During early childhood, practitioners and family members are often tasked with determining optimal approaches to support social skill development in young children with developmental disabilities in inclusive and self-contained settings. Eight different evidence based approaches are highlighted (social narratives, scripting, pivotal response…

The author offers suggestions of ways in which student or beginning teachers may gain class attention and hold the floor while still maintaining a positive teacher image. (MJB)

Off-the-shelf support containing all the vital information practitioners need to know about Speech and Language Difficulties, this book includes: (1) Strategies for developing attention control; (2) Guidance on how to improve language and listening skills; and (3) Ideas for teaching phonological awareness. Following a foreword and an introduction,…

Discusses the attention process and indicates the crucial role it plays in oral learning (listening). (DD)

An interactional approach to attention problems in learning disabled children takes into account the degree of voluntary attention required by the task, the degree of structure in the setting, and the characteristics of the child. (CL)

The study compared the attention-directing behaviors of 15 autistic children, 14 children with developmental language delay, and 13 young normal children. Although the autistic children's behavior was most unlike that of the other groups, autistic children did not produce more attention-directing behavior when a high degree of adult direction was…

Five strategy rules are offered to help teachers capitalize on their verbal strategies to promote attention and maximize learning in their handicapped students. Rules include increasing pace of recitation or tutorial lessons, asking many drill questions, and maximizing student responses. (CL)

The performance of 20 hyperactive and 26 comparison elementary-school boys on a spelling recognition task found that color facilitates attention to detail. Hyperactive children who practiced the task with all black letters first and color added later out-performed comparison children. (Author/JDD)

This paper offers a model of visual functioning focusing on three factors: (1) visual capacity, (2) visual processing, and (3) visual attention. Practical implications of visual therapy are considered, and intervention strategies with children with impaired visual functioning are suggested. (Author/DB)

Explores the characteristics of inattention in school children and suggests strategies for teachers. Focuses on the psychological mechanisms of arousal (both tonic and phasic), selective attention, and divided attention. Characteristics of specific attentional problems are listed along with specific suggested teaching strategies. (DB)

This paper offers teachers basic information about sensory integration and suggests strategies for managing classrooms which include children with sensory integrative dysfunction. The first section looks at what sensory integration is, noting especially the roles of the three "near senses": the vestibular system, the proprioceptive system, and the…

Seventeen active attention-problem elementary children were given copying tasks to determine whether they were more attracted to color stimulation than normal controls. Among other findings, results suggested that experimental children responded to tasks differently when color was used and that their performance was better with relevant color than…

Precision teaching techniques can be used to chart students' attention span or endurance. Individual differences in attention span can then be better understood and dealt with effectively. The effects of performance duration on performance level, on error rates, and on learning rates are discussed. Implications for classroom practice are noted.…

Art activities can be helpful in promoting eye-hand coordination, stimulating language development, facilitating attending skills, and allowing exceptional students to express themselves. (CL)

The article reviews research on children's use of time with emphasis on maintaining "engagement" (developmentally and contextually appropriate behavior). Techniques for preschool teachers to use to promote high levels of engagement by children with or without disabilities are identified. (DB)