Remote & Virtual Instruction Resources

Collaborate with General Education

• What is the district wide or school wide instructional plan for all students?
• What are General Education learning targets (Standard Course of Study including the Extended Content Standards) that have been established for all students?
• What materials are available for students in order to meet learning targets?
• What are the academic performance expectations for students?
• What accommodations listed on the students' IEP will be provided during instruction?
• Are additional accommodations needed in order for the student to access and participate within instruction to fullest extent possible?
• What criteria is being used to assess student master of learning targets presented?
• How does the instructional plan for students with an IEP allow for growth and achievement toward grade level expectations?
• What were the responses to the accessibility survey completed by the parents for students? 

Collaborate with Parent

In your ongoing collaboration with the parent, have you discussed the following:

• Any updated information from the school district?
• The plan for and intended outcomes for virtual learning sessions?
• Potential barriers the parent foresees with helping their child with the virtual learning?

Building the Instructional Plan

• Based on guidance from your LEA, how will you document instruction being provided during this time?
  • What tool?
  • When?
  • How & with whom the documentation will be shared?
• What are the unique needs of the student?
  • Nature of the disability
  • Review IEP information/data
• What skills are priority for the student during this time?
• What support does the student need in order to access instruction?
• How does the unique learning plan support academic/functional/behavioral performance for the student?

Delivery & Documentation of Instruction

• What has your LEA provided to document instruction during this time?
• Have you documented all instructional supports (accommodations, supplemental aids, materials & instruction) provided during this time?
• How does the student know whether they are meeting their learning targets?
• In what ways does the student demonstrate engagement?
• Is the student accessing instruction provided? If so, continue as is. If not, what else is needed?

Additional Resources

Virtual Learning Plan Tip Sheet

Service Log Template

Virtual IEP Meeting Tip Sheet

Resource Folder

Progress Monitoring During Distance Learning - this link provides a brief decision/response tree and guiding questions to help determine the appropriate options for progress monitoring during distance learning.

National Center on Intensive Intervention - "The National Center on Intensive Intervention publishes this chart to assist educators and families in becoming informed consumers who can select progress monitoring tools that best meet their individual needs." Click on the link to access a plethora of tools. 

NCC Advanced Filters Video & Transcript

Online Learning Methodology Resources

Helping Students with Disabilities Comprehend Text in Online Coursework

Supporting Students with Disabilities in K-12 Online and Blended Learning 

Real Connections: Making Distance Learning Accessible for Everyone

Adapted Physical Education

Please review NC DPI's Remote Learning Resources for Physical Education as the remote general education framework to specially design remote/virtual physical education.

Resources for Remote/Virtual Physical Education - Physical Education (and if required Adapted Physical Education) are key features of a virtual/remote instructional schedule that promotes engagement, learning, coping and wellness for all students. The NC Adapted Physical Education Advisory Council (a volunteer organizations of APE experts) has collected a variety of resources (e.g., efficient adaptations, teaching strategies, lesson plans) to assist LEAs and Physical Educators in providing this critical curriculum remotely. 

Social-Emotional

Considerations when planning instruction for Social/Emotional Goals or learning opportunities:

• Please make sure that your SEL services address the unique needs of the child. We included resources that are helpful in general. However, individual children may respond differently to different approaches. No single resource is likely to address the needs of all children. Make sure your approach is appropriate for the child's individual needs. 
• Please try to identify the root cause of the child's SEL issues. Utilize assessment data and student-centered problem-solving to help individualize your SEL approach. 
• Consider the child's specific strengths and weaknesses. For example, the level of the child's cognitive functioning (high or low); symptoms of autism that need to be addressed; behaviors are externalizing/internalizing.

Resources for Educators:

BrainPOP - BrainPOP is committed to developing SEL content that supports the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework. 

PBS LearningMedia - The Healthy Kids Project encourages a younger audience to make positive choices for their mental and physical health with videos and support materials for teachers and students. 

Zones of Regulation - Zones is a systematic, cognitive-behavioral approach used to teach us how to regulate our feelings, energy and sensory needs in order to meet the demands of the situation around us and be successful socially. 

