The FORCE strategy was designed as a simple, step-by-step procedure to assist learning-disabled adolescents in preparing for tests. The steps are find out, organize, review, concentrate, and examine early (pretest). The article discusses application of the strategy and issues relating to generalization of the strategy to other subject areas. (JDD)

While most efforts in programing for learning disabled adolescents have been directed to the content of instructional offering, the authors identify procedures to promote acquisition and generalization of skills. Exemplified within a learning strategies model, the procedures outlined here stress acquisition of specific strategies through learning…

How secondary social studies teachers can teach concepts through the skills of categorizing and generalizing is discussed. (RM)

This document was written for junior and senior high school students to help them learn to cope more effectively with their problems. It is intended as a quide for helping adolescents explore and solve problems through constructive critical thinking. Ten steps in the process of constructive critical thinking are presented with personal and social…

This paper describes some methods found to be successful in helping students learn two major thinking strategies: making and supporting generalizations, and argumentation. The paper includes sample materials involving a variety of different subject areas to provide ideas about activities that work with students at a variety of ability and grade…

In two experiments, self-instruction training for educationally handicapped children consisted of general self-instruction components and explicit instruction in task components. For both experiments the training improved academic performance. It was concluded that successful academic performance occurs when self-instructional statements integrate…

A multicomponent self-management program was used to train 5 students (aged 14-16) with moderate/severe intellectual disabilities on instruction-following behaviors. The vocational skills training program included self-generated verbal prompts, picture cues, double instructions, and reinforcement. Results demonstrated that the program taught…

This paper maintains that the best approach to writing across the curriculum is one that focuses on thinking and writing strategies that cut across a number of subject areas. The paper describes some methods and classroom tested activities found to be successful in teaching students the complex thinking skills involved in making and supporting…

This review evaluates research on the Strategies Intervention Model (SIM) developed at the Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities, University of Kansas. The model is designed to teach learning-disabled and low-achieving adolescents strategies which will enable them to learn and perform independently, show appropriate social and personal…

Examination of the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of three cooking skills by three multiply and severely handicapped blind adolescents revealed that a "whole task" approach was successful in teaching the subjects to boil an egg, grill cheese, and cook a TV dinner. These skills also generalized to other cooking products. (Author/CB)

This study, which involved training four young adults with moderate or severe mental retardation on housekeeping and janitorial work skills, found that simulation instruction based on general case methodology can be used to teach complex sequences, that naturalistic instruction seemed more efficient than simulation instruction, and that neither…

This paper reviews 27 studies that taught community skills to persons with moderate to severe mental handicaps and tested the generalization of these skills. The review, which analyzed the degree of generalization that occurred and the effect of different strategies used, concludes that the general case method is the most effective strategy.…

The assertion that "higher order" thinking skills can be improved by learning to program computers is not a new one. The idea endures even though the empirical evidence over the years has been mixed at best. In fact, there is no reason to expect that all programming courses will have identical, or even similar, effects. Such courses typically…

Social incompetence is a significant cause of postsecondary maladjustment for the learning disabled. The literature is reviewed on factors critical to occupational success; social development of the learning disabled; major social incompetencies (specifically, social perception and problem solving, task-related social behaviors, and social…

Forty-nine adolescents were studied to investigate the initial and long-term efficacy of job-related social skills instruction for students with mild to moderate handicaps. The study determined that students could acquire the skills during classroom instruction and use the skills effectively in simulated situations that reflected actual work…