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Math Accessibility

Math accessibility with numbers swirling toward human head

Why Accessible Math?

STEM Equity

Significant barriers exist in education and employment for disabled people in science and engineering, with 65% of STEM workers with disabilities holding less than a bachelor’s degree education (NCSES, 2023). While 11% of doctoral degrees awarded in 2021 went to people with disabilities, social sciences had the highest rate (13%) and engineering had the lowest rate (8%) (NCSES, 2023). Scientists and engineers with disabilities have a higher unemployment rate than both peers without disabilities and the general U.S. populations (Bernard, 2021).

In spite of significant research and our own lived experience demonstrating the strengths and creativity that disabled people bring the STEM fields, multiple barriers exist to disability inclusion. Faculty mentors who identify as disabled are important as role models, but all faculty can be instrumental in supporting students with disabilities, the science and engineering fields, and ultimately society as a whole.

Information Conveyed by Equations

We know that mathematics is an integral part of engineering content, but have you ever considered the information conveyed in an equation? Glancing at an equation or formula conveys visual information such as the length, hierarchy, complexity, use of parentheses, fractions, exponents, and often the context of the equation. Without the visual representation for support, the cognitive load of forming that same mental picture is much higher. Consider the following versions of this simple equation and the information gained from the spoken and visual representations.

Auditory Version of Equation (click to reveal)

Audio Reading of Equation (Microsoft, 2022)

Transcript of Equation (click to reveal)

Heading level 1 Math equation example 1. Heading level 2 solve for x colon.

Equation two plus three over four, times x, equals x minus, three over four.

Left side constant and term. 2 plus, three over four, times x

Left side constant. 2

Left side term. Plus, three over four, times x

Middle comparison. Equals

Right side term and constant. x minus, three over four.

Right side term. X

Right side constant. minus three over four

Visual of the Equation (click to reveal)

LaTeX: 2 + \frac{3}{4}x = x - \frac{3}{4}

LaTeX input into Canvas Equation Editor: 2 + \frac{3}{4}x = x – \frac{3}{4}

Video Demonstration of Alt Text and Screen Reader (click to reveal)

This YouTube video was a keynote address from mathematician Zach Lattin, who shares his passion for mathematics and accessibility in STEM (Lattin, 2022).

  • Beginning at timestamp 21:30, Zach provides sample alt text for an image and unintentionally illustrates the difficulty of creating a mental picture while unable to see the image.
  • Zach shares compelling reasons to create accessible math content so that blind mathematicians like him can share the pain of wrestling with complex equations like their sighted colleagues.
  • He shares the text and symbolic versions of a definition to illustrate the differences between representations favored by various audiences.
  • He demonstrates the use of a screen reader to navigate through the hyperbolic tangent definition using an equation built with MathType using MathML.
  • Finally, in his closing thoughts, Zach share how accessibility efforts in STEM fields can be compared to the limit definition of a derivative.

Accessible Math Language and Tools

What is Math ML?

MathML (Mathematical Markup Language) is an international open standard for encoding math content. While similar, HTML does not have a standard way to mark up mathematical expressions. MathML uses a Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags to mark up both the presentation and mathematical semantics of equations, which provides access to both the visual representation and meaning of equations for assistive technology. MathML has a number of benefits such as changing font size, translation into native languages and allowing allow users of screen readers to take a deeper dive into the structure of equations using aural (audio) navigation.

MathML provides the highest level of accessibility to math in a digital format, While images with alternative text are considered an acceptable alternative for simple math content that can be accurately described using alternative text (alt text). For more complex equations, however, images with alt text do not provide true comparable access to the information found in equations built with MathML (DO-IT, 2023; Lattin, 2022).

Math Rendering Tools

MathType

  • MathType is a plugin for creating accessible MathML equations
  • MathType is a convenient authoring tool with its menu of mathematical symbols and templates, keyboard shortcuts, and LaTeX input capabilities
  • You can also enter LaTeX directly into Word documents and use MathType to render equations
  • MathPlayer, from the same company as MathType, is an plugin needed to visually render formulas and equations and to convey the structure and content to screen readers for audible rendering.

EquatIO

  • EquatIO includes several ways to create math content including typing the equations, using voice dictations, writing equations by hand, and taking screenshots of existing equations.
  • Output from EquatIO can be an image of the equations or formulas with alt text that would be read aloud by assistive technology such as a screen reader.
  • Output can also be MathML or LaTeX code that can be used to edit the equation or paste into other applications such as Canvas equation editor.

Canvas

The Canvas Equation Editor can be used to create equations using a simple menu or for more complex equations. You can also create or import LaTeX code to create accessible equations directly on a Canvas page.

