ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes how the understanding and development of instructional practices helped provide students with multiple ways to approach learning. The culture of what had been widely accepted pedagogical methods among educators, once perceived as uniform for all, evolved into a much more prescriptive and deliberate approach to cater for the learning styles and instructionally diverse needs of each learner. The previously coined architectural term ''Universal Design for Learning'' emerged as a new and inclusive learning theory, complete with instructional implications and principles, which aligned very nicely with the previously established special education initiatives resulting from legislative decisions for students with disabilities. Originally coined by architect Ron Mace, Universal Design for Learning was established as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Current research on best practices in education shows increasing evidence that all students, regardless of ability, are demonstrating that they learn best with a more individualized, deliberate, and meaningful instructional approach.
