This guide to cooperative teaching provides field-tested ideas and strategies using an organizational analogy of a home remodeling project. Chapters address the following topics: (1) recent changes in the nations schools and an overview of collaboration in the contemporary educational system; (2) different approaches to collaboration, including…

This paper discusses the outcomes of a survey of 39 special education practitioners (including 24 school psychologists) and 280 elementary classroom teachers on the identification of students with reading disabilities. Practitioners were asked to rate five empirically valid and five clinical-traditional non-valid student traits for their…

The design of this curriculum project allows teachers to introduce the rich Indian culture in a non-threatening way to learners who struggle with writing material. It was initially developed for special education students who read and write significantly below grade level. Some of the project's lessons include showing the students artwork and…

The researcher/author developed, out of necessity as a teacher, an alternative method to teach reading to a classroom containing students with learning disabilities. A study sought to determine whether the "Achieve" reading curriculum is an effective instructional methodology for increasing the reading achievement of seventh-grade…

This paper reviews the research on use of American Sign Language in elementary classes that do not include children with hearing impairment and also reports on the use of the manual sign language alphabet in a primary class learning the phonetic sounds of the alphabet. The research reported is overwhelmingly positive in support of using sign…

This paper provides a framework for use by education agencies in developing rules and guidelines for use of paraprofessionals within programs serving individuals with learning disabilities, by postsecondary institutions and related agencies in developing education and professional development programs, and by administrators and teachers/service…

This report evaluates special education program expansion in the Saginaw (Michigan) school district with federal funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The program expansion involved: employment of 16 special education certified teachers to teach students with learning disabilities (LD), emotional impairments (EI), and…

With this inaugural edition of "Evidence for Education," NICHCY launches a new publication series exploring the best evidence-based practices education has to offer. "Strategy Instruction" is a powerful student-centered approach to teaching that is backed by years of quality research. In fact, strategic approaches to learning…

The way in which 261 learning disabilities professors rated their proficiency on Council for Learning Disabilities' competency statements in 11 areas was investigated. Results revealed that reading was the most important competency area. Competence in cognition and career/vocational education was not viewed as particularly important. (Author/SEW)

The case typing, or student profile, method of assessing learning disabilities is discussed, along with guidelines for adequate assessment, obstacles to adequate assessment, the characteristics of good remedial instruction, and pitfalls of individualized education programs. (SEW)

Found that mildly learning disabled elementary school students obtained significantly higher reading achievement in a self-contained special learning disabilities classroom than did students in a regular classroom with outside support from a learning specialist and students in a learning center setting. (FL)

The status of programs serving students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) was investigated via questionnaires completed by 144 SLD teachers in Virginia. Findings raise serious questions concerning instructional intensity and scope in addition to procedural issues related to compliance with federal and state regulations. (Author)

Characteristics, across categories, of 198 students previously identified as educable mentally retarded, learning disabled, and emotionally disturbed were analyzed in order to validate their relevance in distinguishing among the three groups of children. (Author)

The study examined the efficacy of systematic team placement and individualized educational plans (IEPs) on enhancing the social integration of 200 educable mentally retarded and learning/behaviorally disturbed children into regular elementary classrooms. (Author)

Verbal interactions of 46 special education teachers in specific language and learning disability (SLD) classrooms, educable mentally retarded (EMR) classrooms, and trainable mentally retarded (TMR) classrooms were described and compared. The teachers varied, by classroom type, in their use of direct or indirect teaching styles, but the former…