropriate to apply that, and of course how to implement accommodations in the language classroom. Everybody has someone in the classroom who needs a special attention. But as I was recording that episode, I could hear some of you thinking, wait a minute, in episode 9, season 1, you told us about universal design for learning. That framework for designing lessons that work for everyone from the very start. If universal design for learning is so great, why do we need a specialized and individualized plan? And if we have these plans, individualized plans, why bother with universal design for learning? See, I'm hearing you thinking about that. So what is the question in this case? Can these two approaches coexist? Can they work together? And these are excellent, excellent questions. Today we are going to answer them all, I think. I'm gonna try to. So we'll explore the relationship between universal discipline learning and individualized educational plan. And we are going to clear up common misconceptions and show you how these two frameworks are not competitors, they are partners. And what they do is to create truly inclusive classrooms. Good. So are you ready to dive in? Let's work together. Let's recap because we always do at the beginning of every episode Universal Design of For Learning, I'm sorry, and this individualized plan side by side. Let's start. Universal Design for Learning, which we explore in depth in episode 9 season 1, is a proactive framework for designing curriculum that is accessible to the widest possible range of learning from the very start. Let's remember the principles. So Universal Design for Learning has three core principles. Number one, multiple means of engagement, and this is connected to the why of learning. Emotional things, motivation. The idea is that we can keep motivation high most of the time. Principle number two, multiple means of representation, and this is my favorite principle. I always work with my teachers and pre-service teachers with this principle because you as a teacher have to present the information, the content in different ways. Not because some students have special needs, because the brain needs lots of input and lots of a wide variety of forms to understand things. And because in that way you respect preferences. See, this is the what of learning. And the third principle: multiple means of action and expression. This is connected to evaluation, the how of learning. You need to provide different opportunities for your students to show how much they know. See, the test or the worship is not the only resource you have to allow students to demonstrate you how much they know. They can play a game, they can follow instructions, they can create a little story, they can uh plan something in groups, a project works. I think we are going to talk about that project works in Young Learners, I mean ELT Young Learners, because that's a powerful form of connecting to these ideas. Um, good. So we have three principles: multiple means of engagement, that's motivation, multiple means of representation you need to show in different forms and different opportunities to for your students to get the content, the meaning, the information, etc. And multiple means of actions and expressions, see that is connected to evaluation. So forget that tests are the only way to evaluate students. So Universal Design for Learning asks Before I know who is in my class, how can I design my lessons to eliminate variance for as many students as possible? So this model is proactive, is universal, and is super efficient, and it's a classroom plan, it's a classroom model. See, you are not thinking on a specific student with special needs. See, you are providing the right opportunities for everyone. But what about this individualized educational plan that we explored last week? This plan is reactive but responsive at the same time. This is a reactive framework for providing individualized supports to a specific student who has been identified as having a disability or learning difference that significantly impacts their learning. This plan asks, given this specific student's unique profile, what accommodations, modifications, and service does this individual need to access to, I mean, access the curriculum. So it's reactive, it's individualized and intensive. So at first glance, this might seem like opposing approaches. So one is for everyone because remember that it's a class model, I mean a classroom model, and what the other one is for someone, someone specific. Universal design for learning is proactive, and another one, the individualized plan, is reactive. But this is a false dichotomy. In reality, both exist on a continuum of support. So let's go to the why to understand this continuum of support. The idea is to understand how universal disciples learning and individualized plan work together, we need a framework that places them on a single continuum. The most helpful model is what I call the tier support pyramid. So we are going to see, discuss these tiers. This is the foundation. These are practices and design principles that benefit all the students with special needs or not, with problems in attention or not. See, so these principles benefit everyone. So you have to put into practice all the time when you plan. Some examples of these um principles that you have to use in every class. You have to provide clear and predictable routines. Remember John Canshin's principles? We discussed that in season one, episode six. So you can go back and listen to that episode again because those are very good tips to implement in your classroom and keep in mind so you can cover all the needs and keep motivation high, see learning acquisition with low effective filter, etc. So you have to keep uh in your classes predictable routines. See, and I think we also discuss about cognitive load. So you cannot provide always new information, new types of activities because our brain needs