Performance Descriptors Social Emotional Learning - Grades 1-5

Performance Descriptors Social Emotional Learning - Grades 6-12

Social Emotional Learning Standards - Goal 2

Social Emotional Learning Standards - Goal 3

Resources to Support Parents and Caregivers:

do2Learn - Social Skills Overview

TEACCH Tips to Support Families

Trauma-Informed Parenting

Professional Learning for Educators:

Panorama Education: Virtual Learning for Educators

Autism Focused Intervention Resources & Modules: Visual Supports

NCAPH Federal Quota Fund Order Flyer 

Links for screen reader options

EC Directors and/or TVIs please contact Crystal Patrick if you need embossed braille materials or textbook resources. 

For more information on Remote Learning Resources for students:

Hearing Impairment Including Deafness - Nancy Woyotowich

Visual Impairment Including Blindness & Orientation and Mobility - Crystal Patrick

DeafBlindness - Dr. Alan Chase

Early Learning Sensory Support - Bethany Mayo

Instructional Resources:

Communication 

AAC Supports

Virtual Field Trips

Accessibility

High Leverage Practices in Special Education: Considerations for Remote Learning

In partnership with the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR), the Council for Exceptional Children has developed and published a set of high-leverage practices (HLPs) for special educators and teacher candidates. A complete PDF of the document.

Assessment High Leverage Practices

HLP4: Conduct Assessment

HLP5: Interpret Assessment

HLP6: Use Assessment Information

Social/Emotional/Behavioral High Leverage Practices

HLP7: Establish a consistent, organized, and respectful learning environment

HLP8: Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide students' learning and behavior

HLP9: Teach social behaviors

HLP10: Conduct functional behavioral assessments to develop individual student behavior plans

Instruction High Level Practices

HLP11: Identify and prioritize long-and-short-term learning goals

HLP12: Systematically design instruction toward specific learning goals

HLP13: Adapt curriculum tasks and materials for specific learning goals

HLP14: Teach cognitive and metacognitive strategies to support learning and Independence

HLP15: Provide scaffolded supports

HLP16: Use explicit language

HLP17: Use flexible grouping

HLP18: Use strategies to promote active student engagement

HLP19: Use assistive and instructional technologies

HLP20: Provide intensive instruction

HLP21: Teach students to maintain and generalize new learning across time and settings

HLP22: Provide positive and constructive feedback to guide students' learning and behavior

CEC Quick-Take Video: Leadership Support with Co-Teaching in a Remote Environment - Dr. Marilyn Friend talks about administrative support for virtual co-teaching. What can school leaders do for their co-teachers during online learning? How does the support they need differ? How can you ensure your co-teachers really are "co"?

CEC Quick-Take Video: Co-Teaching with Remote Learning - Dr. Marilyn Friend talks about where we're at in co-teaching. How is it changing in virtual environments? What different decisions do co-teachers need to make? And, how are other co-teachers making it work? 

Co-Teaching in Remote and Hybrid Learning Environments - Dr. Marilyn Friend & Dr. Tammy Barron

Co-Teaching in the Age of Remote Learning: Think Inclusive - Provides tips for co-planning, co-instruction, providing SDI, supporting parents, etc. 

Co-Teaching During Distance Learning: Tips for Partnering Virtually

National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)

Teacher Collaboration During a Global Pandemic - ASCD - Some practical tips for collaboration during these challenging times.

What Can Co-Teachers Do as a Virtual Team? - Four principles to anchor our instructional decisions.

10 Best Practices for Virtual Co-Teaching - Suggestions for the co-teaching relationship, collaboration, synchronous/asynchronous teaching, utilizing break out rooms for alternative, parallel & station teaching (including tutorials for setting them up), student engagement and feedback tips, etc. 

Personalized Learning Effective Practices and Indicators - Center on Innovations in Learning - Co-Teaching teams are supported in planning for all students in a co-taught classroom around 6 competencies. 

Instructional Design with Personalized/Virtual Learning

Collaborative Teaching Virtual Instruction Tips from the Florida Inclusion Network - Tips to reinforce existing collaborative practices in a virtual environment. Describes the 6 approaches to co-teaching and gives examples for distance learning. 

TIES Center: Effective Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) Within the Distance Learning Environment: What in the World Does That Look Like? - TIES stands for Increasing (T)ime, (I)nstructional Effectiveness, (E)ngagement, and State and District (S)upport for Inclusive Practices. More has been added to this site that is really helpful tools. 

