The effects of transition-based teaching and use of instructive feedback were evaluated for kindergarten students. A minimal number of trials were used in transition times to teach the values of coin combinations. The procedure was effective for some typical students, and it was effective with modifications for some students with disabilities. (SM)

Examined the influence of analogy instruction on nine students' spelling behavior in a second-grade reading-language program. Found that all students increased their use of an analogy spelling strategy over the course of the school year, suggesting that analogy instruction can be integrated successfully into a rich, reading-language arts…

Articles in this special issue on the theme of cognitive skills acquisition in lifelong learning begins with an analysis of cognitive skills, then moves to various methodologies and approaches for their effective acquisition, and concludes with a specific implementation of computer systems facilitating this acquisition. (AEF)

The article describes teacher-directed and student-mediated comprehension strategies to improve the text comprehension skills of mainstreamed students with mild disabilities. Techniques include advance organizers, study guides, color coding, oral reading, critical thinking maps, and self-questioning techniques. Guidelines are offered for assessing…

Three youths with speech and language disorders completed an interview-training strategy emphasizing self-monitoring procedures. The results indicated that the training procedures were effective in increasing the use of positive comments, questions, and self-disclosures both in mock interviews and actual interview situations. (Author/JDD)

There is strong evidence that massed practice depresses performance and learning when learning is assessed by absolute retention measures. This finding is discussed relative to other literature on distribution of practice as well as recent issues in motor learning. (JD)

Presented are examples of academic, social, daily living, and motor skills that might be targeted for observational instruction for students with handicaps. At each of three phases of development (acquisition level, fluency level, and generalization level), suggestions are offered on choosing what to teach and deciding how to teach. (JDD)

Twenty prelingually deaf students, aged six-eight, were able to identify words better when presented in a print-plus-graphic-sign condition compared to a print-only condition. The initial use of the graphic representation of signs with the printed words also facilitated the children's immediate retention when reading the printed word only.…

An approach for increasing active student responding in special education classrooms calls for paraprofessionals to work with small groups to review and practice skills recently introduced. Through techniques such as choral responding, student response cards, timed trials, and academic games, each student in the group responds to every question.…

Practical activities are described that can develop the skills necessary to perform routine tasks in order to function effectively in a literate society. These elementary language arts curriculum activities include completing forms, making lists, writing newspaper headlines, using telephone directories, taking telephone messages, reading product…

An across-the-curriculum program was developed to teach learning, thinking, and problem-solving skills to bright middle-school underachievers. This article describes the pilot program's theoretical basis, axioms of program development, guidelines for teaching metacognitive strategies, and a framework for strategy implementation. (Author/JDD)

This paper views effective communication as an essential component of appropriate social behavior, provides definitions and conceptualizations of social skills and social competence within academic contexts, and describes social skills assessment and intervention procedures for school-age children and youth with and without disabilities.…

Ways to promote generalization of social skills of students with learning disabilities (LD) are considered. Approaches include: sequential modification, introducing naturally maintaining contingencies, training sufficient exemplars, training across settings, training loosely, using indiscriminable contingencies, programming common stimuli, and…

This article describes a six-week course for design students called "Needs Awareness and Design" which stresses the development of creative thinking skills. Brainstorming is recommended for identifying many ideas, and synectics is stressed for actual problem solving. (DB)

Two students (ages 18 and 20) with moderate mental retardation were taught to use a pocket calculator to make purchases. Progressive time delay and general case programing methods were used. Results indicated that the purchasing behaviors generalized to two untrained community sites and to untrained items and were maintained four weeks after…