What Is Specially Designed Instruction? It's Not a Place, a Block of Minutes, or an Accommodation

Think about the last IEP you read. Could a substitute pick it up tomorrow and know exactly what to teach differently?

That's the question Dr. David Bateman asked special education leaders at our latest Learn-a-Latte session. David is a Parallel advisor, a former teacher and administrator, and literally wrote the book on specially designed instruction (SDI). He has also been involved in over a thousand due process hearings. He's seen what happens when SDI is vague.

His central argument is simple. SDI is not a place. It's not a staff member, a label, or a block of minutes. SDI is what we change instructionally because this particular student needs it.

If you remember one question, make it this one: What is the adult going to teach or do differently the next time they see this student?

What Specially Designed Instruction Means Under IDEA

Under IDEA, SDI means adapting, as appropriate, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction. It does two jobs at once: it addresses the unique needs that result from a student's disability, and it ensures access to the general curriculum.

Those three words give teams a working framework:

• Content is what is taught. Example: systematically teaching phoneme-grapheme correspondence before expecting grade-level decoding.
• Methodology is how we teach. Explicit modeling, scaffolded practice, error correction, rehearsal, cumulative review.
• Delivery is how we arrange instruction so the student can learn. Pace, intensity, grouping, frequency.

Put simply, SDI is an intentional change to teaching based on an identified need. Both halves of the definition matter. Skill work with no tie to the curriculum becomes an isolated program. Access supports with no skill instruction leave the underlying need untouched.

4 Things SDI Is Not

1. SDI is not a place. A resource room, a small group table, a gen ed classroom, a therapy room. Each tells us where. None tells us what is specially designed. A student can get excellent explicit instruction in any of them, or sit in a resource room for 30 minutes and get none.

2. SDI is not minutes. "30 minutes weekly" is a schedule, and administrators need it. But it says nothing about the skill, the sequence, the method, or the feedback. As David put it, minutes are evidence of opportunity. Instruction and student response tell the rest of the story.

3. SDI is not an accommodation. Extended time, preferential seating, breaks, and text-to-speech help students access the task. They're often essential. But they don't teach a new skill. Explicit teaching, guided role play, corrective feedback, planned prompt sequences, and generalization practice do. Most strong IEPs include both. Don't drop an accommodation because it isn't SDI, and don't relabel one as SDI.

4. SDI is not generic good teaching. "Staff will support the student" sounds caring. It isn't a plan. The fast test: delete the student's name. If the sentence fits every child in the class, or could be pasted into 50 IEPs unchanged, it needs more detail.

SDI vs. Accommodations: Classify by Function, Not by Tool Name

The same tool can play either role. A visual checklist handed to a student is an accommodation. A checklist the student is explicitly taught to build, use, check, and eventually manage alone is part of SDI. The question is always: did we only remove a barrier, or did we change instruction to teach a skill?

• Text-to-speech in science: Accommodation. It gives access to print without teaching decoding.
• Explicit decoding instruction: SDI. It names a skill and a recognizable teaching method.
• "Small group reading support": Not enough information. Grouping is a delivery feature, not what is taught.
• An explicitly taught planning routine: SDI. It's direct instruction in an executive functioning skill.
• Calm-down card and visual scale: Either. Providing it is access; teaching and fading its use is SDI.
• Weekly counseling group attendance: Not enough information. It names a setting and frequency, not a skill.
• Teaching a request-help, request-break, return routine: SDI. It teaches a replacement behavior.
• Behavior chart sent home on Fridays: Not enough information. Reporting is not teaching.
• Revising instruction when data show a skill gap: SDI. Data drives a change in teaching.

One more distinction from the session: data collection on its own is not instruction. An FBA explains why behavior happens. A BIP organizes the response. The student still has to be taught the replacement skill.

10 Weak SDI Statements, and What's Missing

These come straight from IEPs David has reviewed. Each sounds supportive. Each leaves the teacher guessing.

1. "Specially designed instruction will be provided as outlined in the IEP." Circular. It points back to itself.
2. "Specialized instruction in math for 30 minutes." Quantity? Operations? Word problems? What's different?
3. "Individualized instruction in reading." Decoding, fluency, comprehension, or morphology? Using what method?
4. "Instruction will be modified to meet the student's needs." Modified how? Is the method changing, or the expectation?
5. "Special education staff will help the student with assignments." Help isn't a skill. Name what is being taught.
6. "Student will be provided reteaching." Reteaching the same lesson more slowly isn't an individualized response.
7. "Student will receive small group instruction." A useful delivery feature. Still no skill.
8. "Teacher will provide assistance as needed." Who decides what's needed? Which prompts? When do they fade?
9. "Student will receive support in the general education classroom." Support doing what, by whom?
10. "Student will receive reading support." The most common one. Also the easiest to copy without improving.

None of these have to be deleted if they accurately describe services. They just can't be the only description.

