"School-Age Language Intervention: Evidence-based Practices" explains how to teach the language and literacy skills, strategies, and underlying processes needed for educational success. This book brings together an array of experts to provide the latest practical and evidence-based guidance to school speech-language pathologists.…

Demonstrates that intensive direct instruction followed by practice can help slower students learn sight vocabulary. (FL)

Observations for 2 years of 34 grade 1 classrooms, in which at least three-fourths of the students were English learners, link specific instructional strategies to reading growth among English learners. Six facets of instruction predicted student growth in reading--in both reading comprehension and reading fluency and accuracy. (Contains 24…

The need for direct, systematic vocabulary instruction in improving language comprehension abilities of hearing-impaired and learning-disabled students is discussed. Vocabulary instruction should be knowledge-based and should be combined with extensive reading opportunities. Sample instructional techniques, such as word maps, semantic feature…

Students with learning disabilities may gain from use of "flip-flop" study guides to gain key vocabulary and concepts. Rather than providing definitions for terms, the student provides terms for definitions and concepts in the study guide. Such guides allow the teacher to focus on particular concepts and provide repetition of information for…

Adolescents (n=25) with learning disabilities were randomly assigned to either mnemonic conditions or experimenter-directed rehearsal conditions and individually taught difficult vocabulary words, half abstract and half concrete. Results included higher scores on both recall and comprehension tests by mnemonically trained students for both…

The study, involving 61 learning-disabled junior high students, compared the short-term and long-term effectiveness of definition instruction with interactive vocabulary strategies (semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis, and semantic/syntactic feature analysis). Students participating in the interactive strategies demonstrated greater…

A language therapy program designed for use with behavior-disordered adolescents was also used with language/learning-disabled adolescents. Line drawings of facial expressions were used to teach the concepts of feelings and identify ranges of similar emotions as well as to introduce new vocabulary. Special behavior considerations with the behavior…

This article compares four theories relating vocabulary knowledge to reading comprehension and applies these theories to vocabulary development instructional approaches for various types of students with problems in reading comprehension. The four theories are the instrumentalist hypothesis, the aptitude hypothesis, the access hypothesis, and the…

Describes collaborative strategic reading (CSR), a technique for teaching students, such as those with learning disabilities, reading comprehension and vocabulary skills in a cooperative setting. Covers teaching the four strategies of CSR (preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap up), as well as teaching students cooperative learning group…

This study conducted in a midwestern city, addressed problems experienced by learning disabled (LD) students in recalling specialized science and social studies vocabulary. This apparent problem was confirmed by a teacher questionnaire and analyses of types and frequency of test errors on recent exams. Students appeared unfamiliar with memory…

Schema Theory, the use of the learner's background knowledge for the building of new knowledge, is applied to improving reading comprehension skills and teaching vocabulary words and concepts to learning disabled students. Semantic mapping is a vocbulary strategy which produces the interaction between prior knowledge in a graphic form. For…

Intended for teachers of secondary level learning disabled students, the paper offers guidelines for five areas of language instruction--vocabulary, listening comprehension, conversational skills, abstract language usage, and ability to adjust language to different social situations. (SW)

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…

Three fifth grade students with learning disabilities were taught to recognize multisyllabic basal vocabulary words using constant time delay in a small-group instructional arrangement and were assessed on ability to recognize, spell, and define both their own target words and observational words. The procedure was effective in establishing…