This presentation will inform participants on a study targeting teaching Middle School ELA skills via an App to students with significant disabilities. Based on results of an IES SBIR grant funded single subject study, participants will learn about apps to make accessing the general curriculum motivating and easy to use while promoting best practices and future directions for inclusive practices. At the end of this session participants will be able to: Identify evidence based practices built within an English/ Language Arts app to for students with significant disabilities (e.g., story based lessons, constant time delay, system of least prompts). Gain knowledge on creation and research behind the app. Identify strategies to teach grade aligned Common Core standards in English/ Language Arts, such as adapting grade appropriate texts, and embedding target vocabulary, target comprehension across Blooms Taxonomy. Gain knowledge about future directions for expansion of the app to cover more English/ Language Arts standards. Identify resources for meaningful access to the general curriculum using a variety of text depicting diverse populations for individuals with significant disabilities, including autism.

Education professionals are challenged with re-evaluating the learning capacity of students with developmental disabilities (e.g., intellectual disabilities, autism). Assistive technology (AT) provides both the means for delivery of instruction and the measure of outcomes. Students with developmental disabilities are learning to read and develop general education English Language Arts (ELA) skills across the grade span. This article summarizes ten selected research studies that demonstrate gains of students with developmental disabilities, including individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), who have made measurable strides in literacy general education ELA skills. This selected research focused on literacy interventions specifically created for students with developmental disabilities which incorporated the use of AT, use systematic instruction and shared stories, and are commercially available. The research studies include a range of literacy instruction from picture books and early literacy skills to adapted contemporary fiction novels grade aligned to general education secondary level ELA. In these research protocols, AT facilitated both the delivery oof instruction and measure of outcomes.