This article presents procedures, forms, and instructional techniques used to increase achievement of learning-disabled students through measuring and controlling task difficulty during classroom instruction time. These techniques are especially recommended for classrooms using individualization and small group instruction. (Author/PB)

A follow-up at the end of first grade examined effects of teaching five kindergarten teachers in general and special education classes to stimulate phonological manipulation skills such as blending and segmenting. For children with learning disabilities and mild mental retardation (but not for nondisabled children) the treatment continued to show…

Review of 180 intervention studies identified instructional components that best predicted effect sizes for students with learning disabilities. These included sequencing, drill-repetition-practice feedback, segmentation of information, technology (structure-presentation medium), controlling task difficulty (e.g., scaffolding), modeling…