LaTex code:

\frac{d\left(\frac fg\right)}{dx}(x)=\frac{g(x)\frac{df}{dx}(x)-f(x)\frac{dg}{dx}(x)}{g^2(x)} 

Results from Canvas Equation Editor:

LaTeX: \frac{d\left(\frac fg\right)}{dx}(x)=\frac{g(x)\frac{df}{dx}(x)-f(x)\frac{dg}{dx}(x)}{g^2(x)} 

Microsoft OneNote and Immersive Reader

  • Microsoft OneNote and Word feature an immersive reader to read aloud math expressions.
  • In OneNote, you can use the drawing feature to handwrite math expressions, select the drawing using the marquee tool, and convert the handwriting to text using the Math button. You can see the steps involved to solve the equation, and insert both the equation and solution steps into OneNote.
  • Solving Math Equations with Math Assistant in OneNote

MathML and Browser Compatibility

  • Mozilla Firefox directly supports the use of MathML
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer requires the MathPlayer plugin

Accessible Math Webinar

This video hosted by blind mathematician Stacy Scott dives into the complex subject of accessible math. A panel of accessible math content creators demonstrates a possible workflow beginning with an inaccessible image-based document to an accessible math expression experience on a web page. Along the way they demonstrate tools and techniques to manipulate equations in a variety of languages and formats and how screen readers handle different formats.

The presentation slides and transcript are located at the DAISY Creating and Reading Accessible Math (W) webinar page.

References (click to reveal)
  1. Bellman, S., Burgstahler, S., & Chandler, E. H. (2018). Broadening participation by including more individuals with disabilities in STEM: Promising practices from an engineering research center. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218768864
  2. Bernard, M. A. (2021, July 21). Advancing disability inclusion in the scientific workforce. National Institutes for Health. https://diversity.nih.gov/blog/2021-07-21-advancing-disability-inclusion-scientific-workforce
  3. DAISY Consortium. (2021, October 20). Creating and reading accessible math. Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY). https://daisy.org/news-events/articles/creating-reading-accessible-math-w/
  4. DAISY Consortium. (2021, October 26). Creating and reading accessible math. YouTube. https://youtu.be/wufqq72hhcM
  5. Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT). (2021, April 9). What is MathML? University of Washington. https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-mathml
  6. DO-IT. (2017). Using a screen reader. University of Washington. https://www.washington.edu/doit/videos/index.php?vid=81
  7. Lattin, Z. (2022, February 15). Arbitrarily close to access in STEM [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/VMnZuvTcnkc
  8.  National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). (2023, January 30). Diversity and STEM: Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. National Science Foundation. https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23315/report/  
  9. National Center on Accessible Education Materials. (2023). Creating accessible STEM materials. CAST. https://aem.cast.org/create/accessible-stem-materials#1
  10. Tanase, I. (2022, August 11). Making math accessible. Microsoft. https://blogs.microsoft.com/accessibility/making-mathematics-accessible/
Math Tool Comparison Table (click to reveal)

This table provides an overview of the types of documents you may encounter, the accessibility of the built-in equation editor in each application, and accessibility of content created with LaTeX, EquatIO, and MathType.

Location Is the Built-In Equation Editor Accessible? LaTeX EquatIO MathType
Canvas

Yes

  • The Canvas equation editor is LaTeX based

Yes

  • You can directly input LaTeX into the Canvas equation editor or copy and paste from other math tools such as EquatIO or MathType.

Yes

  • You can copy LaTeX from EquatIO and insert into Canvas editor
  • You can copy MathML and insert into HTML code for the Canvas page and the equation will be rendered correctly on the page

Yes

  • You can copy the MathML from MathType and insert into HTML editor for the Canvas page
PowerPoint No

No

  • Content created using PPT Equation Editor is NOT correctly read by assistive technology. Often parts of the equation are ignored leaving the spoken math equations meaningless to the listener.

Yes

  • EquatIO inserts images with alt text in PPT files
  • Alt text must be verified by subject matter expert to check for accuracy of spoken text.
  • Math ‘punctuation’ must be specified including hierarchy such as fractions and parentheses or brackets.
  • To edit the equation image, you need to take another screenshot to open the equation in EquatIO

Yes

  • But only if you provide the PowerPoint file (not a PDF version of the PPT file)
  • Equations may appear VISUALLY incorrect in the PPT file when viewed in various browsers, including in Canvas. Brackets, matrices, and vectors are common issues.
  • The equations should be read aloud correctly by the screen reader.
Word

Yes

  • But only if you provide the file as a Word doc, which is LaTeX based

Yes

  • The MS Word editor is LaTeX compatible

Yes

  • EquatIO can insert equations as images with alt text. Alt text must be verified for accuracy.
  • You can also copy LaTeX from EquatIO to insert into Word equation editor

Yes

  • But only if you provide the file as a Word doc, which is LaTeX based
PDF N/A No

Yes

  • Images with alt text

No

 
Output N/A LaTeX code which could be used in other applications such as Canvas, EquatIO or MathType

EquatIO Output Options

  • Image with alt text
  • LaTeX
  • MathML

MathType Output Options

  • MathML
  • LaTeX
  • Image which would need to have alt text added

Note: All equations regardless of program or tool used must be verified for accuracy, including the visual display and alt text of images.

