Focus Areas

Transitions in early childhood can feel like standing at the edge of a new wave—full of excitement, uncertainty, and opportunity. Whether a child is moving from Early Intervention to preschool special education services or transitioning from ECSE to kindergarten, families often look to early childhood professionals for guidance, reassurance, and support. Educators and service providers…

This summer, TTAC ODU is expanding our lending library with new, instructional reading materials for educators designed to support inclusive literacy and meaningful engagement for every learner. As you begin planning for the year ahead, these resources are here to help you strengthen access, instruction, and opportunity. We also invite you to listen to a…

Students who access the Virginia Essentialized Standards of Learning (VESOL) benefit from science instruction that is active, engaging, sensory-rich, and accessible. For students with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, complex communication needs, and multiple disabilities, science learning should include meaningful opportunities to explore, observe, communicate, experiment, and participate. The activities below include accessibility ideas to support…

Listening to Learn: Our 5 Favorite Podcast Picks! We are excited to feature the Cult of Pedagogy podcast this month as a part of our “Listening to Learn” Spring series. If you are looking for practical and relevant tools and tips, this one is for you! Hosted by Jennifer Gonzalez, the podcast explores real-world teaching…

Listening to Learn: Our 5 Favorite Podcast Picks!  During May’s Friday 5, we will be sharing a variety of educationally relevant resources that you can listen to in the office, on your drive, or even while you’re outside relaxing this Spring. Check out the Expert Instruction Podcast on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. They describe…

Notetaking is an important aspect of learning.  Recording new information, reviewing previously learned information, and drafting new ideas can all be retained in a notebook.  But what if you can’t find your notebook or forget it at school or work? What can a student or teacher do? Today’s technology provides lots of options for using…

Our next focus in this executive functioning skills series: self-monitoring skills… the skill that helps students to pause, notice what’s working (or not), and make adjustments along the way. Let's look at what self-monitoring means, why it matters, how challenges may show up, and strategies to consider.

For many students with disabilities, the challenge in reading isn’t answering comprehension questions — it’s constructing meaning while reading. Too often, we assess comprehension (“Who was the main character?” “Where did the story take place?”) without explicitly teaching students how to build understanding in the first place. Visualization changes that. Visualization is the instructional process…

Has “root cause analysis” shown up on your bingo card lately? If you are engaged in school improvement planning, developing support plans, or guiding teams through data conversations, chances are you’ve been asked to dig deeper into differences in performance and outcomes for identified student groups. While root cause analysis is not a new concept,…