Working with students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) can raise questions about whether language and literacy delays and difficulties are related directly to late and limited access to spoken language, to co-occurring language learning disabilities (LLD), or to both. A new Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills, which incorporates…

One of the primary purposes of expository text in education is to teach new content. Because elementary grade children are accustomed to applying their literacy skills to reading and writing narratives, they must be taught new skills if they are to access expository content effectively. These skills and practices can be challenging because…

In the past 12 years, middle and high school students across the United States have read with declining levels of proficiency compared to both international and national standards. It is thought that American students' overall low reading performance is related to the amount of expository material they must read with advancing grade levels. This…

Academic success depends heavily on students' ability to acquire information, but expository texts are difficult to process and comprehend, particularly for students with language difficulties. Support can be provided through instructional discourse, the interactive adult-student conversations that scaffold comprehension and content learning. This…