The Cost of Ignoring Dyslexia

The cost of ignoring dyslexia with teenager tearing up paper with the word education

The Societal Costs of Dyslexia

The following is a guest post written by a high school senior with dyslexia. In spite of taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses throughout high school, she felt that a high school diploma was not worth the remaining few months of struggle. She was prepared to drop out of school 2 months before graduation thinking that since she had a job as a waitress, she did not need a diploma or college education.  After working with her to organize her workload and advocate for herself with teachers, she decided to stay in school and graduate with honors. As a class assignment, she researched the societal costs and benefits of dyslexia as part of a business plan to create an EdTech company to help dyslexic learners.

The Cost of Not Responding

  • 1 in 5 people, that’s 20% of the population, is believed to have dyslexia (Kropp, 2020). 
  • The school dropout rate for students with dyslexia is 35%, twice the national average. (Al-Lamki, 2012)
  • 85% of young people in jail have learning disabilities and between 48-60% of the prison population in Texas alone has dyslexia (Dyslexia Untied, n.d.)
  • It costs on average $214,620 per year to incarcerate a youth (Justice Policy Institute, 2020).
  • The rate of suicide among students with learning disabilities is 3 times higher than ‘typical’ students. (Daniel, et. al, 2006)
  • 89% of suicide notes exhibit dyslexic spelling patterns (McBride and Siegel, 1997).
  • Only 3% of the population believe dyslexia is a positive trait and 73% of workers hide dyslexia from their employer (Made by Dyslexia, n.d.; Conlan, 2021).

The Bright Side for Business

  • 35% of self-made millionaires in the United States and 20% in the UK have dyslexia. Entrepreneurs in the US are 3 times more likely and in the UK are 2 times more likely to have dyslexia than the average citizen. (Conlan, 2021).
  • Dynamic reasoning, interconnected reasoning, and spatial knowledge and visualization are strengths of the dyslexic brain (Eide & Eide, 2011)
  • In the 4th Industrial Revolution, the skills of dyslexics are more in demand than reading, writing, and data entry, while their enhanced creative reasoning, problem solving and social skills will help employees with dyslexia bridge the skills gaps in a way that linear thinkers cannot (Conlan, 2021).
  • 98% say teachers need more training in how to identify and support students with dyslexia (Made by Dyslexia, n.d.; Conlan, 2021).
  • Dyslexia was only recognized as a disability in California on August 24, 2017 [CA Education Code Section 56335] (California Legislative Information Code Section, 2017).
  • States like California estimate that economic losses due to dyslexia will cost the state $12 billion dollars this year and $1 trillion over the working lifetime of today’s students. By contrast, an investment of $880 million in early screening, teacher training, and intervention will give an 800% return on investment as the life impacts mentioned above are avoided (Kropp, 2020).

References

  • Al-Lamki, L. (2012). Dyslexia: Its impact on the individual, parents and society. Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, (12)3, pp. 269-72. doi:10.12816/0003139
  • Dyslexia Untied. (n.d.). Why we should all care about dyslexia. https://dyslexia-untied.com/why-we-should-all-care-about-dyslexia-the-societal-impacts-of-dyslexia/
  • Eide, B., & Eide, F. (2011). The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain. New York: Hudson Street Press.
  • California Legislative Information Code Section. (2017). ARTICLE 2.5. Eligibility criteria for special education and related services on the basis of language and speech disorder or specific learning disabilities [56333 – 56338]. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&sectionNum=56335#:~:text=56335.,services%20to%20pupils%20with%20dyslexia.
  • Conlan, R. (2021, Jan. 11). The secret upside of dyslexia: Not a disability but a superpower. https://youtu.be/AMrUxxmMz8g
  • Justice Policy Institute (2020). Policy brief 2020 Sticker shock: The Cost of youth incarceration. http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/12928
  • Kropp, M. (2020). The $1T impact of ignoring dyslexia. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/1t-impact-ignoring-dyslexia-matthew-kropp/
  • McBride, H.E., & Siegel, L.S. (1997). Learning disabilities and adolescent suicide. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30(6):652-659. doi: 10.1177/002221949703000609.
  • Daniel, S. S., Walsh, A. K., Goldston, D. B., Arnold, E. M., Reboussin, B. A., & Wood, F. B. (2006). Suicidality, school dropout and reading problems among adolescents. Journal of Learning Disabilities, (39)6: pp 507-514.

Signs of Dyslexia

Signs of Dyslexia in the Classroom Decorative

What does Dyslexia look like in the classroom?

