Laura_Perran-Shoemake

**Research Interests**
My primary research interests revolve around making curriculum accessible to students with disabilities. I am interested in how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be used by general and special education teachers to enhance the continuum of services and provide access to standards-based curriculum and instruction. I would like to take the approach that it is not the students with the disability, rather the materials and methods that are inadequate in attempting to teach every student. I believe that UDL principles can be used to enhance learning opportunities for every student, but there are gaps in the current research. Questions I would like to answer include: 1. How can UDL instruction and technology impact learning for students with ASD? 2. Can the achievement gap on standardized tests be reduced with UDL instruction and technologies through the course of the school year? 3. Would UDL practices in the classroom increase student retention at the middle and high school levels?

**Theoretical Foundations**
UDL has its roots in Tomlinson's Differentiated Instruction (DI). The Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST) developed UDL principles using Tomlinson's DI practices while conducting brain-based studies to examine how students learn and interact with material when presented with learning supports. One philosophical perspective that is relevant to supporting students with learning difficulties is Sociocultural/Historicism. UDL allows for scaffolding to support learner development and competence. Vygotsky (1978) described the //zone of proximal development// in which he considered where the student was performing independently in comparison to performance with supports. Another perpective that is relevant to my research is Cognitive Constructivism. which considers the learner as an individual, with a unique perspective and learning needs. According to Spector et al (2008), "instructionally, sense-making opportunities are provided for learners to experience and thus construct new understandings" (p. 78). Thus is the case with UDL practices; teachers provide learning opportunities and instructional support so that students may access information and express what they have learned.

Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Merrienboer J. V., & Driscoll, M. P. (Eds.). (2008). //Handbook of research on educational communications and technology// (3rd ed.). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). //Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.// Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.