1 in 5 students have learning and attention issues. An extensive literature review of empirical studies revealed three critical mindsets and eight key practices that can improve outcomes for students with learning and attention issues — and all students.
Fluency develops gradually over time and through practice. At the earliest stage of reading development, students’ oral reading is slow and labored because students are just learning to “break the code” – to attach sounds to letters and to blend letter sounds into recognizable words.
Phonological and phonemic awareness are important pre-reading skills, related to the ability to hear, identify, and play with the sounds in spoken language — including rhymes, syllables, and the smallest units of sound (phonemes). Strong phonological awareness skills continue to support reading development in second grade and beyond.
An organized classroom with defined areas and spaces can help students with autism in anticipating what is expected and to predict what will be happening during the instructional day. Get tips on how to create defined learning spaces and reduce distractions in your classroom.
Embedding literacy training opportunities with schedule training represents a strategy that may have surprising and positive outcomes for some students with autism. Schedules contain a small set of vocabulary for sight word recognition and offer natural opportunities for repetitive exposure to this core set of words.
How can school leaders support school-wide reading initiatives? Here are keys to leading the way in the areas of reading curriculum, instruction, assessment, and motivation.
Where can your school, library, or community group find free or low-cost books for kids? There are a number of national organizations as well as local programs you can turn to for help filling the shelves of your library, classroom, or literacy program and putting books into the hands and homes of young readers.
In the last few years, an alarm has sounded throughout the nation’s middle and high schools: too many students cannot read well. It isn’t that they don’t know their ABCs or how to read words. It’s that they cannot understand or explain what they’re reading. Johnny can read, but he doesn’t understand.
Many school districts have adopted instructional coaching as a model for teachers’ professional development. This brief offers guidance on how school leaders can tailor the most promising coaching strategies to the needs of their schools.
As we head towards September and a new school year, here’s advice from special education expert Rick Lavoie that may be helpful as you attempt to make special needs kids in your class feel warm, welcome, and wanted. Using the word SEPTEMBER, he shares nine concepts that can help you in this effort.
Learn the common terminology of reading research and how to gauge if a strategy or intervention can be implemented in your classroom with fidelity and a measurable effect on your students’ learning.
Writing is a highly complex language skill. Without skilled, systematic instruction, many students — particularly those with disabilities — may not become proficient writers. At stake is access to the general education curriculum. This brief discusses developmental stages, why writing may pose particular challenges for students with disabilities, and what areas should be the focus for remediation.
From activating prior knowledge to exploring language to capturing character, discover ten ways to integrate poetry into your language, reading, and writing lessons.