How to Write a Strong SDI Statement: Need, Change, Delivery, Data

Work through five questions in order:

1. What skill is being taught?
2. Why is that skill instruction disability-related for this student?
3. How is instruction adapted?
4. Who delivers it, when, and how often?
5. What evidence will tell us it's working?

Then swap soft verbs for teaching verbs. Replace support, help, and assist with teach, model, rehearse, prompt, correct, review, and fade.

Two precise sentences beat a paragraph of impressive jargon. Here's what the shift looks like:

Weak: Student will receive reading support.
Strong: Because decoding accuracy is below expected levels, the special educator will provide explicit phonics instruction using modeling, guided practice, error correction, and cumulative review 4 times per week, with weekly probes reviewed every 4 weeks.

Weak: Student will receive adult support as needed.
Strong: Because the student does not independently initiate tasks, the teacher will explicitly teach a task-start routine, provide guided practice, systematically fade prompts, and track independent starts daily.

These are illustrations, not clauses to paste. Baseline, dosage, staff, and review schedule still have to be individualized. Want to go deeper on the data side? Read our guide to tracking and monitoring IEP goals.

SDI Examples Across Domains

• Reading: For persistent weakness in foundational decoding, teach phonemic awareness and phonics explicitly and systematically, with blending, error correction, and cumulative review. Monitor with weekly decoding probes.
• Math: For difficulty with quantity, operations, or problem steps, use a concrete-representational-abstract sequence with modeled problem solving and guided practice. Monitor with probes tied to the skill, not a quarterly grade.
• Writing: "Poor written expression" isn't a teachable target. For a student who generates ideas orally but can't organize them on paper, teach planning, sentence frames, graphic organizers, and an explicit revision routine. Monitor with writing samples and a rubric matched to the goal.
• Executive functioning: For an 8 to 10 minute delay before starting work, teach a task-start routine: identify the first step, gather materials, set a start target, begin, self-check. Model, guide, give feedback, fade prompts. Track daily latency.
• Behavior: For escalation during transitions or non-preferred tasks, teach replacement communication, a transition routine, self-monitoring, and problem solving. Track both the challenging behavior and use of the replacement skills.
• Social-emotional: For a student who misses early signs of anxiety and then refuses tasks, teach recognition of body cues, coping strategy selection, help seeking, and returning to the task.

The goal in every domain is the same. Not compliance. Skill growth and more independence. See what that looks like for a real student in SDI in Action: How Individualized Support Improved Reading Outcomes.

The Staff-Change Test

David's number one test: imagine the person who wrote the IEP is out tomorrow. Could a new special educator read it and find the skill, the routine, the schedule, and the evidence to collect?

If not, the plan depends on unwritten knowledge. That's not a knock on skilled teachers. It's a reason to make their practices portable. Turnover, a long-term sub, a caseload change, or a student transfer should never erase an instructional plan. The best SDI survives a staff change.

Your Next Step: One IEP, Not a Whole Caseload

Pick one existing IEP. Trace one need from the evaluation to the present levels, the goal, the SDI, and the progress data. Find the first place the story breaks. Fix it through your IEP team's process, and make it your team's example.

The fastest improvement usually isn't a new form or a new compliance slogan. It's alignment.

Frequently Asked Questions About SDI

What is specially designed instruction in special education?

Under IDEA, SDI means adapting the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address a student's disability-related needs and ensure access to the general curriculum. In practice, it's what the adult teaches or does differently for this student.

What's the difference between SDI and an accommodation?

An accommodation removes a barrier so a student can access the same learning, like extended time or text-to-speech. SDI changes what, how, or how intensively a skill is taught. Many IEPs need both.

Is small group instruction SDI?

Not by itself. Small group is a delivery feature. It becomes part of SDI only when the IEP also names the skill, the teaching method, and how progress will be measured.

How do you explain SDI to new teachers?

Start with the definition: content, methodology, delivery. Then show what it isn't. Extra time, reading directions aloud, and sitting near the teacher aren't SDI on their own. David's formula: identify the disability-related need, add the specialized instructional approach, and pair it with progress monitoring.

How do you help general education teachers understand SDI?

Stop presenting SDI as a special ed compliance requirement. Present it as a shared instructional responsibility, built around one question: when a student with a disability isn't learning from the way we teach, what will we change about our instruction?

How can I tell if an SDI statement is strong enough?

Try the staff-change test. If a new team member could read it tomorrow and know the skill, the routine, the schedule, and the data to collect, it's ready.

Get the Free SDI Toolkit

David's field-tested toolkit is free. It includes a short SDI self-check for IEP reviews, a guide for general education teachers, and a guide on 504 plans. Share it with your building leaders and gen ed teams.

Improve SDI at your district

Want to put this into practice across your district? Parallel partners with districts as one team for specialized instruction, speech-language therapy, psychoeducational assessments, and counseling, with clinical oversight built in.

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