Can you spot the 1 in 5 students (or adults) with dyslexia? Maybe. Some signs of dyslexia are more well-known than others.

10 Typical Signs of Dyslexia

  1. Do not seem to grasp that words come apart into individual sounds
  2. Difficulty learning and remembering the letters and sounds of the alphabet
  3. Seems unable to recognize letters in their own names
  4. Trouble rhyming, recognizing rhyming patterns (bat, cat, rat)  or learning nursery rhymes
  5. Repeats or omits short words like and, but, or
  6. Mispronouncing familiar words, perceived as using ‘baby talk’ or has a speech delay
  7. Reading father as “dad” or seeing an adult dog in an illustration and saying “puppy”
  8. Family history of reading or spelling problems
  9. Disappears when it is time to read, rarely reads for pleasure
  10. Becomes tired and frustrated or gets headaches when reading

Although we typically think of reading and spelling challenges as characteristic of dyslexia, it affects other areas of life, as well.

15 Less Familiar Signs of Dyslexia

  1. Has difficulty with directionality; confuses left and right
  2. Lacks a sense of urgency compared to peers
  3. Slower to respond in conversation than peers, seems to need additional time to process
  4. Has difficulty taking notes and copying accurately and quickly from the board
  5. Messy handwriting
  6. Has low self-esteem and negative self-talk, often in spite of high achievement
  7. Poor short term and long term memory, particularly for single-mode input (auditory, visual)
  8. Uses vague language like “stuff” or “things” and avoids saying words that might be mispronounced
  9. Pauses, hesitates, or uses “um” when speaking and gestures to skip over words when reading
  10. Seems to need extra time to process and retrieve facts and information due to a disorganized mental filing cabinet
  11. Confuses words with similar sounds such as volcano/tornado or patients/patience
  12. Needs additional time to finish tests but demonstrates understanding with extra time
  13. Grades do not reflect understanding or ability
  14. Difficulty remembering math facts and names of people or places
  15. Disorganized supplies, belongings, and backpack

15 Less Celebrated Characteristics of Dyslexia

  1. Insatiable curiosity, always asking why
  2. Great imagination, conceptualization, reasoning, visualization, and problem solving skills
  3. Enjoys puzzles, building models and finding unique solutions
  4. Able to get the gist of things or see the big picture that others do not see
  5. Quick to understand new concepts, especially when learning is accomplished through meaning not rote memorization
  6. Surprising maturity in speaking with older children or adults
  7. Creative, divergent thinker, and high level conceptualizer with original thoughts and insights
  8. Excellent visual-spatial skills and spatial reasoning in careers as inventors, interior designers, architects, and engineers
  9. Excels in visual arts, photography, and performance arts
  10. Interested in more conceptual studies such as philosophy, social studies, or neuroscience
  11. Excellent writing when the focus is on content and not writing skills
  12. Exceptional empathy, warmth, and compassion
  13. Highly articulate when expressing feelings or ideas they are passionate about
  14. Resiliency
  15. Social and moral compass

Do you recognize the students with dyslexia hiding behind these personalities?

  1. The Pot Stirrer who creates drama to focus your attention on someone else?
  2. The Bully who lacks confidence and self-worth and picks on others instead?
  3. The Class Clown who distracts others and makes them laugh to hide from being labeled as dumb?
  4. The Silent Child who is shy, withdrawn, rarely participates and hides in plain sight?
  5. The Smart Aleck who is sarcastic, argumentative, and confrontational to focus attention on behavior and not academic skills?
  6. The Social Butterfly who talks with anyone and everyone but avoids answering questions or reading aloud?
  7. The Lazy/Unmotivated One who appears to not care or not try but is paddling harder than anyone under the surface?
  8. The Rocket Scientist who studies physics and engineering for fun, but struggles to comprehend content presented in a written format?

15 Simple Strategies to Implement TODAY

  1. Turn on closed captioning for every video!
  2. Use consistent, easy to read sans-serif fonts (like Arial, Calibri, or Open-Sans)
  3. Unclutter documents and classroom webpages
  4. All extra time on tests and assignments without drawing attention to students
  5. Minimize visual distractions in the classroom and on websites (try Mercury Reader Chrome extension)
  6. Provide a calm, quiet and welcoming space in the classroom to work
  7. Allow older students to record lectures or provide links to archived videos from class
  8. Provide copies of notes or slides in advance
  9. Provide response options such as video or audio rather than writing.
  10. Encourage using dictation software and Immersive Reader on Microsoft products
  11. Provide links to audio books as an alternative to reading
  12. Encourage typing or using a tablet instead of writing
  13. Address and respond to negative self-talk
  14. Acknowledge effort and celebrate hard work even if there are mistakes
  15. Use the word ‘dyslexia’!

Validate the specific challenges that result from dyslexia and celebrate the hard work people with dyslexia invest every day.

