Social skill deficits and learning disabilities often coexist. Academic work is negatively impacted by students' lack of social skills. Remediation of these deficits in pull-out programs has not generally resulted in transfer to real-world settings. Embedding social skills instruction within literature during a read-aloud session taught in the…

Taking notes from lectures or reading material can be challenging, especially for those who have learning disabilities. An alternative to traditional note-taking is a method called "guided notes," which has been found to improve the accuracy of students' notes, increase the frequency of student responses, and improve students' quiz and test…

Schools have embraced the need for true collaboration among general and special educators. Many believe that if educators with varying areas of expertise and frames of reference are able to come together and collaborate on a daily basis in the same classroom, all students will benefit more: socially, behaviorally, and perhaps most important,…

The hidden curriculum, the unwritten rules and standards for social conduct that most people take for granted and learn more or less automatically, poses a challenge for many individuals on the autism spectrum because of deficits in social cognition and social interaction skills. Compounding challenges are cultural factors, such as age, ethnicity,…

Managing students' disruptive behavior in the classroom can be a time-consuming task and greatly reduces the amount of time teachers spend on instruction. Although there are several research-validated classroom management strategies, teachers are more likely to adopt strategies that are less time-consuming than strategies that take more time or…

Teachers address a wide range of student behavior by teaching expectations and routines and by responding proactively and constructively to misbehavior, while simultaneously holding all students, including those with emotional or behavioral disorders, to high academic standards. It can be a challenge for educators to effectively communicate their…

Difficulty with spelling is a perennial challenge for students with learning disabilities. Several decades of research, however, have identified both fundamental linguistic concepts and instructional approaches that, when understood by a teacher, can be applied to teach students with learning disabilities to spell. In this article, a brief history…

School-based response to intervention (RTI) teams must gather, organize, chart, and interpret essential instructional information to make effective adjustments to meet the academic needs of struggling learners. Quantified data such as student proficiency scores, rate of progress trends, and achievement gap results provide the foundation for making…

Even evidence-based instructional methods may not be sufficient for closing achievement gaps. If teachers are not maximizing instructional time, achievement gaps are likely to widen over time; therefore, instruction need not only be effective but efficient as well. The purposes of this article are to (a) provide practitioners with a broad…

Frank H. Wood is both a pioneer and a first-generation leader, and his contributions continue to influence the field today. Dr. Wood participated in several "firsts." In the 1950s, he taught the first public school class in Minnesota for emotionally disturbed students, and he later served as the first coordinator of programs for students with…

Juvenile delinquency in the United States has been a persistent concern for decades. Consequently, because more juveniles have been referred to juvenile court and the arrest rate of preteen offenders has increased to almost three times that of older youth, the persistent and often controversial issue of the capacity of juvenile offenders to waive…

This article describes types of progress-monitoring techniques that mathematics interventionists and special education teachers can implement in classrooms to make informed, data-driven decisions about early mathematics intervention. Although educators may be using some of these assessment types already to inform instruction, this article…

Principals and teachers consider student tardiness to be a serious problem. Some have argued that tardiness is a widespread problem with serious effects, particularly for younger students who must depend on their parents to get them to school on time. Students who are frequently tardy may miss important opening announcements or academic…

Reading is a critical skill for student success in school and postschool opportunities. Although a number of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will develop the decoding skills necessary to read text, many will continue to struggle with reading comprehension. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education…

Today's students are digital natives. From computers to MP3 players, the everyday use of technology in society underscores the necessity of using technology in education. The use of digital simulations especially has had positive outcomes for students with disabilities in generalizing various life skills necessary for transition beyond high…