Determining Difference from Disability: What Culturally Responsive Teachers Should Know

By: Gerry McCain and Megan Farnsworth

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Synopsis: This essential book offers clear guidelines for determining if the Culturally Linguistically Diverse (CLD) students / English Language Learners (ELL) in your general education classroom are experiencing typical language differences, learning disabilities, or both. By combining helpful case-studies with insightful research, the authors provide a framework for differentiating instruction that uses culturally appropriate interventions to build upon student strengths while creating a foundation for further learning and achievement. You will discover how to: Connect your own and your students’ cultural assets to classroom content; Review language acquisition stages and design corresponding instruction; Collaborate with peers and discuss the realities of reaching out for support and problem solving; Choose effective and appropriate instructional strategies based on documentation of data through progress monitoring; Move from a traditional behavioristic perspective to a more culturally responsive perspective; Identify patterns in formal assessments and informal instruction in order to distinguish between language differences and learning disabilities. In addition, the book includes a number of activities and graphs that can be implemented immediately in any classroom. Many of these materials can be downloaded for free from the book’s product page: www.routledge.com/9781138577756.