In this article, the author will demonstrate how gestures--often used in combination with offloading information on scratch paper--can be used to help students with difficulties in mathematics succeed with secondary level algebra. The authors will provide key examples from three studies of the algebra learning of students with mathematics…

Building proficiency with fraction arithmetic poses a consistent challenge for students with learning difficulties or disabilities in mathematics. This article illustrates how teachers can use the number line model to support struggling learners in making sense of fraction arithmetic. Number lines are a powerful tool that can be used to help…

The number of students manifesting learning, behavior, and emotional problems far outstrips the ways schools deal with these matters. As school board members and administrators know, existing programs, services, and special initiatives tend to be fragmented and often engender fights over turf and counterproductive competition for sparse resources.…

Students with both academic and behavioral risk factors can benefit from participation in self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instruction. Educators can use systematic screening procedures as part of effective data-informed decision making for identifying students who could benefit from SRSD. In this manuscript we detail screening…

Holding conversations about setting, character, and plot are important conversations in a book club, but just as important are conversations about book features. This classroom practice article describes our experience teaching about peritextual features during a book club with children with learning difficulties.

This report highlights the following four matters that warrant particular attention as the 2021-2022 school year gets underway: (1) Outreaching and reengaging disconnected students; (2) Improving differentiated instruction; (3) Broadly embedding social emotional learning and development; and (4) Reorganizing student/learning supports. To address…

Schools have long wrestled with how best to deal with student and schooling problems. The COVID-19 pandemic and other recent events have increased the number of such problems. This pressing reality along with growing concerns about social injustice and increasing criticism of public education have heightened calls for changes in how schools play a…

Eliciting student thinking during mathematics instruction allows teachers to choose tasks with high cognitive demand while also engaging students to use productive struggle to solve mathematical problems, thus increasing their conceptual understanding. Often, students who require intensive intervention in mathematics, in particular, students who…

In the past decade, the numeracy component in adult basic education has gained scholarly attention. The issue has been addressed by large-scale assessments of adults' skills and intergovernmental policy agendas, but also by qualitative research into numeracy from the perspective of social practice theory. However, some aspects of numeracy are…

Identification of and services for students with learning disabilities share both similarities and differences across cultures, including the term(s) used to label and subsequently provide services for these students. In Arabic, the term "learning disabilities" translates to "learning difficulties." This column provides a brief…

This article focuses on creating awareness about learning difficulties among teachers, educational administrators, and all those involved in the field of education. Children with learning difficulties are found across all ages, socio-economic levels, and races. Individuals with learning difficulties find it very difficult to learn new skills. Most…

If you are like most educators, you agree with the idea of providing intensive intervention for students with the most intractable academic and behavior problems. The question you may be asking is, how do I find the time? Intensive intervention requires time for planning and delivering individualized instruction, as well as time for collecting and…

Check-in, check-out (CICO), an intervention implemented with students at risk for behavioral disorders, addresses minor misbehaviors by providing students with a structured means of receiving positive adult attention. CICO reduces problem behaviors and improves appropriate behaviors of students with and without behavioral disorders. Research…

The two-year institution where I teach first-year composition serves multilingual students who excel, keep pace, or fall behind. In addition to these students, there are one or two whom I identify as "promising but struggling multilinguals." While this small but everpresent contingent attend regularly, submit work somewhat consistently,…

This brief helps educators implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, like positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS), organize classroom supports for preventing, teaching, and responding to students' social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs across the continuum. In classrooms, each educator implements,…