This article presents a review of the research on technology integration in the area of literacy for individuals with mild disabilities. It describes relevant legislation, including how special education technology is impacted by the No Child Left Behind Act (2001). Included studies focus on research in the core content areas of reading and…

A national survey of the methodological content of 87 large teacher-education programs in learning disabilities/mild handicaps indicated that the dominant methodologies are largely the same as those commonly included in general teacher education. Within given courses, methodologies proven both effective and ineffective are stressed. (Author/VW)

Twenty-one hypothesized components of effective teaching were examined and three to four basic attributes for each were stated as instructional strategies for teaching mildly handicapped students. Approximately 40 regular and special educators reviewed the strategies and their validations were used to develop the Assessment Inventory of…

Two highly contrasting models of preschool education for mildly handicapped children were compared. Direct Instruction led to greater gains on the Test of Early Language Development and the Basic Language Concepts test. Mediated Learning led to greater gains on the McCarthy Verbal and Memory scales and Mean Length of Utterance measure. (Author/VW)

Two studies assessed effects of training mildly handicapped students (N=6, ages 10-13) in the use of a self-evaluation and correction procedure on manuscript letter formation skills. All students attained independent use of the self-correction procedure in two to ten sessions with corresponding increases in correct letter production for all…

Evaluation of two methods, Stimulus Manipulation and Delay Feedback Only, for teaching four mildly handicapped students (ages 9-13) to solve missing minuend problems found both methods to be effective. However, systematic differences in error rate and long-term retention were observed, favoring the Stimulus Manipulation procedure. (Author/DB)

The article briefly reviews 11 social skills training packages for use with mildly handicapped students in secondary settings. Programs are also compared in tabular form for cost, target population, social skills trained, and training approaches. (DB)

This 3-year longitudinal study used hypermedia computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to provide individualized reading instruction for approximately 300 students in grades K-3. The software provided reading lessons in a hypermedia format designed as supplementary material for a basal reader series. The low ability subjects achieved significantly…

A 5-second constant time delay procedure was used to teach 10 word definitions to 3 fifth grade students with mild learning handicaps. All students learned the definitions in 8 to 9 sessions with students maintaining correct responding at 6, 10, and 14 weeks after training. Generalization was also observed. (Author/DB)

The report documents the evaluation of a New York City program, the State Incentive Grant to Improve Pupil Performance, in which high school special education teachers received training in general education curriculum and instructional techniques to fulfill a new regulation allowing high school special education students to meet general education…

The Early Literacy Project focused on involving students in contextualized literary activities, developing learning strategies, constructing classroom dialogs about literacy, supporting learners in their zones of proximal development, and creating literacy communities. Research with 88 primary-grade students with mild disabilities indicated clear…

Observation of 22 children with mild disabilities (grades 3-6) over 2 years in cooperative learning inclusive settings indicated that only 40% of the students successfully participated in cooperative groups. Differences among classroom practices (for example, selection of partners, teacher monitoring, and establishment of a cooperative ethic) were…

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…

The report summarizes research collected in the Portland State University Transition Project which researched the impact of job-club-type training upon the school-to-work transition outcomes for mildly handicapped high school students. The project also examined reuse of job search skills in the search for leisure opportunities. The project…

This study of the instructional ecology of 52 high school resource room programs for mildly handicapped students found that teachers instructed in a wide variety of content areas and had high student engagement rates. Instructional practices generally associated with high achievement were not typically employed. Implications for teacher training…