Inclusive Instructional Design

Dyslexia in the Classroom Inclusive Instructional Design

Inclusive Instructional Design

Do you design for disability or diversity? Wondering what’s the difference? Inclusive Instructional Design is a mindset that helps us design to meet the needs of all learners.

The Inclusive Design Research Center (IDRC) defines Inclusive Instructional Design (or IID) as “design that considers the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of human difference.”

Inclusive Design has 3 core values –

  1. Awareness is recognizing and acknowledging the myriad ways learners are diverse
  2. Compassion is seeking to include the needs of people different from ourselves
  3. Togetherness is collaboration and sharing our successes to continually improve our processes.

As educators, we can apply these core values in our planning today through 3 subtle mind shifts.

  1. Recognizing and acknowledging the diversity and uniqueness of our learners
  2. Using inclusive processes in design and tools in delivery
  3. Enabling a broader impact in the lives of learners, their families, and society

Recognizing & Acknowledging Diversity

One big point jumped out at me here. I’ve read the research, the books, attended the webinars, been bombarded with emails on diversity in the classroom. What resonates with IID for me is the mindset and willingness to look for hidden diversity.  The ways learners vary that aren’t being talked about in the media.  We must empower our students to recognize their own unique learning patterns, advocate for themselves, and actually use the scaffolds designed into instruction.

It’s also recognizing that some learners may feel voiceless and not respond to a teacher’s initial offers of support. Many students just yearn to be recognized and acknowledged for who they are, but they have lost faith in the educational system.

Using Inclusive Processes and Tools

Inclusion is an education buzzword that sells books and funds research. As educators, we already know that teaching to the middle is not equitable or effective. We’ve heard about student voice and choice since our first day of education classes. 

But in trying to reach our students on the fringes, how often do we plan in a vacuum guided by our own lived experience? The slogan “nothing about us without us” goes back over 500 years in politics but is equally applicable in today’s classrooms.

I’ll be perfectly transparent – I am not dyslexic. I’m a linear thinker who did not have the same experience in school as my friends and students with dyslexia. But I’ve listened to hundreds of people over 20 years who are dyslexic. Their felt needs and input inform my design.

Inclusive processes and tools go deeper that retrofitting existing curriculum with accommodations. It’s valuing the lived experience of people different from ourselves. My brother had undiagnosed learning differences which made his school experience vastly different from my own. Our race, culture, socioeconomic status, access to technology, and parents were the same. He did not have a voice in his own education and still does not understand his own learning struggles. Few people valued how he felt or considered how he learns best. Sadly, 50 years later, our students who learn differently often do not have a place at the design table.

Enabling Broader Beneficial Impact

Do you long to make an impact? Almost certainly or you wouldn’t be an educator seeking to support students with learning challenges. Using inclusive design, “a rising tide lifts all boats”. Also known as the curbcut effect, designing for inclusion usually benefits more than just the specific group targeted. (For an interesting diversion, skim the list of electronic curbcuts from the product design world and how these benefited a wide range of unintended users worldwide!)

By taking advantage of human diversity up front in the planning and design process, IID seeks to build an adaptive, responsive learning experience that empowers each learner to choose their own learning path.

Universal Design for Learning is often a method or way of doing, whereas Inclusive Instructional Design is a thinking. It’s not technology that creates barriers, it is casting a wider net in the design process that reaps the greatest rewards for learners and truly society as a whole.

“Inclusion benefits everyone, it should be everyone’s concern. In this digitally transformed reality that we live and work in – where consumption does not consume, and space has no limits – there is no downside to inclusion and it is possible to make room for us all.” – Jutta Treviranus, director of IDRC

Classroom Implementation

How can you implement this in the classroom? Intentionally seeking the input of your students and colleagues – particularly the quiet ones who struggle in silence. Many do not expect their opinion to be valued or their struggles recognized, so they won’t respond when you ask for input. Seek them out privately in a way that is comfortable for both of you.

Consider simple design choices which will impact more than just your target audience.

  • Make a classroom brand kit to streamline and automatize decisions like fonts, colors, and layout. 
  • Simplify your organization.
  • Be direct and explicit in directions and assignments.
  • Provide multiple modes of delivery, such as turning on closed captions in all videos.
  • Develop a library of icons and use them consistently through your classroom, LMS, and assignments.

Most importantly, take heart! You can do this, and your students and their future selves will thank you!!

Universal Design for Learning

What is Universal Design for Learning or UDL?

Whether you know the term Universal Design for Learning or UDL, it can help achieve your goals. Your goal of engaged students with an enthusiasm for learning. Your goal of improved understanding and performance. And your goal to stop feeling ineffective and overwhelmed at reaching your most struggling students.

The reality is with teaching in the COVID era, you don’t have time to learn a new way of planning. If you are an educator, you already know a lot about UDL. Similar to the goals of Backwards Design, Universal Design for Learning seeks to meet every student by rethinking goals, methods, materials, and assessments. Let’s unpack U-D-L first.

