The document provides information on the PREP Program for young moderately mentally retarded children, a program which offers individualized instruction in selected play skills, small group activity to facilitate the practice of play skills, and the encouragement of purposeful play within a stimulating free play environment. It is explained that…

The training manual is intended to meet the training needs of Head Start personnel and others working with preschool handicapped children who have not had formal training in special education. The book attempts to provide the basic concepts and practices of providing individualized instruction to preschool handicapped children as mandated by P.L.…

Described is the Pennsylvania Training Model Individual Assessment Guide, designed to assist teachers in the development of specific programs for the severely and profoundly mentally retarded and multihandicapped. A section is provided for each of the system's four major components: the curriculum assessment guide for gross screening in the areas…

The paper describes an auto-tutorial methodology for training veterinary medical practitioners to perform differential diagnoses. It describes in detail the three phases of differential diagnosis: sensory pick-up, a combination of cognition and memory; categorization, the process by which diagnosticians group symptoms and signs prior to diagnosis;…

This article summarizes the systematic process of instructional development by breaking down the three major stages of instructional analysis, design, and formative evaluation into the steps of needs analysis, learner analysis, task analysis, concept analysis, specification of instructional requirements, and the statement of instructional…

Discusses two ways in which task analysis can be integrated with instructional design--substantive integration, where the type of task analysis is determined by design type, and temporal integration, where analysis activities are interspersed with design activities. Flowcharts, examples of and procedures for instructional analysis, and references…

This digest discusses using scaffolding instruction to optimize student learning by providing a supportive environment while facilitating student independence. It begins by identifying the following eight essential elements of scaffolding instruction that teachers can use as general guidelines: (1) pre-engagement with the student and the…

This paper provides guidelines for the use of videotape recordings for systematic instruction in functional skills for students with moderate to severe disabilities. Four examples illustrate use of videotapes to teach community skills (e.g., crossing a street) to secondary students with moderate disabilities; self care skills (e.g., zipping a…

Presents a set of writing assignments and class activities for helping students to define their own writing problems, set their own goals, and evaluate their own progress. (RL)

The article provides a task analysis and procedures for teaching reading skills to nine trainable mentally handicapped students with the use of the TV Guide. (PHR)

Examines the relationship between recent research on metacognition and schema theory. Provides practical teaching suggestions, showing how these concepts can be used as a framework for language instruction and for analyzing tasks students are asked to perform. (RAE)

The intuitions and reasoned judgments of second-language learners of English were compared on a number of semantic and syntactic phenomena in the language. Because scores on the semantic tasks were higher than on syntactic tasks, it is assumed that classroom instruction should follow the same route. (24 references) (Author/LB)

Storytelling scenarios are suggested for teaching basic first-aid skills to children (ages 4-9) who have mild to severe disabilities. The method involves four steps: assembling materials; identifying skills and conducting task analyses; teaching the skills; and assessing discrimination among different types of injuries, generalization to new…

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)

One of the challenges in content-based instruction in second language classrooms is how to focus on form in a way that is both effective and appropriate. The use of collaborative tasks that push learners to consciously reflect on their own language use (i.e., produce "language-related episodes") while conveying meaning has been proposed as one way…