Infusing Culturally Responsive Instruction to Improve Mathematics Performance of Latino Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

Culturally responsive instruction has the advantage of helping diverse students make academic gains. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of culturally infused mathematics lessons on the academic achievement of five middle school Latino students with specific learning disabilities in a resource classroom. We used an ABACACA multiple treatment reversal design, in which two forms of culturally responsive instruction (B) and its modification (C) were compared with the traditional instruction (A). The results of the study indicated that the modified culturally responsive mathematics instruction (C) was associated with increases in positive gains in participants' daily mathematics quizzes. Limitations and implications are discussed in relation to culturally responsive instruction for middle school Latino students with specific learning disabilities.     

Effects of Manipulative Instruction on Solving Area and Perimeter Problems by Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract. A multiple baseline design was employed to test the effect of manipulative instruction on the perimeter and area problem‐solving performance of middle and high school students who had been diagnosed with LD in the area of mathematics. Modeling, prompting/guided practice, and independent practice in conjunction with manipulative training were employed to teach both perimeter and area problem‐solving skills. Analysis of data revealed that the students rapidly acquired the problem‐solving‐skills, maintained these skills over a two‐month period, and transferred these skills to a paper and pencil problem‐solving format. This research extends previous findings by revealing that use of concrete manipulatives promotes the long‐term maintenance of skills.     

Science Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta‐Analysis

Although science has received much attention as a political and educational initiative, students with learning disabilities (LD) perform significantly lower than their nondisabled peers. This meta‐analysis evaluates the effectiveness of instructional strategies in science for students with LD. Twelve studies were examined, summarized, and grouped according to the type of strategy implemented. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated for each study. Across all studies, a mean ES of .78 was obtained, indicating a moderate positive effect on students with LD science achievement. Findings also align with past reviews of inquiry‐based instruction for students with special needs, indicating that students with LD need structure within an inquiry science approach in order to be successful. Additionally, results suggest that mnemonic instruction is highly effective at increasing learning disabled students' acquisition and retention of science facts.     

Evidence‐Based Strategies for Reading Instruction of Older Students with Learning Disabilities

Over a quarter of 8th‐grade students and more than one‐third of 4th graders do not read well enough to understand important concepts and acquire new knowledge from grade‐level text. For students with learning disabilities, the numbers are more troubling. This article describes features of evidence‐based instruction for students who continue to struggle with reading in late elementary, middle, and high school. Recommendations are organized into 5 areas that are critical to the reading improvement of older struggling readers: (1) word study, (2) fluency, (3) vocabulary, (4) comprehension, and (5) motivation. Much of the content in this article reflects our efforts with the Special Education and Reading Strands at the National Center on Instruction, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Two reports, both available at http://www.centeroninstruction.org/ , have particular relevance—Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta‐Analysis with Implications for Practice and Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: A Guidance Document from the Center on Instruction.     

Ensuring Content‐Area Learning by Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities

Three factors tied with secondary student success in content‐area reading are demonstrated: (a) validated teacher‐focused and student‐focused interventions, (b) integrated and comprehensive service delivery systems, and (c) well‐designed, data‐based professional developmental programs. Difficult challenges face secondary students with LD and their teachers with regard to these students’ participation and success in required general education classes. Recently, instructional methods and materials have been developed and validated for promoting these students’ success. Some of them focus on how general education teachers plan and teach their content‐area courses; others focus on giving students the strategies they need to respond independently to the demands of their courses. This article describes these instructional methods, a service‐delivery model for implementing these interventions in secondary schools, and professional‐development mechanisms and administrative support that must be in place for the model to be maintained effectively.     

Students With Learning Disabilities: Homework Problems and Promising Practices

Students with learning disabilities are more likely than other students to have problems doing homework. In this article, we describe how deficits in language, attention, memory, and organizational skills as well as in reading, writing, and math affect homework performance. We describe family and school factors that may exacerbate-or ameliorate-their problems as well as the intervention research that has included students with learning disabilities. At this point, there appears to be a huge gap between the strategies successfully applied in intervention studies and teachers' preferences for interventions, a serious issue that spills over and has a negative influence on family life. Nonetheless, an emerging area of intervention research suggests that effective efforts to improve homework completion, accuracy, and test performance may require parental involvement, peer cooperation, self-monitoring and graphing, "real-life" assignments, teachercollaborative problem solving, or all.     

Computer-Mediated Intersensory Learning Model for Students with Learning Disabilities

This article proposes a computer-mediated intersensory learning model as an alternative to traditional instructional approaches for students with learning disabilities (LDs) in the inclusive classroom. Predominant practices of classroom inclusion today reflect the six principles of zero reject, nondiscriminatory evaluation, appropriate education, least restrictive environment, procedural due process, and parental and student participation. These practices guide the amended Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004. For nearly 35 years the act has championed for the rights of children with disabilities. The act mandates that students with LDs are educated in the general education classroom (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 1999).     

