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),…

The Dutch website Bereslim (http:// www.bereslim.nl) provides digital picture storybooks for three- to seven-year-olds for daily use. The present study investigates whether this new opportunity to enhance linguistic development actively assists preschool children from low- and high-educated families in an equal manner. We looked closely at the…

Virtual reality (VR) technology enables evaluation and practice of specific skills in a motivating, user-friendly and safe way. The implementation of virtual game environments within clinical settings has increased substantially in recent years. However, the psychometric properties and feasibility of many applications have not been fully…

In the past decade there has been a rapid advance in the use of virtual reality (VR) technologies for leisure, training and education. VR is argued to offer particular benefits for children on the autism spectrum, chiefly because it can offer simulations of authentic real-world situations in a carefully controlled and safe environment. Given the…

The research examined the effect of an intervention program employing 3D immersive virtual reality (IVR), which focused on the perception of sequential time, on the mediation level and behavioural aspects of children with intellectual disability (ID). The intervention is based on the mediated learning experience (MLE) theory, which refers the…

Social Stories[TM] are an intervention widely used with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This paper discusses a possible theoretical rationale that might account for the purported efficacy of Social Stories[TM]. Attributes of individuals with ASD in relation to Social Story intervention including difficulties with theory of mind…