routines. Good, that's number one. Visual supports alongside verbal instructions. Language acquisition is very, very visual. So when you say something, give an instruction, or you are going to explain something, you want your students to learn some action best, prepositions, or following anything you need, try to support with visual things. If you don't have flashcards or pictures, at that moment you can write on the board, you can draw on the board, and you can um use gestures. See, you can use your body in order to mimicry, for example, and things like that. So visual support always in your classroom. Flexible seated options. See, students can sit in different places, so sometimes in groups, sometimes in pairs, I mean on the table, on the floor. Maybe you can find a different place in your school or in your nursing school that you can invite the students to work there. See, you you need to provide flexible sitting options, not all the time looking at the front, sitting with your partner, the same partner all the time. Good. Uh organize classroom management in some way, very ways to demonstrate understanding. So, this this principle is uh that you need to show different ways to explain and for your students to understand different concepts and acquire the language, and you need to provide different resources: drawing, speaking, writing, flashcard, games, songs, storytelling, and things like that. And uh ideally accessible grade level material. So sometimes you are going to work, I don't know, let's come back, uh let's go back, I'm sorry, to prepositions of place. Um, so you notice that some students are lower than other ones, and some other ones are more advanced. So try to have different grade level materials so you can provide and they can have access to the information but at their own potential. Um, in some way, that must be in your planning all the time. See, so that's I'm going to work this. Then my objective is this one, okay. But if it's too challenging, for example, I'm going to provide this material, it's too easy, I'm going to provide that material. See, so that is something that you should consider in your planning all the time. Good. So when Universal Designful Learning is implemented well at tier one, the number of students, this is super important, guys, the number of students who need more intensive support decreases. Why? Because many barriers are removed before they ever become obstacles. See, so that's that's that's great. What about T2? Target support. So some students need a little more than universal design provides, but not a full individualized plan. These are short-term small group interventions that are not individualized to a specific disability, but they are targeted to a specific skill gap. That is something that you always observe in your classroom. You notice that some group of students, for example, or some of them, they are lower than the rest, but they don't have a special need. So, for example, when you work phonics, so you can create a six-week phonics intervention group, see, and you can provide some group work with uh some songs, some chants, some stories that use a lot of repetition. So you can integrate these kind of activities in your plan, um, but it's not interfering with your the the weak objective, for example. No, you introduce this because they need to reinforce something specific, for example, in pronunciation, or you can provide an extra practice with sentence structure. See the same, introduce in some moment. Um, my recommendation is always do this as a game or storytelling, because that's my favorite activity. You know, reading is the most powerful tool for language acquisition, has everything. So if you can read to your students and work storytelling with them, perfect. Um, and for example, another idea is a lunch brunch for English conversation practice. So provide some uh moment during the day so they can speak. If they are very young learners, probably this fluent and spontaneous speaking is not possible. So maybe provide something that they can repeat, uh identify, I don't know. Because sometimes the fluent and spontaneous uh speaking is not possible with young buttons. Good. So in this tier two, these supports are not part of an individualized plan, they are responsive teaching within the general education setting. You are providing specific activities with a lot of repetition during your shift. Tier number three, intensive individualized support, and this is uh individualized plan uh territory. See, this is where this plan lives actually. These are students who, despite strong tier one and tier two supports, continue to struggle significantly. They need the legal protection and individualized roadmap of an individualized plan. Their supports are not just target, they are personalized to their specific disability profile. See, we are talking about a different thing. The key inside is that universal design for learning is not a replacement for individualized plan, it is the foundation that makes this individualized plan more effective and less intrusive. See, remember what is uh what we discuss in tier one. When you introduce this principle in your planning all the time, the problems or the difficulties decrease. See, so that in that case, even though these students need a specific and personalized plan, um when you combine with universal design for learning, what you do is to do it more accessible. Great! Is that okay so far? I hope so. Uh, because I think it is a very necessary topic today. You know, inclusive education is something that every head of school is discussing with their teachers. Let's go to the neuroscience, why both are necessary. See, we you know that in our podcast we take ideas from neuroscience and that those ideas help us understand better and plan better classes. So the neuroscience of learning variability explains why we need both universal disciples learning and individualized planning. Neuroscientist Tom Drose at Harvard