ABSTRACT
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have a student with a hearing impairment or auditory processing disorder? How would you need to adjust your teaching to help a student who is blind or has low vision? What accommodations would a student with a physical disability need in order to be successful? Aside from their disability, what strengths and abilities might the student have? How could you challenge and support that student? We argue that teachers can approach physical disabilities and impairments from an attribute perspective as opposed to a deficit perspective by using brain-based and research-based strategies to differentiate curriculum. In addition to providing auditory, visual, and tactile accommodations, we recommend all middle school teachers provide opportunities for active engagement through kinesthetic learning. We define kinesthetic learning as an instructional strategy which connects physical movement and social interaction with academic content. With regard to physical characteristics, diversity is easy to see every time one walks through a middle school. Young adolescents experience rapid, uneven growth and sexual maturity at different times. It is very important for middle-level teachers to remember these physical differences and not draw attention to them when planning classroom activities.
