Mathematics can be a difficult topic both to teach and to learn. Word problems specifically can be difficult for students with disabilities because they have to conceptualize what the problem is asking for, and they must perform the correct operation accurately. Current trends in mathematics instruction stem from the National Council of Teachers…

Learning strategy instruction is an evidence-based practice for teaching adolescents with mild disabilities. However, researchers have not developed strategies for every content area or skill. Therefore, teachers need to be able develop strategies based on the needs of their students. This article reviews the process for developing and teaching…

Thirteen content-area teachers of mildly disabled adolescents rated six cognitive strategy-based adaptive teaching procedures for facilitating content mastery. The teachers rated the strategies' familiarity, value, use, assistance needed to routinely implement, and reasonableness of being expected to implement. The teachers highly valued and…

The paper reviews the use of pictorial mnemonic strategies as an instructional tool for nonhandicapped and handicapped learners. Recent research has indicated that mildly handicapped learners can successfully employ fairly complex mnemonic strategies, and mnemonic strategies can be adapted to many different content areas. (Author/CL)

Teaching writing as a process is advocated to enhance a student's metacognitive skills and understanding of writing. The process can be used with students who have mild disabilities. Prewriting techniques such as clustering and color coding are explained, along with three teacher options for prewriting instruction to address class and student…

In response to Derry (EC 233 120), this article considers implications of learning strategy instruction for teachers of special education populations. The paper identifies relatively easy- and relatively difficult-to-train cognitive strategies, and reviews research on mnemonic instruction (complex mnemonic instruction, group-generated mnemonic…

This article reviews social studies instructional approaches for secondary students with mild disabilities, with an emphasis on methods that provide access to the general education curriculum. It highlights research findings on domain-specific instructional approaches for teaching social studies concepts such as historical understanding and…

The paper presents a research-based case for mnemonic instruction with mildly disabled students, and recommends learning tasks, designs, and implementation formats. Evolution of the research, from theory-driven laboratory research to long-term classroom applications, is described. Recommendations are offered for further research. (Author/JDD)

The article discusses generalization in use of learning strategies with the mildly disabled and presents a generalization model. Major research findings indicate the importance of explicit instruction in generalization, teacher expectation of strategy generalization, and feedback. Seven areas of research needs (such as motivation and metacognition…

A study found that 4 boys (age 11) with mild disabilities were able to acquire the behaviors for instructive feedback stimuli when the stimuli were presented after trials on any of a set of target behaviors and could acquire instructive feedback behaviors during acquisition of or mastery of target behaviors. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Discusses instructional modifications to increase the academic success of rural behavior-disordered students in regular classes. Describes adaptations of teaching mode, media use, presentation of academic content, textbook content and organization, and test construction and administration. Contains 10 references. (SV)

Study strategies used to assist mildly handicapped students become more actively engaged and successful in gaining and responding to information in content area classes are described. They include using advance organizers, summarizing/paraphrasing what is read, enhancing listening skills, and improving the organization, appearance, and accuracy of…

Mildly handicapped elementary-school students (n=17) were taught information from a social studies textbook using a mnemonic instruction approach or more traditional, textbook-based instruction. Under mnemonic instruction conditions, students performed significantly higher on both immediate and delayed chapter tests than under traditional…

This paper discusses the two important domains affecting the success of learning strategy training for students with learning disabilities or other mild handicaps: students' knowledge of critical skills and information potentially related to strategy use, and students' motivation to learn and use the strategy. The paper presents an eight-stage…

Strategies for teaching mildly handicapped students the processes of revising and editing their written compositions are described. Students read and revise each other's writing thus providing peer feedback that is crucial in a process-oriented writing program. A hierarchy of revisions is given to evaluate changes from first to last draft. (VW)