Important Points to Remember About

Important Points to Remember About

Specially Designed Instruction (SDI)

SDI is what a teacher does to present information to the student that is different than what other students received. It may be instruction that is additional to what other students received and/or different methods or techniques to present the instruction not used with other students.

SDI is what makes special education “special.” SDI is what is done by the teacher, not the student, to help close the academic performance gap between students with disabilities and their general education peers.

SDI is to be based upon the specific skills the student does not have which are necessary for them to improve their academic performance required for their measurable annual goals.

SDI is not a restatement of the academic content standard being taught. SDI is what unique teacher instruction is written on the IEP that will be provided to the students to support him/her in being able to perform the measurable annual goal.

Properly selected SDI instruction will allow the student to make progress in the general education curriculum and close their gap in academic performance as compared to their regular education peers. Student abilities are factors in this closing of the gap, but don’t make this an excuse for setting low expectations of a student with disabilities. It is clear that having high expectations for any student- regular or ones with a disabilities, has a positive influence on both teacher instructional decisions and increased performance by students.

To decide the specific areas of academic weaknesses the student exhibits, there are different sections of the IEP this information may be found. Look at the Profile, PLOP, or the Measurable Annual Goal to give the IEP team guidance on the academic needs of the student.

When writing SDI in section 7 of the IEP, it must be written to be clearly understood by any person who reads the IEP as to what the teacher is expected to do for the student. The parents have to be able to understand what SDI is being provided to their child to improve their academic performance. Who will be providing SDI to their child? Where (location) will SDI be provided? How often (frequency) will SDI be provided?

If the same SDI is provided in different locations in the school and/or provided by different staff members, then each must be show separately. Section 7 of the IEP must be written to indicate what each provider, location, amount of time, and frequency will be for the SDI. No longer can an IEP have two providers in one “PROVIDER TITLE” box. Each must have their own line of information to make it clear what each provider is responsible for giving the student.

SDI, like many of the services listed in section 7, can support the student attaining one or more of their measurable annual goals. If more than one of their IEP annual goals are supported by one SDI, then those multiple goal numbers can be written in the “GOAL(s) ADDRESSED” box for SDI. If the SDI is to address only one measurable annual goal, then only that goal number can be written in the box.

Only the title of the SDI provider and not their actual name is to be written on the IEP.

In the “AMOUNT OF TIME” box, only record the actual amount of time which the SDI will be given to the student. Don’t record the amount of time the class is in length as this indicates the student will receive SDI for the entire length of the class or instructional period. If multiple goals are being addressed by one SDI, then record only the total time SDI will be provided for these goals in the “AMOUNT OF TIME” box.

In order for SDI to support more than one measurable annual goal, there must be an instructional relationship between these goals to justify this decision. This relationship between goals is not documented on the IEP. It is a logical expectation of the IEP team when making a decision to have one SDI support two or more annual goals.

When documenting the “FREQUENCY” for SDI, this can be daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly or any other frequency schedule the IEP team determines is appropriate. If the frequency is written as “Daily,” for any of the services in section 7, then this would require the staff to make up any missed SDI time each day. However, if the IEP team decides to report the “FREQUENCY” as bi-weekly of more lengthy in time span, then this gives the person providing the SDI more flexibility in making up the missed SDI time.

SDI instruction, along with any of the other services in section 7 missed due to a student’s absence from school, does not have to be made up by the provider.

SDI is not meant to give any student an unfair academic advantage in the classroom. It is to help level the “playing field” for the student with disabilities when compared to regular education students.

SDI is not about getting homework done. SDI is not about having an extra person in the general education or about having an extra person around just in case something might happen.

SDI does involve the accommodation or modifications a student with disabilities may receive.

If a paraprofessional (aide) is providing any SDI support, then it is more than just scheduling the amount of time and location when that staff member will work with the student. The team of both the regular and special education teacher are to provide the student with the SDI- not the paraprofessional. The paraprofessional is to provide the additional supports necessary such as practice or individual or small group reinforcement activities.