The paper presents a research-based case for mnemonic instruction with mildly disabled students, and recommends learning tasks, designs, and implementation formats. Evolution of the research, from theory-driven laboratory research to long-term classroom applications, is described. Recommendations are offered for further research. (Author/JDD)

This response to an article by Karen Tateyama-Sniezek (EC 230 117), which examined the effectiveness of cooperative learning with mildly disabled students, reconsiders a table by adding more comparison statistics, effect sizes, and standard individual measures of achievement. Noted are the scarcity of studies including individual accountability…

Two studies evaluated the effectiveness of guided notes with five secondary students with mild disabilities and three postsecondary students with learning disabilities. In both studies, use of guided notes resulted in significantly improved academic performance. (Author/DB)

This study, with three mildly handicapped nine-year olds, investigated the effects on capitalization skills of a peer teaching procedure combined with student letter-writing activities. Findings indicated acquisition of the skills, with mixed results for generalization. Two of the 3 mildly handicapped peer teachers (ages 10-11) also improved their…

This book is intended to assist in using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition as tools for identifying a child's strengths and weaknesses for the purpose of improving academic and behavioral functioning. The first chapter focuses on using the…

Evaluation of a classroom mnemonic instructional method to teach science content to 19 mildly disabled students (grades 6-8) found mnemonic instruction resulted in improved initial content acquisition, higher delayed-recall scores than traditional instructional procedures, and generalization of mnemonic strategies to novel content. Students…

An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare the instructional effectiveness of six treatment packages in teaching receptive picture vocabulary to 12 mildly handicapped children (ages 3-6 years). Independent variables in the treatment packages included: least-to-most prompting, correction, group instruction, and individual…

The study examined the effects of classwide peer tutoring (involving team assignment, a game format, contingent point rewards, and immediate error correction) on the academic performance of mildly handicapped and nondisabled students (n=91) in ninth- and tenth-grade math classes. Group and individual results indicated significant improvement in…

Three experiments compared the effects of interspersal drill and practice using 30% new items/70% review items with 100% new items, with a total of 17 students (ages 9 to 17) having behavior disorders, emotional handicaps, learning disabilities, or mild mental retardation. The ratios were compared for instruction in spelling, multiplication facts,…

Three middle school teachers of mainstreamed students with mild disabilities used a computer networking system to check student understanding of math concepts. Results indicated that, with coaching on how to use the data generated by the system, teachers increased the amount of time spent on active teaching and providing feedback. (Author/JDD)

A federally funded research project investigated the relationship between academic learning time (ALT) and achievement of 43 educable mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, and learning-disabled students, aged 7-13, in grades 1-5. The project's final report, titled "An Analysis of the Impact of Instructional Time within Different Service…

Observations were conducted to document the active academic responding and academic engagement rates of 122 elementary students (30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, 30 mildly mentally retarded, and 30 self-contained programs. Data were recorded in 10-second intervals for each student over an entire school day. During a…

Observational data were collected on the instructional tasks used by 122 elementary students (30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, 30 educable mentally retarded, and 30 nonhandicapped). No differences between handicapped and nonhandicapped students were revealed in an analysis of time using each of eight specific tasks…