Our Unique Approach
Do your students with an intellectual disability have trouble with reading comprehension and communicating with others? Aside from their disability, the research tells us their biggest issue is lack of background knowledge, which is needed to make sense of all new information. Students with an intellectual disability lack significant knowledge on a myriad of topics, which limits their understanding of reading material, conversations, and movies. It impacts all aspects of their lives. Our curriculum directly addresses this HUGE problem. By using our curriculum, you will change students’ lives. They will learn all sorts of things. They will have a better understanding of the world, better communication skills, and a more meaningful life.
Creating research-based curriculum that is aligned to common core and addresses the cognitive impairments of students with an intellectual disability is time-consuming and challenging. We love creating this material and have spent the last few years designing units using best practices to make this easy for you. We have created books, lesson plans, printable assignments, flashcards, and more. Our data collection instrument tracks student learning. The very best part, is that you will lead your students with disabilities toward developing to their fullest potential.
Contextualized Materials
Our curriculum utilizes thematic and interdisciplinary units to develop background knowledge. A biography of a famous person is the starting point from which 2 or more books are created to develop concepts that originated in the biography. Language Arts, social studies, science, math, social skills, and life skills are organically incorporated into the curriculum.
Conversation Strategies
Our lesson plans are custom-made to guide educators in effectively engaging students in meaningful conversations as they learn content. We provide a variety of short answer, yes/no, pointing, and sharing questions for each page of each book. Educators rave about this unique aspect of our curriculum.
Background Knowledge
We have an original approach to educating students with an ID that is state-of-the-art. Numerous strategies to support at-risk learners were utilized in our design. We use high interest topics to incorporate general education content, and at the same time address the development of practical knowledge.
Easy & Flexible
Every unit is aligned with L.A. Standards, addresses common IEP goals, and follows best practices. It’s all done and ready for you!
Inclusion Teachers
Our modified U.S. History Units are Fully Developed Units that align to ELA Standards and Social Studies Standards in grades 1-12.
Day Programs
All of our materials include U.S. History topics that address IEP goals in the context of General Education curriculum
Speech Therapists
We designed materials to be super easy to use. Each page of each book (we are talking 2 to 3 sentences per page including a picture) has teachers notes that provide all the talking points needed to deliver effective instruction.
Parents
With this license, you will have unlimited use of all of our Biography units. This includes materials we currently have, and every new unit we design and add to this curriculum category. By providing access to the entire curriculum category, you have the flexibility to adhere to the scope and sequence that meets your needs.
The Curriculum
You will get access to all of our current units plus every new one we add to the curriculum.
We are constantly creating new units. More to come!
Learning Outcomes
- Consistently building new vocabulary and knowledge
- Recognizing opportunities to say something
- Thinking of something to say
- Understanding the purpose of asking questions is to learn more
- How to think through what they want to know more about
- Asking pertinent questions
- Understanding what is being asked
- Answering questions accurately
FAQ
What comes with this curriculum?
An e-book, printable book, Main Idea Cards, Summary worksheets at 3 different levels, WH Questions in 3 different levels, and teaching notes to guide conversations.
How would teachers use this program?
Students need a lot of support developing language skills. As a result, taking time to work on this daily can help accelerate learning. Our curriculum can be used at any point during the day.
How can day programs use this curriculum?
This curriculum would be a fantastic way to start the day. It can also be used with groups of various sizes at any point during the day program.
Is this program helpful for speech therapists?
Speech therapists love this program. The content is very engaging and practical. The conversation skills that students are working on need some sort of context that holds their interest. This material is incredibly engaging. Students love it.
How can high school students best use this program?
This is a great way to start the day. It can also be used during the classroom period designated for life skills, work transition, and speech and language time.
What role does building background knowledge play in communication?
Just like when you begin reading something, the level of understanding you are going to have about the reading material is based largely on what you know about the topic already. The same is true for conversational skills. The more background knowledge people have, the higher functioning they are at communicating and understanding everything.
How much time goes into planning these lessons?
Almost none. We have done just about everything for you. If you project the e-book, and have the
How does this develop conversational skills?
Conversational skills need to be practiced, and students need a context to engage in a conversation.
How do you engage students in conversations?
We have created interesting materials that incorporates topics to talk about that meet the learners where they are at in terms of what they already know so we can expand from there. We also give you notes so that you won’t be at a loss for what to say to encourage conversations and you won’t miss an opportunity to bring up a topic you. The heavy lifting has been done. Enjoy!
How are conversation skills developed in this program?
This curriculum incorporates a lot of questions directly in the books and teacher notes are provided for each page to help teach students how to look at something and come up with ways that it can be talked about with others.
What is special about your teacher notes?
Our teacher notes give you ideas for engaging students in the content and conversation. The instructional strategies follow best practices.
What if I am not satisfied?
Happy Customers
Here’s what they are saying
I am pleased to positively endorse Janet Romo’s books from Austin & Lily Solutions. What I have discovered in using her books is, yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks. My group’s reading levels range from 1st grade to 5th grade. With that being said, Janet’s books are working positively for each of them individually and as a reading group as a whole. Janet’s topics are age-appropriate for adults. The first book we used was on Taylor Swift. Because she has chosen interesting and applicable topics, my clients have embraced her books and in addition, they now have subject matter to discuss and have conversations about. A win/win as far as I am concerned! I highly recommend Janet’s series of books. I am so grateful someone has finally developed reading material that appreciates and embraces how those who have intellectual disabilities learn and comprehend!
Who Can Use a License?
A license is to be used by one teacher / therapist / parent.
The materials on this website are made available to individuals for use in classroom or individual instruction. For these purposes only, materials can be downloaded, printed and/or copied by the individual for all of their students or clients. Use by more than one individual will require a license for each person.
We do monitor the number of “hits” associated with each subscription, and excessive use can result in an account suspension.
Get Started
Sign up today and get access to all of our Speech & Language materials for 1 year.