UNIVERSAL means that the curriculum can be understood by every student, even though each student is unique and brings diverse life experiences, learning challenges, and attitudes.

UDL and Neuroscience

Neuroscience has discovered that LEARNING requires tapping into 3 parts of the brain for

  • RECOGNITION – the content, or what, of learning,
  • SKILLS and STRATEGIES – the how of learning, and
  • CARING and PRIORITIZING – the motivation, or why, of learning.

So, in order to learn, students need not only knowledge, but skills, and enthusiasm for learning. You knew that already through your own lived experience. You can surely describe that ‘perfect’ lesson where one (or all) of those broke down and learning fell flat.

UDL helps you intentionally address all 3 in the planning stage – the content and how you present it, the learner’s skills and self-efficacy, and the curiosity and motivation needed to learn.

Do you feel like this might be more EduBabble and teacher shaming? How can teachers possibly meet the UNIVERSAL LEARNING needs of so many unique students?

Here’s where DESIGN comes into play!  Take heart!

UDL for Accommodation

Universal Design has been used in architecture and engineering for years to design accessible buildings, products, and services like ramps and automatic doors. Many accommodations address physical disabilities and are often retrofit after the fact. A principle called the curbcut effect means that wheelchair ramps can help not only people using a wheelchair but also people with bikes, strollers, and even Amazon delivery robots.  But how much more functional are these supports when planned for in the first place?

UDL checklists can be used to measure the accessibility of existing courses and materials to retrofit accommodations. For example, adding closed captions and transcripts to videos serves more than just hearing impaired learners. Research shows that 40% of learners use captions when they are in distracting locations, have auditory processing challenges, like multiple modes of input, or just want privacy.

UDL has 3 principles, 9 guidelines, and 31 checkpoints, which sounds completely crazy if you are a K-12 educator. Here’s an example of what not to do to illustrate that throwing in ALL OF THE THINGS without planning for learner diversity is not effective.

UDL Gone Wrong

As a university professor equipping teachers to teach during COVID, I scoured the Internet for ways to help them survive. If you are a teacher, you were probably doing the same thing. 

I’m also a K-12 teacher, so this quest was for myself as well as the teachers in my course. My local school district had a team of curriculum directors develop canned courses for our LMS. Their heart was in the right place and they used the principles of UDL. But In August, when teachers downloaded their courses for the year they were flattened by UDL gone wrong.

Our district had all the right motives and had read all of the books on UDL. They included multiple page, color coded student checklists for every week to encourage student self-management. They had multiple ways of presenting information. PlayPosit videos with embedded questions. PearDecks with embedded video, audio, and comprehension questions. PDFs to annotate using Kami. Discussion boards. Flipgrid video posts.  All. The. Tech.

They created daily LMS folders for each assignment – nested inside each topic – nested inside each unit…you get the idea. Every assignment was linked to Google Drive. Students only had to click through the folders in the LMS, open the document outside the LMS in Google Drive, make a copy, rename it, claim it, DO it, and click 4 or 5 more places to turn it in. 

Have you figured out by now most teachers needed a therapist (uh…I did), and most students just stayed in bed?

You may recognize this scenario. I share this experience not to make you relive nightmares, but to say that UDL has awesome ideas, but it’s more than a checklist to follow.

Allow the purpose to inform the technology, not the other way around. Moving from an essential idea or process to the tool that makes that possible lets you explore the many options and streamline the path for students.

How to get Started with UDL

Now that we have an idea of what doesn’t work, lets look at how we can start small and make a big impact on instruction.

  1. Consider the purpose. Maybe students were recording ideas on Post-Its, forming groups, and organizing Post-Its on chart paper to share.  The purpose isn’t to learn a dozen new EdTech ways to move virtual Post-Its. The bigger goals are individual sense-making, collaboration, and presentation. Start there and allow the purpose to inform the technology. Maybe a breakout room, a discussion board, or if you still love Post-Its, a Jamboard or Padlet.
  2. Streamline the tech tools. Feedback from students, parents, and teachers clearly indicates tech overwhelm. Use a few tools and explicitly teach students how to use them. Many students are using cell phones or have poor Internet connections. Or are sharing computers and do not have the time or mental bandwidth to learn new tech tools. Simple trumps flashy.
  3. Be forgiving. Of yourself, and your students. Research confirms that the pandemic has shortened everyone’s fuse. Give yourself a break. Realize that you cannot possibly have perfect lessons to meet the needs of every student in retrofit mode. Rethink the purpose of assignments, simplify the tech, and keep it simple for your sake and theirs.

Inclusive Instructional Design

In the next post, we will look at Inclusive Instructional Design (IID) and how it is more than retrofitting assignments. IID is rethinking our approach before we break ground and getting the input of our most important stakeholders, our students.  There’s light ahead for all of us!

