Approximately 3% to 6% of all school-aged children and adolescents are believed to have developmental reading disabilities. In fact, almost 50% of children receiving special education have learning disabilities. This key fact remains: just because a student is labeled learning disabled or at-risk, it does not mean he or she is incapable of learning.  

Students with learning disabilities have average to above average intelligence. Therefore, their success in school is not a matter of inability, but a matter of finding the appropriate teaching strategies and motivation tools, all of which we can control as a teacher. And if students are capable of learning, then they are capable of rigorous work.   

This is the first step of rigor for students with special needs--believing that they can, and will with your help.  Next, they need specific instructional scaffolding to assist them with learning.  A full list of tips is to the right, but one to consider is the Concrete-Representational-Abstract method.  It's particularly helpful for some students to begin (even with advanced lessons) at the concrete level rather than starting at the abstract level.  Also, it's not step-by-step, think of it as a recursive cycle.  Students may need to work through all three types, or they may need to go back to a different level if they are struggling.