Blueprint + Toolkit: Demystifying Universal Design for Learning and the Slingerland Approach

I remember realizing during my first year of teaching that I was at the front of a class of twenty-five students with twenty-five different sets of needs. Being limited to a boxed curriculum and a suite of approved e-learning options was a surefire recipe to fail some of my students most of the time. 

In the modern classroom, "one size fits all" is a relic of the past. What educators today need instead is a blueprint for what a class should look like and a toolkit of instructional practices tailored to that subject. 

This is where Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the Slingerland^® Approach pair beautifully together. The alignment between the two allows educators to balance two important goals: delivering structured, research-based instruction while also meeting the diverse needs of all learners.

Blueprint: Universal Design for Learning

Imagine you are building a public park. You could build stairs and then add a ramp later as an "extra" feature, or you could design the entire landscape with graded slopes so that everyone—whether they are walking, using a wheelchair, or pushing a stroller—can navigate it naturally.

The Goal of UDL is to make the general education curriculum accessible to everyone from the start. It is a proactive framework that assumes variability is the rule, not the exception. It rests on three main pillars:

• Multiple Means of Engagement: Tapping into student interests and offering choices to keep students motivated as part of a rich learning community (the "Why").

• Multiple Means of Representation: Presenting information in various ways including lecture, discussion, video, audio, text, and/or hands-on experiences (the "What").

• Multiple Means of Action & Expression: Letting students show what they know in a variety of ways such as a speech, a drawing, a test, or a project (the "How").

  
  

The UDL guidelines provide a blueprint to develop valuable learning experiences where a variety of learners are supported and successful. UDL is a tremendous source of education principles.

Toolkit: Slingerland Approach

Let’s go back to building that public park. We know that our gentle slopes and ramps will make the space navigable for everyone. There are some major questions to answer. What is the best angle for that gentle slope? What should we build the ramps out of? What tools do we need to use to ensure those ramps will last for years to come? We need a toolkit and the expertise to use it well.

While UDL is the architecture of the whole classroom, the Slingerland^® Approach is that specialized, high-precision toolkit. 

Developed from the Orton-Gillingham method and backed by the Science of Reading, the Slingerland Approach is a Simultaneous Multi-Sensory instructional technique. This rigorous approach balances the individual needs of learners by building on oral language development to link the three modalities of language learning: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic-motor.

• Interactive and Multisensory: It supports the brain’s natural learning process by engaging the Visual (seeing the letter), the Auditory (hearing the sound), and the Kinesthetic (the physical feeling of writing the letter in the air or on paper) all at once.

• Systemic and Sequential: All skills and content move from simple to complex. Students don't move to step B until they have demonstrated sufficient success with step A. 

• Preventing Failure by Ensuring Success: Daily routines allow teachers to constantly assess student learning and target areas of challenge the moment they arise. Because of that, students grow from success to success.

• Scaffolded Practice and Timely Feedback: It provides targeted practice so students focus on what they need. Teachers give in-the-moment feedback to ensure students are practicing correctly and progressing toward their learning goals.

• Flexible Framework: It covers all elements of literacy development and acquisition and is easily adjusted for contents beyond ELA.

• All Skills Put to Functional Use: The ultimate goal of every practice is the student gains the ability to successfully use their skills independently in real-world situations, be it reading, writing, listening, speaking, or thinking critically.

Blueprint + Toolkit = Limitless Possibilities

You don’t have to choose between a blueprint and a toolkit—you need both whether building a public park or an effective classroom.

A teacher can use UDL to select topics, passages, and activities that provide students with clear voice and choice. Simultaneously, that same teacher might use Slingerland techniques to ensure that students are getting the targeted multisensory instruction, practice, and feedback to read those engaging passages and succeed in their chosen activity.

When we combine the broad accessibility of UDL with the targeted precision of Slingerland, we create a classroom where every student doesn't just "get by"—they thrive.