Perspectives on academic and social aspects of children's school experiences were obtained from deaf and hearing children and their (deaf or hearing) parents. Possible differences between (1) the views of children and their parents and (2) those of hearing children and their parents compared to deaf children and their parents were of particular…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a research design, which aims to find useful pedagogical adaptations for teaching pupils with autism. Autism is a behavioural syndrome characterised by disabilities and dysfunctions in interaction and communication, which is why it is interesting to explore educational processes particularly from an…

The processes around the identification of special educational needs (SEN) should mean that those pupils who need most help receive it. However, there are concerns that this process is not working and there is an over-identification of pupils with SEN. Previous international research has shown that summer-born children are more likely to be…

The education of pupils with special educational needs in Ireland has generally been influenced by national and international inclusion policy and legislation so that the majority of these children now take their place alongside peers in mainstream classrooms. In Ireland, a support network comprising the teacher and additional classroom assistance…

This article presents a selection of findings from a literature review of best practice models and outcomes in the education of visually impaired children. The review suggested that a key focus of research in this area has been upon the concept of "access", particularly with regards to barriers children with visual impairment face in accessing…

This article considers the concept of access in the education of visually impaired children and young people, with particular reference to print literacy. The article describes implications for teaching and policy at various levels of the educational process: classroom practice; broader teaching and curriculum requirements (including service…

This paper summarises the implications for practice arising from the "International review of the evidence on best practice in educational provision for children on the autism spectrum" and it focuses on key priorities for policy makers, families, practitioners and researchers. Findings highlight that there is little evidence to indicate how…

We previously reported a meta-analysis of explicit memory studies in populations with intellectual disability (ID). The current study discusses the educational implications of this meta-analysis. The main factors at the core of these implications can be divided into two categories: those related to task characteristics (e.g., depth of processing,…

This paper examines research findings concerning the loci of the pervasive academic underachievement among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and issues associated with interventions and instructional methods that could help to reduce or eliminate it. Investigators have hypothesised that at least 50% of the variability in DHH students'…

This meta-analysis combines the effect size (ES) of 40 explicit memory experiments in populations with intellectual disability (ID). Eight meta-analyses were performed, as well as contrast tests between ES. The explicit memory of participants with ID was inferior to that of participants with typical development (TD). Relatively preserved explicit…

A review of international research literature on teacher strategies for effective intervention with students presenting social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) is presented. Particular attention is given to evidence defining the qualities and skills of effective teachers and the value of behavioural and cognitive behavioural…

In this paper some key practice and policy implications emerging from a review of literature on effective teacher strategies for social, emotional and behavioural difficulties are set out. Particular attention is given to implications in relation to the development of teachers' skills.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children typically lag behind hearing age-mates in academic achievement. This paper describes recent findings indicating language and cognitive differences between DHH and hearing students that appear to explain some of their classroom challenges. There is currently only limited evidence with regard to the…

Assistive technologies are often promoted to schools, parents and educators as tools to assist students with special needs by providing a compensatory value, to remediate learning problems and to promote personal independence. These technologies range from simple spellcheckers to more complex speech recognition systems and educational software.…

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of e-book activity for vocabulary acquisition and story comprehension among kindergarteners at risk for learning disabilities (LD) as opposed to typically developing (TD) children. Participants included 136 children aged between five and seven (M = 71.2; SD = 5.64, in months),…