The Board of Directors of the Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is pleased to offer its 14th publication in the Prism series, which is the second edition of the earlier Prism 7 book, "A Guide to Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders." Each book in the series…

Despite the importance of reading comprehension, many secondary students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) struggle with this skill. Students with ID also experience greater challenges in foundational literacy skills (i.e., skills related to phonological awareness) and the cognitive skills temporal processing and nonverbal reasoning (Van…

Although many students struggle to comprehend text, some populations of students are particularly impacted. Students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for example, perform lower on working memory measures, which can make reading comprehension even more difficult (Gropper & Tannock, 2009). Inattention, specifically, appears…

Many students with learning disabilities (LD) struggle to develop text-writing fluency: the skill of accurately and efficiently composing multiple words into sentences and passages understandable to readers. In prior studies, researchers have used instructional assessments to control for task difficulty and identify precise areas of text-writing…

Although many teachers hold generally positive views of using disability literature with children to support the development of more inclusive communities and schools (Beneke & Cheatham, 2020), little is known about how teachers work with families and address concerns families may have about using such literature. What follows are three…

This essential manual helps educators comfortably and knowledgeably deliver lessons in comprehensive sex education to young people with developmental disabilities in the context of special education. Drawing on firsthand experience and real-world examples, the first half provides background material and tools for how to effectively partner with…

Visual schedules use a series of images and text to visually illustrate a sequence of events, prepare the individual for the following action or step within an activity or chain of activities, and prompt them to follow a series of activities or tasks independently. As an evidence-based practice, visual schedules can be effectively used in…

Students with disabilities may require specific assistive technology to use their strengths to compensate for a weakness or need caused by the disability, including both "devices" and "services." As a result, teachers need to be able to use and support students while using assistive technology during instruction. Teachers also…

High-Leverage Practices (HLPs) are a deceptively simple concept in the field of education. On the one hand it is amazing to have a list of key practices that all teachers should learn and be able to implement when teaching students of all backgrounds and ability levels, including those with disabilities. On the other, teaching is rarely simple,…

Individualizing instruction is a time-consuming aspect of classroom practice. Testing multiple interventions, and monitoring each to see which is most effective for a student can be prohibitively time consuming. However, Brief Experimental Analysis (BEA) is an assessment procedure that can be used to quickly identify an intervention that is likely…

The ideas of computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS) are increasingly being integrated into K-12 education. Yet, insufficient attention exists regarding access and exposure of CT and CS for students with disabilities. In this Technology in Action, the authors sought to present an argument--as well as actual activities--for teachers…

Fluency in math facts and procedures is critical for math achievement overall and often challenging for students with emotional and behavioral disorders to develop. This article describes how to implement two complementary and evidence-based practice strategies, incremental rehearsal and Cover-Copy-Compare, to build declarative and procedural…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) generally have behavior support plans that are based on a functional behavioral assessment. This article provides educators practical guidelines for conducting a "multiple stimulus without replacement" (MSWO) preference assessment to rank order preferred activities that will align…

Individual Education Programs (IEPs) are the entry point to the design of teaching and learning for students with disabilities. This guidebook provides teachers with reflective questions, a sample response bank, strategies from the research-based Learner Variability Navigator, and other resources to write strength-based IEPs. Strength-based…

"Teaching Students Who Are Exceptional, Diverse and at Risk in the General Education Classroom"?is the ideal guide to help teachers meet the educational and behavioral needs of students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse learning needs. In addition to the necessary background knowledge about individuals with disabilities, this…