Universal Design for Learning is often a method or way of doing, whereas Inclusive Instructional Design is a way of thinking.

I’m writing this post on International Accessibility Awareness Day, the third Thursday in May. You can join the movement for digital accessibility at the Global Accessibility Awareness Day website here.

Types of Dyslexia

Aren’t All Dyslexics Alike?

No, people with dyslexia are as unique as every other person. However, understanding their dyslexia leads to empowerment. For older students and adults, knowing their dyslexia type enables them to develop coping skills and target solutions to specific challenges. It also guides teachers, tutors, and parents in focusing remediation efforts.

There is no official list of dyslexia types.  Although there are as many as 7 types of dyslexia described in various sources, the most common are:

  • Phonological dyslexia
  • Surface dyslexia
  • Rapid Automatic Naming Dyslexia
  • Double Deficit Dyslexia
  • Stealth Dyslexia

Let’s look at each in more detail.

Phonological, Dysphonetic, or Auditory Dyslexia

Phonological dyslexia is related to the ‘phonemes’ or individual units of sound in spoken language. These individuals have difficulty manipulating the sounds in words, including breaking down words or taking a string of sounds and blending into a single word.  ‘Dys’ is a prefix meaning difficulty with, therefore phonological dyslexia is also often called dysphonetic dyslexia or auditory dyslexia.  Dr. Corrine Roth Smith, expert in learning disabilities research and Emeritus Professor at Syracuse University, lists ways that phonological weaknesses are displayed.

  • Auditory dyslexics have difficulty mentally processing rapid auditory input, which can translate to missing letters when spelling.
  • They exhibit difficulty manipulating the sounds in syllables or words and playing auditory processing games such as elision (say “cat”, now say “cat” without the /k/, correct answer would be “at”.) Separating the individual sounds in words, like /k/ /a/ /t/ for “cat” or blending the individual sounds into a word are challenging.
  • Distinguishing between short vowel sounds for reading and spelling is difficult.
  • Difficulty rapidly retrieving and retaining appropriate sounds when presented with letters, sometimes omitting beginning sounds on words. This challenge would be highlighted in the third type of dyslexia listed below, Rapid Automatic Naming Dyslexia.
  • Failure to recognize and manipulate words by changing the initial consonant sounds (fat, cat, hat), then later the middle vowel sounds (cap, cup), and the final consonants (gum, gut, gulp) would indicate later difficulty with decoding.
  • Often auditory dyslexics guess at unfamiliar words rather than using phonological word-attack skills such as syllable division patterns and the effect of syllable type on vowel sounds. While these dyslexic readers have weak or non-existent word analysis tools, visual dyslexics, discussed below, utilize word attack tools such as syllable types to sound out and blend multi-syllabic words.
  • Like many dyslexics who use context clues when reading, substitutions may preserve meaning, but not be phonetically similar words, like saying “daughter” instead of “girl” when reading about a family.
  • Longer, unknown words are difficult to analyze and sound out due to phonological deficits, although irregular words may not be an issue as they are for the visual dyslexics discussed below.
  • When spelling is incorrect, even the writer may have difficulty deciphering because the word does not follow regular phonetic patterns.

Surface Dyslexia

Surface dyslexia refers to challenges with words that are pronounced differently than they are spelled, often called irregular words or “red words” indicating caution. Examples would be ‘was’ or ‘yacht’.  Surface dyslexia is also called dyseidetic dyslexia, referring to difficulty (‘dys’) with eidetic memory, or photographic memory.  

Eidetic memory allows most readers to recognize the shape and pattern of a word after a few exposures without using a mnemonic, cuing device. Although surface dyslexia is also referred to as visual dyslexia, it is not an issue with the eyes or ability to see.  Instead, it is an issue with inability to form a picture of irregular words, not the ability of the eyes to see the letters and words.

Surface/Visual/Dyseidetic Dyslexics

Surface/Visual/dyseidetic dyslexics also find a number of other tasks troublesome which rely upon visual processing. Dr. Smith noted other areas in which visual processing impedes fluency and comprehension.

  • Do not readily recognize sight words and therefore attempt to decode these non-phonetic, irregular spellings without immediately recognizing the so-called ‘red words’. Non-dyslexic readers form a picture, or gestalt, after a few key encounters with a word, which includes the shape and other visual characteristics.
  • May have the most difficulty with small non-phonetic words, such as ‘push’, ‘walk’, ‘where’, or ‘what’. Even though they have likely seen the word before, they fail to make a visual, photographic memory and instead attempt to sound out the word on each encounter.
  • Frequently confuse the letters b, d, p, and q, and words like ‘saw’ and ‘was’ impeding accuracy.
  • May also leave out letters when both reading and spelling, visually brushing right over letters and omitting their sounds.
  • Frequently lose their place when tracking from the end of one line to the beginning of the next.

