Planning Lessons for Students With Significant Disabilities in High School English Classes

Students with significant disabilities require adaptations to the general curriculum in order to access the content and make progress toward IEP goals. Adapted texts are commonly used to provide access to grade-level literature. Adapted texts usually include simplified vocabulary, supports for comprehension such as pictures, and features to make the books or digital books physically accessible for students with fine motor challenges. A research base for supporting access to text in elementary and middle school exists; however, the complex literature assigned in high school English/language arts classes can be difficult to adapt. In this paper, we provide a set of simple steps for adapting high school English/language arts literature to provide access to general curriculum content and promote progress on literacy IEP goals for students with significant disabilities.