Students may lack the motivation to read for many reasons, including inadequate access to interesting texts, limited encouragement to read for pleasure from adults, instructional practices that do not foster engagement in learning, or a history of reading failure. This article focuses on students with reading disabilities who may have a…

Although the instructional strategy described in this article can be used to support all learners, the purpose of this article is to address the needs of students with learning disabilities, who are often several grade levels behind in reading comprehension. Specifically, this article explores how an explicitly taught instructional practice that…

This paper provides an introduction to the concept of audio-supported reading (ASR) for students with specific learning disabilities. In a previous paper written for the National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM Center), Jackson (2012) defined ASR as a technology-based technique for reading in which individuals read digital text…

As the call for evidence-based programs and practices heightens (e.g., the Every Student Succeeds Act), there is little doubt about the urgency to bring solid research into the classroom. Implementing findings generated from rigorous research continues to be a viable, trustworthy, and necessary factor in preventing and addressing learning…

This action research project explored the use of the iPad 2 in a special education classroom with high school students who were considered struggling readers to determine if an academic gain in reading comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary implementing the intervention of an iPad and four specific applications (apps). The high school…

A fundamental problem for many struggling readers, their parents, and their teachers is that there are few benchmarks to guide decision making about assistive technological supports when the nature of a disability is cognitive (e.g., specific learning disability, SLD) rather than physical. However, resources such as the National Center on…

Vocabulary development for students with learning disability (LD) is affected by "differences in the amount of independent reading, lack of strategies to learn words from content, and diffuse word knowledge" (Jitendra, Edwards, Sacks, & Jacobson, 2004, p. 300). Generally, students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have relatively strong skills…

Reading comprehension is a crucial skill for academic success of all students. Very often, students with learning disabilities struggle with reading skills and since students learn new information in school by reading; these difficulties often increase the academic struggles students with learning disabilities face. The current study examined…

The number of students who are being identified as having a learning disability is rising at an alarming rate, creating concerns regarding misdiagnoses and overrepresentation of minority groups in special education. Response to Intervention (RtI) has emerged as a scientifically validated approach to delivering quality interventions early in a…

The purpose of this evaluation of Scholastic's "System 44" conducted by RMC Research was to expand the existing research on students with learning disabilities by conducting a randomized study of struggling readers with approximately half of the sample comprised of students with learning disabilities. Specifically, this evaluation…

The introduction, in the United Kingdom, of the Special Education Needs and Disabilities Act (SENDA) published and approved in 2001, has removed the exemptions given to educational institutions by the Disabilities Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995. This applies to learning web sites and materials that must now undergo "reasonable…

Technology has changed the world. Unfortunately, for many adults with learning disabilities (LD), the literacy demands of technology are beyond their reach. Since most adults with LD struggle in the area of reading, they are frequently not able to understand higher levels of written language or remember multi-sequence procedures often necessary…

Previous research studies examining the effects of spelling and reading interventions on the spelling outcomes of students with learning disabilities (LD) are synthesized. An extensive search of the professional literature between 1995 and 2003 yielded a total of 19 intervention studies that provided spelling and reading interventions to students…

Addresses the issue of teacher purpose in using technology for reading and literacy instruction. Notes that computers were used mostly for motivation and self-esteem and not for raising achievement. Argues that educators need to critically think through the multiple realities they face as they consider the use of technology with disabled readers.…

Although approximately half of the six million students receiving specialized services for an identified disability are learning disabled, research shows that assistive technologies are far more commonly used with students who manifest physical or sensory disabilities than they are with those with learning disabilities. Assistive technology can…