University has argued compingly that there is no such thing as an average brain. That's very interesting. His research on Jack profiles shows that every individual has strengths and weaknesses across multiple dimensions. One student might have strong verbal skills but weak executive functions. Another might have strong visual spatial skills but weak phonological processing. Universal Design for Learning is designed for this jack variability. It provides multiple pathways so that students can leverage their strengths and bypass their weaknesses. Because every brain has both, yours and mine as well. But some variability requires more than multiple pathways. See, however, this jackness is more extreme. A student with significant dyslexia, for example, may need more than just multiple representation of the text. They may need explicit systematic phonese instruction delivered by a specialist. They may need text-to-speech softwares, for example. They may need extended time on all reading tasks. These are not just universal design features, they are individualized accommodations. So the neuroscience confirms that intensive individualized intervention can literally rewire the brain. For example, research by Sally Shewitz, I hope I pronounce the last name well, at Yale has shown that effective structure literacy intervention can create new neural pathways in the brains of students with lyxia, improving actually reading efficiency over time. I remember that I took uh a couple of years ago in pandemia, actually, I took a certification course in neuroscience for education, and I remember that I mean uh there were doctors in that certification course, um what is the neurologist. And I remember that they always said it's always important to intervene, it's always important to act when we notice that we have some students with problems. Why? Because maybe you think okay, the critical period is off, um, this silent no, say sensitive periods are off, so there's nothing to do. Uh those neurologists always said no. If you see someone, you need to do something, it's never too late. You can help finally. Good. Recall again the effective filter because that's another important issue in this topic. For a student who has experienced years of failure, the filter is always high. Universal design for learning alone may not be enough to lower it. That student may need the explicit message of an individualized plan. We see you, we understand your unique needs, we have a plan for you, and these plans will help you succeed. See, this is individualized attention and can be profoundly healing and motivating. I know it's not easy because teachers are. Not formed, they are not trained in this kind of practices. But remember, I think I told you last season last episode: you are not alone. Ask for help, investigate, talk to other teachers, and create a plan for that student, but it's a common plan for that student. See, you are not alone, never forget that. So, how do you make universal design for learning and individualized plan work together in your daily practice? Here we have five guiding principles. Principle number one, start with universal design for learning. Always must be included in your plan. Then individualize. Always begin with this universal plan. Design your lessons with multiple means of engagement, with multiple means of representation and action expressions from your students. This benefits everyone and reduces the need for individual accommodations. Because sometimes we discussed some minutes ago, sometimes they don't have problems. So with little accommodations, of course, I mean with this kind of um providing different ways of something, maybe you can solve the problem. See? So then for students with individualized plan, add the specific accommodation outlined in their plan. See that's it. You are layering individualization on top of universal design, not replacing one with the other. Is that clear, guys? Good. So universal design for learning all the time, then you individualize. Principle number two, use individualized plan accommodation as design clues. When you notice that a student with an individualized plan benefits from a specific accommodation, so for example, you are providing graphic organizers, chunked instructions, visual support, etc. Ask yourself, would this benefit other students as well? Often the answer is yes. So you, for example, you have always used that ramp in in buildings. When you see that ramp, you don't have a specific disability, physical disability, but you use that ramp. You don't use the stairs. See? So use the individualized plan as a source of ideas for improving your universal design. So something that works for one person maybe can work for everyone. So you enrich your practice, your teaching practices in the classroom. Principle number two, embed accommodations discreetly. That is super important. A student with a personalized plan should not feel single out. Whenever possible, embed their accommodation into the natural flow of the classroom. For example, instead of announcing Sophia gets extra time, set a timer and say, everyone take the time you need. What would you like? See, try to provide those opportunities. So the idea is that the accommodations go into the natural flow of the classroom. That is the thing. See? Principle number four: collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. I told you before, Universal Disciple Learning is a teacher's framework. Individualized plan is a team's framework. You cannot implement an individualized plan alone. Communicate regularly with special education teachers, parents, probably those parents are asking for help, so you can work them, work with them, I'm sorry, and related service providers. So share what you observe, ask for strategies, ask for help, and offer your insights about what works in your classroom. So in that way you can help other teachers at the same time. Great. Principle number four: document and