Students with disabilities often face barriers that hinder their capacity to access general education curricula and show their learning. Modifications to curricula and lesson plans can help reduce these barriers. Modifications are changes to what instruction is delivered--which tasks students complete and what content they learn. Previous research…

Leisure activity is a significant factor in the personal-social adjustment of mentally handicapped adults. A particular leisure activity that holds promise for the development and appplication of age-appropriate social behavior is table games. Table games allow for participants to engage in problem-solving activities, sophisticated interpersonal…

Aimed at tutors with some experience of adult literacy work, this handbook offers information and advice that should help them adapt their teaching approaches to meet the needs of partially sighted students. It outlines the situations that are likely to arise during the tutoring situation with an explanation of common sense procedures and simple…

Changing the presentation of a lesson can clarify instruction for the mainstreamed learning-disabled student and reinforce instruction for other nondisabled students. Examples are given of modifications for language arts activities, including adaptations for oral language, reading, writing, and language process and grammar. (CB)

This article describes textbook adaptations for special needs students. The article offers suggestions for detecting the compatibility of the textbook with students' reading and interest levels and presents four categories of adaptations: substitute the textbook, simplify the textbook, highlight key concepts in the textbook, and structure…

Describes a classroom program in which students adapted and then produced a play based on the adolescent novel "The Chocolate War." Notes group improvisation strategies for adapting internal monologue to dialogue. Argues the advantages of such a project over class discussion and book reports. (JG)

Recommends several strategies to make reading novels in class more enjoyable and rewarding for students, so that they would not depend so much on "Cliff's Notes." (NKA)

Specific suggestions are provided for modifying instructional materials and methods to meet the needs of students with mild handicaps. An organizational framework for making systematic decisions about instructional adaptation is presented, calling for comparing characteristics of the material or technique with the characteristics of the learner in…

This publication provides Peace Corps volunteers and others who conduct environmental education activities in schools, environmental education centers, parks, and communities with the tools to adapt existing environmental education resources to local environmental issues, cultures, and audiences. Sections include: (1) the process of adapting…

This paper offers a rationale for modifying textbooks for secondary students with learning disabilities who are taught in general education classes. Recent research on the uses of study guides, graphic organizers, vocabulary drills, and computer-assisted instruction is reviewed, and guidelines for selecting appropriate uses of these strategies are…

This packet of materials is designed to aid teachers in redesigning their courses to accommodate diverse students. The worksheets help organize information on what aspects of diversity are present in each class, what course elements can and cannot be adapted to them, and how these adaptations might be implemented. The worksheets, along with the…

A summer English class for gifted fifth- through eighth-grade students was designed to allow students to interact with literature by adapting short-stories into plays that the students then produced, performed, and filmed. During the prewriting phase, students discussed qualities most essential to a story or film, and compared a short story with…

Practices are identified for use in teaching vocational education to students with mental disabilities. Iowa's definition of vocational education is presented, along with definitions for seven major delivery areas of vocational education: home economics, industrial arts/technology, trades and industry, business/office education,…

This book offers teachers guidelines and suggestions for adapting and/or selecting materials for use with students with disabilities in general language arts, social studies, and science classrooms (grades 6 through 8). Following an introduction, chapter 1 offers a nine-step procedure for adapting materials from first, creating a plan for adapting…

Presents a checklist for evaluating program modifications for students with hearing impairments in general education settings. The checklist evaluates mode/flow of communication (including provision of appropriate interpreting services), school environment, support structure, instructional formats, mediated/scaffolded instruction, lesson planning,…