For many students at risk of reading difficulties, effective, early reading instruction can improve reading outcomes and set them on a positive reading trajectory. Thus, response-to-intervention models include a focus on a student's Tier I reading instruction as one element for preventing reading difficulties and identifying students with a…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether integrating encoding instruction with reading instruction provides stronger gains for students who struggle with reading than instruction that includes little or no encoding. An instructional design model was investigated to best fit the data of 175 first-grade readers at risk for reading…

Eight students were observed during classroom instruction. Comparisons were made of how they spent their time in resource and regular classrooms. In general, opportunities for differentiated instruction were available in resource rooms. However, no practical differences were noted in the amount of time students were actively engaged in instruction…

Twenty-four undergraduate students in special education interacted with a child confederate while solving three tasks with the child either exhibiting distractible or ontask behavior. Analysis of the data using multivariate analysis of variance techniques supported the hypothesis that adults respond differently to particular characteristics of…

Observation of 26 learning disabled elementary students' over two entire school days revealed such results as that instructional approaches varied according to service delivery level. However, no differences were found in students' opportunities to learn through active academic responding and that academic responding time was low for all students.…

Elementary-school learning-disabled, emotionally disabled, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped students (N=122) were observed during written language instruction, to document writing tasks and student responding. Extreme variability was found in the amount of time individual students spent in writing activities or in receiving written…

Seventeen pairs of learning disabled (LD) and normal elementary school students were observed to determine instructional and responding times. While the time allocated to activities and tasks did not differ for the two groups, LD students received more individual instruction and teacher approval than did non-LD students. (Author/SW)

The effects of self-assessment and self-recording were compared as treatments for increasing on-task behavior and academic productivity of elementary school learning disabled students (9-10 years old). Self- recording appears to be a more effective procedure than self-assessment for increasing attention to task. (Author/SEW)

Five single-subject studies indicated that adolescents with learning disabilities can successfully implement self-monitoring procedures in special and regular education settings and correspondingly improve their on-task behavior, without regard to classmates' percentage of on-task behavior and with fading of reinforcement and self-monitoring.…

Research has consistently demonstrated the importance of providing an appropriate level of challenge, called the instructional level, within curricular material. Although the instructional level is a generally well-defined and researched construct, much less data exist on the acquisition rate (AR) component of an appropriate level of challenge.…

Observation of behavior differences between 15 elementary school learning-disabled (LD) and 15 non-disabled girls in the regular classroom showed that LD girls spent less time doing schoolwork, that teachers did not spend more time interacting with LD girls, and that teachers responded less frequently to call-outs from LD girls. (Author/CB)

A study explored middle school students' (N=54) perceptions of problem difficulty, persistence, and knowledge, and use of problem-solving strategies in solving mathematical word problems. Students with learning disabilities rated problems as significantly more difficult and had a significantly lower total word problem score than both average and…

When mildly-disabled high school students (9 learning-disabled, 2 educable mentally retarded, and 1 emotionally handicapped) were taught techniques to self-monitor and record on-task performance with audible cues and later independently, a functional relationship was observed between the intervention and increased on-task behavior, wherein changes…

Two studies, each involving four intermediate grade students with learning disabilities, examined the differential effects of attention monitoring and performance monitoring on spelling study behaviors and story writing behaviors. Both interventions had a positive impact; neither was clearly or consistently superior to the other. (Author/JDD)

Two students (ages 10-11) with learning disabilities exhibited improved on-task behavior and academic performance during self-monitoring procedures, with additional increases resulting from self-graphing procedures. However, little improvement in on-task behavior and academic productivity was noted with the introduction of self-reinforcement and…