Teaching Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) Essential Elements to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities - Sample Mathematics Lesson

Sep 22, 2026

Upload by Liam

Sample mathematics lesson training explains how to teach Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) Essential Elements to students with significant cognitive disabilities. The module highlights linkage levels and mini-maps as the foundation for individualized teaching plans, and addresses the common challenge that learners may not be ready for commercial materials. It also provides practical guidance on finding mini-map resources and demonstrates five lesson activities for teaching recognizing wholeness in grades 3–8 and high school.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Sample Mathematics Lesson

Overview and instructional needs

Linkage levels and mini-maps

When learners are not ready for commercial resources

Where to find mini-map documents

Simplified list of initial and distal precursor skills

Five lesson sequence: recognizing wholeness

Lesson days 1–3 (examples)

Teaching Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) Essential Elements to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities Sample Mathematics Lesson Slide 1: This presentation uses an example mathematics lesson to explain how to teach Essential Elements to students with signiﬁcant cognitive disabilities. Slide 2: My name is Mindy Kimball, and I work at the Mary Cariola Center. I developed andwill present this module. Slide 3: But my students can’t do that. Is this a feeling you have when reading through the Essential Elements? Instruction of Essential Elements is required by us as teachers. Fortunately, many of us do have access to resources that help guide our instruction. For example, Unique Learning System aligns to these standards and gives us a great foundation, but Unique Learning System doesn’t always provide appropriate skillselections for our students. An overwhelming opinion is,“My kids can’t do math; I don’t know what to teach.” I agree that math is a diTicult subject to teach many students with signiﬁcant disabilities using the resources we have access to. In Unique Learning System, the materials start with number identiﬁcation, move on to 1:1 correspondence, all four operations, fractions, algebra, and beyond. I hope to broaden your exposure to the Essential Elements and show you that, yes, our students can be taught math. Slide 4: You have likely looked through the blueprints and have seen that each Essential Element is broken down into ﬁve linkage levels. Those linkage levels are broken down even further into mini-maps. Mini-maps allow you to determine where on the course towards mastering speciﬁc Essential Elements each of your students’ abilities are. The mini-map then becomes the basis for a teaching plan. This resource is extremely helpful but also large and can feel overwhelming. Teachers I work with have proven it diTicult to set the time aside necessary to dig into the mini-maps and create teaching plans. Slide 5: Students whose skill base fall into the Initial Precursor or Distal Precursor linkage levels tend to be the ones who are not ready for the lessons provided in commercial resources targeted for students with signiﬁcant cognitive disabilities. Since the Initial Precursor and Distal Precursor linkage levels are the lowest two levels for an Essential Element, their connection to the Essential Element is sometimes unclear. Each mini-map document includes explanations about how the Initial Precursor and Distal Precursor linkage levels relate to the Target level for the Essential Element. This information is usually provided on page 2 of the mini-maps document, with the mini-map itself on the following page. This kind of information is contained in the mini-maps documents for each English language arts, or ELA, and mathematics Essential Element. This training is just focused on math since math is the subject more teachers feel less conﬁdent instructing. Slide 6: To ﬁnd the mini-maps documents, [go to dynamiclearningmaps.org](go to dynamiclearningmaps.org), select New York from the list of states under the For States tab in the main menu, and then locate the documents entitled Currently Tested Essential Elements in the list of resources. Separate documents are provided for ELA, mathematics, and science. Each document lists each Essential Element as a hyperlink, and each hyperlink directs to a document that includes that Essential Elements’ linkage levels, explanations for the Initial Precursor and Distal Precursor linkage levels, and then the Essential Element’s mini-map. Slide 7: To simplify and condense the content even more, this is the list of the most used math skills for the Initial Precursor and Distal Precursor linkage levels for grades 3 through 8 and high school. After reading through this short list of skills, teaching math to our students doesn’t feel quite as challenging anymore, right? Slide 8: I worked with a teacher at my school who was struggling to incorporate math instruction i

FAQs

What are mini-maps used for in teaching DLM Essential Elements?

Mini-maps show where each student’s abilities fall toward mastering a specific Essential Element. They become the basis for creating an individualized teaching plan.

Why may some students be unprepared for commercial math lessons?

Students whose skill base is in the Initial Precursor or Distal Precursor linkage levels may not yet be ready for materials designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The connection to the target Essential Element can feel unclear, so the mini-map explanations help bridge that gap.

How does the lesson sequence teach recognizing wholeness?

The module models five lessons starting with whole items, then moving to identifying a whole from partial or pictured items, and using structured book activities and student engagement strategies to build wholeness recognition.

Sep 22, 2026

Upload by Liam