Why One-to-One Instruction Can Make a Difference for Students with Disabilities
Every student deserves an educational experience that recognizes who they are, not simply their diagnosis. For students with autism, emotional-behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and other exceptionalities, traditional classroom instruction does not always provide the level of individualized support needed to be successful.
A student may understand a concept, but struggle to demonstrate that understanding in a larger group. Another student may need additional repetition, a different way of explaining a concept, or support with the significant anxiety that comes from being in a group setting. This is where one-to-one instruction can make a meaningful difference.
At AZ Aspire Academy, we believe that instruction should be responsive to each individual student, meeting them where they are at. Our one-to-one instructional model (for English and Math), allows educators to meet students where they are academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally, and then build tolerance in group learning settings from there.
What is One-to-One Instruction?
One-to-one instruction is an individualized approach in which a teacher works directly with one student at a time, allowing them to teach, accommodate, and modify lessons according to a students’ unique needs. Rather than requiring every student to move through the same lesson, at the same pace, in the same way, instruction is able to be adjusted to meet the student’s strengths, needs, and learning profile. This doesn’t mean students are provided worksheets or lessons individually. Effective one-to-one instruction requires intentional instruction, ongoing assessment, relationship building, and the ability to adjust instruction in real time.
The teacher can immediately recognize when a student may understand a concept, require additional support, need a break due to anxiety, or when a different instructional strategy needs to be implemented. The level of responsiveness can be immeasurably valuable for students with disabilities.
Instruction Can be Truly Individualized
One of the greatest advantages of one-to-one instruction is the ability to personalize learning. Students with disabilities have varying needs. Even students who share the same diagnosis can have drastically different academic abilities, communication styles, sensory needs, executive functioning skills, and social-emotional needs. One student may need additional time to master multiplication and division facts, while another student may be ready for more advanced mathematical concepts but require support with another academic area. In a one-to-one setting, instruction can be adjusted accordingly.
Teachers can accommodate:
The pace of instruction
The amount of repetition
The complexity of a task
The way directions are presented
The types of prompts provided
The materials and resources utilized
The amount of scaffolding and support
The way students demonstrate understanding
Many, many, many more areas
Instead of asking, “How do we get this student to understand this lesson?” educators can ask, “How can we teach this lesson in a way that the student learns best?”
Students Can Learn at Their Own Pace
For many students with disabilities, learning takes time. Some students may need additional time to process information, practice a new skills, or connect a new concept to something they already know. Others may master a skill quickly and benefit from moving forward rather than waiting for the rest of the class. One-to-one instruction allows teachers to respond to those differences.
If a student needs more practice, the teacher can provide it without the student being embarrassed or feeling as though they’re behind. If a student demonstrates mastery, the teacher is able to move on to the next skills. This creates opportunities for both remediation and acceleration.
Teachers Can Provide Immediate Feedback
Feedback is an important part of learning. In a traditional classroom, the teacher may not be able to immediately identify every student’s misunderstanding. By the time the assignment is graded, the student may have practiced a skill incorrectly several times. One-to-one instruction allows teachers to observe students as they work and provide immediate feedback.
A teacher can say:
“Let’s try that another way.”
“I can see where this became confusing. Let’s go back one step.
“You got the first part right. Now let’s work on the next step together.”
These small moments can prevent frustration from becoming discouragement and help students experience success while learning.
Instruction Can Account for Social-Emotional and Behavioral Needs
For students with emotional disabilities, autism, ADHD, and other challenges, academic success may be closely connected to social-emotional regulation. A student who is overwhelmed, anxious, frustrated, or dysregulated may have difficulty accessing instruction, even when they have the academic ability to complete the tasks presented. One-to-one instruction allows educators to recognize these needs and triggers and respond proactively.
Teachers can incorporate opportunities to practice:
Self-regulation
Communication
Self-advocacy
Problem-solving
Coping strategies
Flexibility
Task initiation
Perseverance
These skills are not separate from learning. They are often essential to a student’s ability to participate successfully in school and life after school.
Students Can Build Confidence Through Success
Repeated academic frustration can have a significant impact on a student’s confidence. A student who consistently experiences failure may begin to believe that they are “bad at school” or that they simply cannot learn. One-to-one instruction creates more opportunities for educators to identify achievable steps toward a larger goal. When students experience success, they develop a new mindset:
“I can do this!”
That confidence can become a powerful part of the learning process. Teachers can gradually increase expectations while continuing to provide the support students need to be successful. Over time, the goal is not simply to help students complete busywork, but to become increasingly independent learners.
Relationships Become Part of the Learning Process
Learning is built on relationships. When a teacher works closely with a student, they have a unique opportunity to learn and understand how the student communicates, what motivates them, what causes frustration, and what strategies are critical to their success. The teacher begins to recognize the student’s strengths, not just their areas of need. For students who have experienced years of academic frustration or misunderstanding, having a teacher who knows them well can be transformative. A strong teacher-student relationship can create an environment where students feel safe enough to take academic risks, make mistakes, ask questions, try again, and challenge themselves.
Skills Can Be Generalized Beyond the Classroom
One-to-one instruction can also provide opportunities to connect academic learning to the real world. For some students, knowing how to complete a task in an instructional setting is the first step. They also need meaningful opportunities to practice the skills in different environments and situations.
For example, a student may learn mathematics through an individualized lesson and then apply those skills while budgeting, shopping, cooking, or managing money in other ways. A student working on communication skills may practice those skills during instruction and then apply them when interacting with peers, teachers, family, or community members.
The ultimate goal of education is not only academic achievement. It is helping students develop the skills they need to participate meaningfully and successfully in their lives.
One-to-One Does Not Mean “One Size Fits All”
Perhaps one of the most important things to understand about individualized instruction is that individualized does not mean identical, in fact, quite the opposite! The goal isn’t to provide every student with the exact same learning experience; the goal is to provide each student with the right level of support they need to help them be successful. Effective individualized instruction begins with understanding the student.
At AZ Aspire Academy, we recognize that our students bring incredible strengths, talents, personalities, and potential into the classroom. Our one-to-one instructional model allows our educators to design learning experiences around the individual student rather than expecting each student to learn the same way. We meet students where they are, identify where they want and need to go, and then develop intentional plans to get there. Every student deserves to experience success at school, and every student deserves to know that they are capable of learning, growing, and achieving more than they may have thought possible. One-to-one instruction isn’t about lowering expectations. It’s about removing the barriers to reaching them.
