This guide to reading instruction for elementary and middle school students with learning difficulties covers a wide variety of practical instructional strategies founded in research and proven effective in classrooms. An introductory chapter notes the growing national emphasis on reading skills, especially research-based reading programs and the special needs of students with learning disabilities or difficulties. The next six chapters address the following topics (sample sub-topics in parentheses): (1) the reading brain and literacy instruction (assessments of early literacy, brain compatible reading instruction, and a brain-based model of reading); (2) phonemic instruction, the critical emphasis in reading and literacy (phonological and phonemic instruction, guidelines for phonemic instruction, and phonemic based reading programs); (3) phonics and word attack strategies (phonics and the brain, phonics instructional options, and strategies for developmental reading and spelling); (4) strategies for building vocabulary and reading fluency (the role of sight-word approaches, how good readers read, and deriving meaning from vocabulary); (5) gaining meaning from reading (story grammar, question answering, collaborative strategic reading); and (6) reading comprehension in the content areas (content area reading and the brain, analogies instruction, and idea circles). A section on resources reviews five major reading and literacy programs. A glossary and facilitator's guide are also included. (Individual chapters contain references.) (DB)