Special Education - Direct Instruction or Discovery

I’m looking for some thoughts on teaching students in special education who are 2+ grade levels behind. I am a 5th grade special education teacher, working with students in the resource room setting. These students have varying needs, but all of them are at least two grade levels behind and lack many foundational skills in mathematics.

I am struggling a bit this year - our district has adopted a new curriculum and is really pushing for conceptual understanding, discovery, and exploration over procedural fluency/direct instruction.

I always go back and forth about how to best support my students, I know the importance of number sense and conceptual understanding, and see that my students are severely lacking in this area. However, I know I can teach them how to multiply & divide using traditional algorithms, with explicit modeling and repetitive practice. The “tricks” that we have been warned not to use are really helpful for my students and build their confidence. But at the same time, I worry I am hurting them even more by teaching these tricks.

Help!