TIES TIPS Foundations of Inclusion

Introduction

Reading comprehension is a complex task involving several cognitive skills and processes that work together in order for students to understand the text they read. Students must be able to recall and sequence information, make inferences from insights about the text, and integrate their new learning with previously learned material. In this TIPS, we give suggestions for teachers on how to teach inferencing skills to all learners in an inclusive classroom. The examples presented are reflective of a collaborative process required to plan the use of inferencing strategies in inclusive classrooms through the UDL framework. To learn more about the process and how to implement it in an inclusive general education classroom, please see the TIES Center 5-15-45 tool.

Evidence

Inferential comprehension is often defined as when students “read between the lines” of a given text. It involves the reader integrating literal understanding of what is happening in context with their prior background knowledge, intuition, and imagination to derive meaning and extensions of their thoughts (William & Mary Technical Assistance & Training Center, 2002).

 In Barrett and Smith’s (1974) Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension, eight subtasks are possible when making inferences. Noted below, there are different goals for each type of inference:

• Inferring supporting details – guessing about additional facts the author could have included in the selection that would have made it more informative, interesting, or appealing.
• Inferring the main idea – providing the main idea, general significance, theme, or moral that is not explicitly stated in the selection.
• Inferring sequence – guessing what action or incident might have taken place between two explicitly stated actions or incidents or making hypotheses about what could happen next.
• Inferring comparisons – inferring likenesses and differences in characters, times, or places.
• Inferring cause-and-effect relationships – hypothesizing about the motives of characters and their interactions with others and with time and place.
• Inferring character traits – hypothesizing about the nature of characters on the basis of explicit clues presented in the selection.
• Predicting outcomes – guessing the outcome of a selection after reading an initial portion.
• Inferring about figurative language – inferring literal meanings from the author’s figurative use of language (p. 54-55).

To learn more about the process of inferencing see Effective Teaching of Inference Skills: A Literature Review .

Research Support for Teaching How to Make Inferences

Reading comprehension, including inferencing, is a necessary target within literacy instruction for all students across all grade levels (Browder et al., 2009). According to Pearson and Duke (2002), reading comprehension is best taught for all students through explicit instruction, “Comprehension improves when teachers provide explicit instruction in the use of comprehension strategies. Comprehension improves when teachers implement activities that support the understanding of the text that students will read in their classes” ( p. 247). Reading comprehension as a whole has an extensive literature base; however, research specific to students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive settings is still limited (e.g. Saunders et al., 2020).

Implementation

Several strategies exist to teach how to make inferences and this section will focus on ones that would make a good fit for the inclusive classroom setting. We will also share some adaptations using a case study student with examples.

Inclusive Implementation

One way to ensure all students have equal access when making inferences is to use the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL; Meyer et al., 2014). UDL is a framework to help teachers develop lessons and activities that include all students by addressing engagement, representation, and action and expression. These UDL principles help educators to make the most of varying student strengths and reduced barriers when teaching how to make inferences. When students have improved access to content and instructional practices, such as when they are making inferences, they are able to show what they know and become more independent and actively engaged.

Making Inferences in Action

Below are examples showcasing a collaborative team approach to provide all students with explicit instruction on making inferences, including students with a significant cognitive disability. Using a UDL framework, barriers and potential solutions are provided showing where teachers can create access points for these students. Several strategies for making inferences are included in the resource section near the bottom of this article. Each of the 25 strategies/activities included in William & Mary’s The Inferential Reading Comprehension Considerations Packet address different types of inferencing. We suggest the following as a starting point to adapt for students with significant disabilities:

• Question-Answer Relationships (QAR)
• Cloze Procedure
• Directed Reading and Thinking Activity (DRTA)
• Graphic Organizers (for more information see TIES TIP #10 The Use of Graphic Organizers in Inclusive Classrooms for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities)
• Justifying Answers
• What is it?
• Picture This
• Sequencing Text
• Open Mind
• Personality Traits
• Simple Sentences
• Think Aloud

We use a student vignette to highlight three of these strategies (Picture This, Sequencing Text, and Open Mind). The vignette addresses three different types of inferences ( main idea, sequence, and character traits) using a UDL framework for decision making and collaboration between team members.

Meet Welles

Welles is a 5th grader with diagnoses of a severe intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. He attends school in an inclusive setting with a paraprofessional, Mr. Tommy, who splits his time between two other students with disabilities in Mrs. Jenkins’ general education class. Welles responds more regularly to Mr. Tommy than to other adults in the room or to his peers. Welles communicates best through the use of gestures, some signs, and a speech generating device (SGD). Welles has strengths in mathematics and can answer many math computation problems from memory. In reading, he and his class participate in Reader’s Workshop in which Mrs. Jenkins and his special education teacher, Ms. Enriquez, co-teach lessons. Welles is more engaged when the teachers share images or video clips to go along with Reader’s Workshop lessons. Following the whole group lesson, he rotates with a small group of students with, and without, disabilities to the paraprofessional. In this small group, students work on the day’s Good Reader Strategy. Welles likes doing activities in the class with his peers. However, when the class breaks off into small groups to do activities requiring higher order thinking skills, Mrs. Jenkins often gives Welles’  group other assignments that require only literal recall from the lesson or class reading. While the gesture to differentiate is appreciated, Ms. Enriquez wants Welles and the other students in his group to be challenged. Mrs. Enriquez wants to help support Welles in participating more fully in the general education content. She wants him to be expected to meet the same high expectations Mrs. Jenkins holds for all her students. The context for the examples will occur within this group structure (i.e., Welles and his group working with the paraprofessional).

Welles’ general education teacher, special education teacher, and the classroom paraprofessional met quickly to discuss his participation in the "Good Reader Strategy: Good readers make inferences about the main idea" in the general education classroom. Here’s their conversation:

Team Input conversation transcript

See the table below for the process and outcomes the team used to come up with a plan for Welles’ participation in the classroom activity of inferring main idea using the Picture This strategy (page 10 of PDF) .

Welles’ team members met again to discuss his continued participation in the “Good Reader strategy: Good readers make inferences about sequencing” in the general education classroom. Here’s their conversation:

Team Input conversation transcript

See the table below for the process and outcomes the team used to come up with a plan for Welles’ participation in the classroom activity of inferencing sequence using the Sequencing Text strategy (page 11 of PDF) .

Welles’ team members met again to discuss his continued participation in the “Good Reader Strategy: Good readers make inferences about character traits” in the general education classroom. Here’s their conversation:

Team Input conversation transcript

See the table below for the process and outcomes the team used to come up with a plan for Welles’ participation in the classroom activity of inferring character traits using the Open Mind strategy (page 14 of PDF) .

For students with significant cognitive disabilities, teaching them how to make inferences requires planning by general education and special education teachers and staff. Thoughtful consideration of strategies, and adaptations to strategies, to explicitly teach inferencing skills is critical to the academic achievement of all students who struggle to comprehend text. When teams work together to create access points for these students, authentic participation is possible.