Motivation is key to school success. Just as the actor asks a director, “What is my motivation, for this scene?,” the child turns to teachers, parents, and peers to discover the “why” of learning. Motivation is often defined as a need or drive that energizes behavior toward a goal.
The number of children in child care is quickly increasing. Early childcare can lay the foundations for reading, and help prevent reading problems from developing. This article describes the current state of child care, and the challenges we face in improving its quality.
With careful and creative planning, literacy instruction can be adapted to meet the needs of every student in the classroom. Five ways teachers can provide a literacy education for all learners are offered here.
Language learning offers a unique and exciting opportunity to integrate music. Many people have had the experience of learning a world language and singing simple, silly songs in class. The introduction of music provides a light-hearted and fun way to interact with another language and culture.
This article answers four common questions teachers have about vocabulary instruction, including what words to teach and how well students should know vocabulary words.
Executive function is a set of thinking skills that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. Trouble with executive function can make it harder for kids to focus, follow directions, get organized, plan, and handle big emotions. All of these challenges can make reading and learning more difficult.
Spelling is a challenge for people with dyslexia. The International Dyslexia Association provides a fact sheet explaining why people with dyslexia have trouble spelling, how to find out the reasons a particular child has this difficulty, and how to help children with dyslexia spell better.
Though circle-time may be difficult for students with ASD, with the appropriate modifications and additions to the activities and environment, the experience can be successful for students and staff alike. Get ideas that will help make morning meetings more meaningful to students, and will assist in increasing student success.
Learn about the three psychological theories of ASD — Theory of Mind, Weak Central Cohesion, and executive functioning. Understanding these theories can help families and educators manage challenging behaviors at home and in the classroom.
Creative supports are key to helping learners succeed in distance education. Try these 12 ideas to help students on the spectrum feel connected, stay engaged, and learn effectively in the virtual classroom and beyond.
This comprehension strategy activates students’ prior knowledge, builds curiosity about a new topic before learning about it, and then checks for understanding after reading.
Award-winning author of acclaimed middle-grade novels Sally J. Pla talks (The Someday Birds) about how her own autism informs the characters and stories she writes.
Learn more about books across multiple genres that are representative of the diverse world in which we live, including diversity in race, class, disability, and religion. You’ll also find innovative approaches for bringing children and books together, as well as content analyses and descriptions of titles that share common features.
These seven steps provide an approach to spelling instruction that encourages word study based on the words students experience in their daily writing activities. The goal of intentional spelling is to shift spelling instruction from a focus on the number of words spelled correctly to developing an understanding of how words work.
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can play a number of important roles in using RTI to identify children with disabilities and provide needed instruction to struggling students in both general education and special education settings. But these roles will require some fundamental changes in the way SLPs engage in assessment and intervention activities.