reflect. Keep notes. See, that's super important. Keep notes on what works and what doesn't for each student with an individualized plan. This documentation is invaluable for team meetings and for refining your approach. You need to reflect on your practice. It also protects you by showing your good faith efforts to implement the plan. I don't know how to say that in English, but in Spanish you say diario de campo. When a researcher, for example, is writing, what's going on in his or her research. So that is uh diario de campo, but I don't know how to say that in in English. So the idea that you write what is going on in your classroom, what things work for you, what things don't work for you, and you can reflect. See, and writing is super powerful as well. We haven't uh talked about the four language skills in isolation. I think we are going to do it. Project work as well. So I there are many topics I would like to share with you. Great. Let me give you a concrete example of universal design for learning and individualized plan working together. Uh, the student, Carlos, nine years old, has a dyslexia. See? So for that reason, there is an individualized plan for him. His primary challenges are decoding unfamiliar words and writing fluently. See, let's go to tier one from the Universal Decipher Learning Foundation. The teacher uses multiple representations. She reads instructions aloud, projects them on the screen, and provides a printed copy. She offers multiple action expression options. See, remember evaluation. Students can respond by writing, drawing, speaking, or using computing things. See, a tablet, mobile phones are not allowed, at least in Chile for young learners, but you can use some electronic devices if it's possible. She builds predictable routines. Remember, every lesson follows the same structure, you use some resources specifically. So, in that case, what you do is to reduce cognitive load. Very important because when you have high cognitive load, normally that is split attention and hinder learning. I mean it's not okay for language acquisition. That is universal design for learning, but what about the plan, individualized plan tier 3 layer on individual design for learning? Carlo uses text-to-speech software because he needs for independent reading. He receives extended time on writing tasks. He has access to a word bank and sentence frames for all assignments. And he meets with the reading specialists for 30 minutes, some moments of the week, daily to be ideal, but we know that sometimes our schools and parents don't have enough resources for that. And work explicit phonics instruction. What about the result? Carlos spends most of his day in the general education classroom, not in specialized teaching. He is learning alongside his peers. The Universal Design for Learning Foundation means he rarely needs to leave for support. The individualized plan provides the specific scaffolds. He needs to access the same curriculum as everyone else. He's not segregated, he's not doing different work. He's doing the same work with different pathways. Is that clear? So that is a wonderful connection between universal design and this individualized plan. Let's conclude. Universal design for learning and individualized plan are not opponents. So we clarify that point. They are partners in the shared goal of inclusive education. Universal Design for Learning asks, how can I design for the many? An individualized plan ask, ask, I'm sorry, how can I support one? But together they answer the most powerful question. How can I ensure every student in my classroom can learn, can grow, and thrive? See, and that's what we uh look for finally. See that all the students are covered. See, next week I think we will continue exploration of sustainable because I I stopped a little bit because of the question of my follower, and I noticed that I haven't, I mean I didn't include um anything connected to inclusive teaching, but we are going to continue that exploration of sustainable uh teaching. So I have some ideas about diving into curriculum design that reducing planning time while increasing impact is not a bad idea because this is for you. So teachers are very important in the classroom, and sometimes all the courses, all the material, the resources, the teaching resources we work are connected to the teaching. Um I mean the learning. But teachers are important, so that is, I think it maybe we can go for that curriculum design rather reducing planning time while increasing impact because that is an essential piece of the sustainable classroom puzzle. But also, I really like working on project work. I have that idea many, many episodes ago. We'll see. So for daily insights on inclusive teaching to share your own experiences, integrate a universal design for learning and individualized plan, connect with me and this community of mindful educators. So follow me on LinkedIn because I always post strategies, ideas, tips to implement in your classroom. And of course, for schools and educators ready to build truly inclusive system where universal disciples learning and this individualized plan work in harmony, I offer coaching and consultancy sessions. Online because you know that is there are many people in the world, not just in Chile, in my country. So I work online with these coaching and mentoring sessions. Let's design classrooms where every student, regardless of their brain wiring, can thrive. See, send me a message to start a conversation. Until next week, remember Universal Design is the welcome mat. The individualized plan is the key to the door. So together they let every student in. Thank you very much for listening, for tuning in, for following this podcast. I have enriched my topics, my ideas thanks to you. So I hope you can listen to me next um next episode. And any idea you want, send me an email, follow me on my uh social networks, and please have a beautiful, beautiful week ahead. Bye everyone.