Provision of Related Services within a Remote Learning Context

Visit the following sites for information and resources to support the following related services areas:

Audiology Services:

• NCDPI - Virtual Related Services Guidance & Resources for Related Services
  • Audiology
• ASHA - Educational Audiologists Resources for Physical and Virtual Reopening

Counseling Services:

• NC School Psychology - COVID 19 Resources
  • Lighting Our Way Forward NC’s Reopening Guidance for School Psychology
• NC School Psychology - Telehealth Resources
• American Psychological Association - COVID 19 Information and Resources 
• NC School Counseling -
  • Lighting Our Way Forward NC’s Reopening Guidance for School Counseling
  • Resources Related to School Counseling During COVID-19
• NC School Counseling Association Coronavirus Updates and Resources
• American School Counselor Association COVID-19 Resources (related webinars also under the Events and Professional Development tab on the home page)
• Mental Health Technology Transfer Network - Responding to COVID-19: School Mental Health

Occupational Therapy:

• NC School-Based OT - COVID-19 and Telehealth Resources
• NC DPI Resource - The Value of School-Based OT During the Era of COVID-19
• NC DPI Resource - Continuous Learning Project: Life Skills, Job Readiness, and Community Participation
• American Occupational Therapy Association - Virtual School-Based Services via Telehealth

Orientation and Mobility Services: 

• The Orientation and Mobility Specialist Association (OMSA) offers "Mobility Mondays" through a weekly zoom meeting OMSA Mobility Monday COVID group notes - LiveBinder (livebinders.com)

Physical Therapy:

• APTA Pediatrics-
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for the Physical Therapy Profession
  •  Guide to COVID-19
  • School Re-opening Considerations for School-based Physical Therapy 
• NC SBPT website- 
  • Telehealth 
  • COVID-19
  • Re-opening
• SeekFreaks- 
  • Free Resources for OT, PT and Speech Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • What Interventions Work in Teletherapy? The Evidence

Psychological Services:

• NC School Psychology - COVID 19 Resources
  • Lighting Our Way Forward NC’s Reopening Guidance for School Psychology
• NC School Psychology - Telehealth Resources
• American Psychological Association - COVID 19 Information and Resources

School Health/School Nurse Services:

• North Carolina School Health Program Manual
• DPH School Nursing Support web page
• NC DHHS COVID-19 Guidance for K-12 Education
• NC Board of Nursing COVID Guidance and Temporary Waivers
• National Association of School Nurses (NASN) COVID-19 Resources
• NASN Considerations for School Nurses When Providing Virtual Care

Social Work Services:

• Lighting Our Way Forward NC’s Reopening Guidance for School Social Work
• NASW- Telemental Health: Legal Considerations for Social Workers
• SSWAA- COVID-19 Resources

Speech/Language Pathology:

• NC School, Speech Language Pathology - Telepractice Resources 
• American Speech, Language Hearing Association - Resources for Virtual Services

The purpose of this page is to provide resources to support educators with instructional planning and is not intended to supplant or replace any LEA's remote learning plan. 

Additional considerations when planning transition instruction and activities:

Please make sure that your transition supports address the unique needs of the student. We included resources that are helpful in general. However, individual students may respond differently to different approaches. No single transition resources is likely to address the needs of all students. Make sure your approach is appropriate for the student's individual needs.

Transition between settings: Early Learning & Early Childhood

NC FPG Early Learning Network Supporting Remote Learning for Early Childhood

NC Guiding Practices in Early Childhood Transition 

Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) Resources:

ECTA Preschool During the Pandemic: Early Childhood Education in Extraordinary Times

Emergencies and National Disasters: Helping Children and Families Cope - this resource is intended to support families in helping young children cope with the challenges that might occur during stressful emergency or disaster situations. 

National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) Age Appropriate Transition Assessment Toolkit

Tech and No-Tech Resources for Transition/Pre-ETS

Post-Secondary Transition Resources for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: A compilation of available resources related to Post-Secondary Transition in both North Carolina and nationally. Materials contained within this site are being provided as a resource and do not reflect an endorsement by the NC Dept. or Public Instruction. They are shared as potential tools for professionals working in the field of deaf education and hearing loss. 

WestEd NCSI - Transforming State Systems to Improve Outcomes for Children with Disabilities

Continuous Learning Project: Supporting Life Skills, Job Readiness, and Community Participation in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond