In early childhood, teacher-child conversations play a crucial role in fostering language learning, particularly vocabulary development. This research examines the mediating role of extended-child-talk between conversation-facilitating (CF) strategies and vocabulary learning in prekindergarten classrooms. Thirty-four teachers' book reading and…

Oral language skills underpin children's educational success and enhance positive life outcomes. Yet, significant numbers of children struggle to develop competence in speaking and listening, especially those from areas of high economic deprivation. A tiered intervention model, graduating the level of provision in line with levels of need, has…

Read-alouds play an important role in young children's literacy development. Teacher education programs include read-alouds as part of balanced literacy instruction and many preservice teachers are required to read aloud to others in their teacher education programs. There are many excellent resources teacher educators may use to help preservice…

After children have witnessed domestic violence, the lingering trauma can undermine their ability to learn and succeed in school. With the right classroom strategies, however, teachers can help students relieve stress, reengage in the curriculum, stay focused and organized, attend to tasks, and reestablish relationships.

Background: Social and communication impairments are core deficits and prognostic indicators of autism. We evaluated the impact of supplementing a comprehensive intervention with a curriculum targeting socially synchronous behavior on social outcomes of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods: Fifty toddlers with ASD, ages 21 to 33…

Recent reports indicate that the expressive writing needs of students who struggle have become a critical and life-influencing problem. This article provides an overview of current research on the writing needs of students with LD and a practitioner-based reflection on the Singer and Bashir EmPOWER approach, a resource that can help teachers meet…

Effective written expression is a necessary form of communication and one of the most difficult tasks for students with disabilities to master. Few instructional strategies for writing have been validated specifically for students with emotional and behavior disorders. This single-subject study evaluated the effect of a Direct Instruction program…

Academic language is a vital part of content-area instruction and is one of the most pressing needs faced by English Language Learners (ELLs). The fundamental challenge ELLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English. Because of this challenge, the authors, as educators, do not…

This experiment tested a treatment designed to improve choral students' expressiveness regarding keyword emphasis and phrase shaping. The treatment was founded upon the constructivist belief that students actively construct conceptual knowledge through problem solving. Participants were 46 university students randomly selected from a nonauditioned…

This study is the first randomized study of the impacts of the vocabulary instruction program Kindergarten PAVEd for Success (K-PAVE) (Hamilton and Schwanenflugel 2011) on low-income students in kindergarten and grade 1. The study has two components. The first component is a test of the impacts of one year of the K-PAVE vocabulary instruction in…

State education departments, in discussions with Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast, identified low reading achievement as a critical issue for their students and expressed an interest in identifying effective strategies to promote the foundational skills in young students that might improve reading achievement. The Mississippi…

With the implementation of the inclusion concept in public school classes, the ability of the general physical educator to effectively teach all of his or her students has been tested. This is particularly true with some students who have a receptive language disability (e.g., deaf, traumatic brain injury), an expressive language disability (e.g.,…

"Specific Learning Disability" is by far the largest category of conditions served in special education. Unfortunately, few parents (and educators) really understand what learning disabilities are. Many erroneously believe it is a "politically correct" term for "mildly mentally retarded" or "dull normal." Further, while most laypeople have heard…