数学学习困难儿童的多媒体教学策略

如何对数学学习困难儿童进行有效干预是很多教育工作者关心的问题。已有研究表明,工作记忆的缺陷是数学学习困难的根本原因。而基于认知负荷理论的教学设计正是针对人的工作记忆容量有限这一特点,利用多媒体来促进意义学习的完成。文章试图以工作记忆为桥梁,结合认知负荷理论,提出几条针对数学学习困难儿童的多媒体教学的干预措施,并指出了将来的研究方向。     

Differences in Performance Between Students with Learning Disabilities and Mild Mental Retardation: Implications for Categorical Instruction

We reviewed eight studies that described learning differences between students with learning disabilities (LD) and students with mild mental retardation (MMR). A total of 639 students, 6–20 years old, participated in these studies. Study authors examined students' inductive reasoning and their performance during guided inquiry and more lengthy interventions in reading and math. Students with LD and students with MMR were assessed in terms of learning ease, pre‐ to posttreatment gains, and the maintenance, transfer, and application of knowledge acquisition. Students with LD statistically significantly outperformed students with MMR on both inductive reasoning and guided inquiry tasks. They made reliably larger gains following interventions in reading and math. Across all learning tasks and contexts, students with LD displayed greater consistency transferring and applying conceptual knowledge to new tasks. Regarding maintenance, results were mixed. Implications for categorical instruction are discussed.     

Social Skills Learning for Students with Learning Disabilities and Students with Behaviour Disorders

This study examined the effects of a computer‐assisted social skills intervention on the social competence and behaviour adjustment of students with special needs. The sample consisted of 114 male students, divided into two groups: 52 students with learning disabilities (LD) (mean age = 12.23; SD = 1.12) and 62 students with behaviour disorders (BD) (mean age = 12.53; SD = 1.34). The students were trained with the “I Found a Solution” computer‐assisted social skill package. The intervention consisted of the computer‐assisted program and teacher‐guided work. Each student was assessed, before and after the training, on: teacher‐rated self‐control and maladjusted behaviours, peer‐rated social acceptance and self‐rated loneliness. Through conceptualisation based on the students’ loneliness and externalising maladjustment, four subgroups were identified: (a) relatively adjusted students; (b) externalising and not‐lonely students; (c) lonely and non‐externalising students; and (d) lonely and externalising students. The analyses included subgroups b, c and d, excluding the relatively adjusted subgroup, adding up to a sample of 83 students (35 students with learning disabilities and 48 students with behaviour disorders). A series of two‐way ANOVAs with repeated measures (grouping by subgrouping, with pre‐/post‐training scores as the repeated measures) revealed that following training, students in both groups felt less lonely and were more accepted by peers. Teachers rated them as demonstrating higher levels of self‐control and decreased externalising and internalising maladjustment. The differential impact of the training between groups (LD/BD) and among subgroups (b/c/d) highlighted the significance of the subtyping approach for understanding the children's social learning profiles and for directing effective social skill programming.     

The Effects of Concrete-Representational-Abstract Sequence Instruction on Fractions for Chinese Elementary Students with Mathematics Learning Disabilities

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education - Fractions are an important mathematical concept for elementary students. However, students with mathematics learning disabilities (MLD)...     

学习障碍学生社会技能训练的内容与方法

社会技能训练在促进学习障碍学生社会技能发展方面具有重要作用。学习障碍学生社会技能训练的内容主要包括基本交往技能、情绪情感表达和控制技能、社会关系技能、课堂交往技能、决策与问题解决技能以及冲突管理技能。学习障碍学生社会技能训练主要通过六步直接教学法、隐性课程法、社会解析法和应用行为分析法进行     

Translanguaging as Inclusive Pedagogical Practices in English-Medium Instruction Science and Mathematics Classrooms for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

Research in Science Education - In English-medium instruction (EMI), English-as-a-second-language students will learn all/some subjects through English. Although there are a considerable number of...     

Screening Students for Potential Learning Disabilities

The present study indicates that prenatal/birth complications, developmental delays, head injury history and family histry of learning disabilities occur at higher frequencies among college students with learning disabilities, but a family history of diabetes or hypoglycemia, and chronic ear infection history do not occur more often among students with learning disabilities.     

学习障碍学生学习策略干预研究述评

学习障碍学生在运用学习策略方面存在显著困难 ,学习策略干预对提高学习障碍学生的学习效率和学习效果具有显著作用。学习障碍学生学习策略干预研究主要包括学习障碍学生学习策略缺乏的表现、学习策略干预的内容与模式以及学习策略干预应注意的问题三个方面。后继的研究应扩大研究对象的类型和干预策略所适用的学科种类并进一步提高干预的可迁移性。     

Accuracy of Area Model and Number Line Representations of Fractions for Students with Learning Disabilities

Assessment results are used to investigate relations between performance on a fraction number line estimation task and a circular area model estimation task for students with LD in Grades 6–8. Results indicate that students’ abilities to represent fractions on number lines and on circular area models are distinct skills. In addition, accurate fraction magnitude estimation using number lines was more strongly related to other fractions skills (e.g., fraction magnitude comparison) than accurate fraction magnitude estimation using circular area models. Our findings call for greater integration of the number line into early fractions instruction, and highlight the importance of explicitly teaching students to make connections between different visual representations of fractions. Implications for research and practice are presented.     

Science Education and Students with Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities (LD) are increasingly expected to master content in the general education curriculum, making the need for effective instructional supports more important than ever before. Science is a part of the curriculum that can be particularly challenging to students with LD because of the diverse demands it places on cognitive performance. In this summary we review a number of strategies that have been validated for learners with LD. The strategies include supports for (a) verbal learning of declarative information, (b) processing information in texts, (c) activities‐based instruction/experiential learning, (d) scientific thinking and reasoning, and (e) differentiated instruction. We also summarize the research regarding the impact of teacher behavior on achievement for students with LD in science education. The strategies reviewed yield tangible and positive effect sizes that suggest that their application to the target domain will substantially improve outcomes for students with LD in science education.