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 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…

The 'dyslexia debate' is resilient. In the media, a key component of the debate is the notion that dyslexia does not exist, popularised by a series of vociferous commentators. For them, dyslexia is an invention of overly-concerned parents, supported by a clique of private educational psychologists willing to offer a diagnosis -- for a fee -- even…

The National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention (NCLII), a consortium funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), prepares special education leaders to become experts in research on intensive intervention for students with disabilities who have persistent and severe academic (e.g., reading and math) and behavioral…

For adolescents who struggle with reading, a lack of confidence and reluctance to read in content areas such as history/social science presents challenges to learning. More specifically, difficulties with text comprehension and analysis limit content knowledge acquisition and self-expression, which can impact academic success. Therefore, it is…

Apprehension is the immediate reaction of some students when faced with multisyllabic words. Lacking strategies for decoding longer words, these students stop reading and seek help from an adult or a more accomplished peer rather than tackle the mysterious words themselves. Explicit strategy instruction is often recommended for students who have…

There is reliable evidence that new vocabulary is primarily acquired through wide independent reading. However, struggling readers tend to avoid reading, resulting in limited word encounters and inadequate vocabulary growth, and they often have difficulties inferring the meanings of new words from context. While there are no clear solutions to the…

There are many environmental and personal factors that contribute to reading success. Reading comprehension is a complex interaction of language, sensory perception, memory, and motivational aspects. However, most existing assessment tools have not adequately reflected the complex nature of reading comprehension. Good assessment requires a…

A word-learning task was used to investigate variation among developmental dyslexics classified as phonological and surface dyslexics. Dyslexic children and chronological age (CA)- and reading level (RL)-matched normal readers were taught to pronounce novel nonsense words such as "veep." Words were assigned either a regular (e.g., ''veep'') or an…

Because of recent legislation, students with mild disabilities frequently receive social studies instruction in the general education classroom. Therefore, middle school teachers have the challenge of teaching social studies to students with a wide range of abilities. Emphasis in the general education social studies curriculum is on high-level…

Describes the changes in mathematics classrooms since the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards have been proposed and the difficulties those changes pose for students with reading and writing problems. Offers specific suggestions for preparing students for mainstreaming into regular math classes and for providing the supports…

The learning opportunities center for special needs community college students at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, uses procedures such as individual and small group tutoring, one-to-one and group counseling, direct classroom intervention, faculty orientation and consultation, and bypass techniques and materials. (LRA)

Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is addressed through federal law and refers to a tiered approach to instruction. Students who do not make adequate academic progress and who are at risk for reading and other learning disabilities receive increasingly intensive instructional services. This brief was developed to help you understand…

The topic in this paper is how former special needs students with academic competence from upper secondary school succeed in education on a higher level. The study concentrates on students who at their start in upper secondary education were registered with problems of concentration, difficulties in reading, writing or mathematics. The main part…

Describes Saint Pius V School's (Lynn, Massachusetts) program to help children build a language structure on which to arrange the linguistic elements they have already learned and will learn. Teachers use a structured direct phonetic approach to language development and reading based on the Orton-Gillingham Method. Reviews results. (DMM)