Like many dyslexics who use context clues when reading, visual dyslexics may substitute words with similar meanings and some phonetic similarities, such as cat for kitten.

In contrast to phonological dyslexics, visual dyslexics are often able to attack long, multi-syllabic words using phonics rules and patterns.

Unlike phonological dyslexics’ spelling, visual dyslexics spell phonetically, such as ‘lite’ for ‘light’.

Rapid Automatic Naming Dyslexia

Rapid automatic naming, or recognition of letters, is a requirement for reading quickly and fluently with automaticity. The more time the brain needs to determine not only which letters it sees, but also to then attach sounds to those letters or letter combinations, the slower the reading process.  Just as knowing math facts affects the speed of mathematics computation, rapid number naming difficulty slows the entire process.  Rapid Automatic Naming for both letters and numbers is a subtest on the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP), which gives insight into processing speed.

Double Deficit Dyslexia

Double deficit dyslexia means simply that an individual experiences more than one type of dyslexia. For those with phonological dyslexia, often rapid automatic naming dyslexia is also a problem.  Similarly, many students who have phonological/dysphonetic dyslexia also have difficulty with irregular words, and therefore also have surface/dyseidetic/ visual dyslexia.

While other types of dyslexia appear online, these four are considered the most common.  Some authors mention right-to-left dyslexia, but other researchers feel this distinction does not merit its own category.

Stealth Dyslexia

Stealth dyslexia is a term coined by Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide, authors of The Dyslexic Advantage. Dr. Fumiko Hoeft, one of the world’s foremost dyslexia researchers at the University of California San Francisco, has published numerous articles and videos on stealth dyslexia. People with stealth dyslexia are frequently overlooked in dyslexia diagnosis, because their reading comprehension is above average. However, they struggle with phonics and decoding, often underperforming in the classroom and rarely receiving the help they need.

Comparison of Challenges for Auditory and Visual Dyslexia

Challenge

Phonological (Dysphonological/Auditory) Dyslexia

Surface (Dyseidetic/Visual) Dyslexia

Irregular SpellingsForm a mental image of irregular words, enabling recognition of the word after a few exposures.  Picture the word as a whole and do not use phonological attack skills.Fail to utilize eidetic (photographic) memory to form a ‘gestalt’ or image of a word.  Attempt to sound out irregular words using phonological attack skills which impedes fluency.
New, single or multi-syllabic wordsUnable to efficiently use phonological letter-sound correspondence, order of phonemes, and syllable division patterns to sound out and blend new words.Apply phonological word-attack knowledge, syllable division patterns, and phonological patterns to attack even longer new vocabulary.
Non-word reading and spellingUnable to apply phonological rules to reading on nonsense words.Able to use word-attack skills to sound out non-sense words, provided that all letters are visually captured and not glossed over in print
Sight vocabularyLimited sight vocabulary due to lack of phonological knowledge to acquire larger vocabulary.Limited sight vocabulary due to non-formation of eidetic memory or gestalt (image of word)
Letter omissionsMay omit letters when spelling due to poor auditory memory for sounds at the beginning of a word. Sometimes omits short consonant sounds (/p/, /b/, /t/) due to glossing over short auditory sounds.May omit letters or words when reading due to visually glossing over letters in print. Or may omit letters or sounds when reading if using context clues.
Word gamesDifficulty manipulating sounds in words for rhyming practice, elision (dropping sounds from a word), separating the individual phonemes in words, or blending phonemes into wordsLess difficulty with word games using auditory input.
Phonological MemoryDifficulty recalling the sounds that letters or letter combinations represent for reading and spelling.Uses knowledge of letter-sound correspondence to sound out and blend single and multi-syllabic words.
b/d/p/q confusionConfusion of letter sounds rather than letter graphemes or representations.Confuses letters that look similar or can be rotated.  Confusion of words that can be reversed (‘was’ and ‘saw’).
Rate of RetrievalUnable to rapidly retrieve letter-sound or sound-letter correspondence which may lead to forgetting the beginning of the word.May also have slow rate of letter retrieval due to visual retrieval processing.  Irregular sight words must be sounded out slowly (often incorrectly) each time encountered.
Unfamiliar wordsGuessing, potentially using context clues, but not phonetic clues.  May or may not preserve meaning depending upon the situation.May also substitute based upon context, but more likely to be phonetic substitutions that preserve meaning.
Spelling levelBelow reading level, often bizarre, due to reliance on sight, not phonetic clues.  Extra or omitted sounds and syllables.Likely to use phonetic clues, but not sight (or gestalt) of words, although spelling may still be incorrect. (lite for light)
Spelling patternsGenerally, most often correct on high frequency known words

Generally, most often correct for regular, phonetic words, not irregular sight words.

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