The focus of this research was to examine the impact of the use of interactive whiteboards (IWB) on the engagement of students with intellectual disability in early reading lessons. Case studies of five students with intellectual disability were carried out using an alternating treatments design. Detailed coding of video recordings of lessons was carried out at 30-second intervals across 10 lessons in each of the IWB and traditional desk-top lessons. All students acquired knowledge in the aspect of reading taught. Upon analysis of the levels of engagement, no consistent pattern of difference was observed between the lessons using an IWB and those taught using a more traditional desk-top style delivery. However, the extent of oral language production during lessons did differ between the two conditions, with there being evidence of a higher level of relevant verbal elaborations in the lessons taught away from the IWBs. This result is important as production of language, particularly elaborated or connected language, helps to build knowledge networks and deepen understanding of the task and therefore comprehension. The elaborated language in the non-IWB lessons was found to be up to twice that of the IWB lessons.