We understand that teaching a group of students while keeping in mind individual learners’ needs is a challenge. But there are techniques and strategies you can use that will help you to support students of all abilities — including those with learning disabilities. Visit the RTI Action Network for up-to-date info on Response to Intervention.
There is a new approach to teaching and learning, called Universal Design for Learning (UDL), that can dramatically change the school experiences and success of students with LD. This Parent Advocacy Brief will help parents learn the basics about the UDL approach and it offers helpful tips for talking with your school about it. More >
The attached collection of articles and resources will help you reflect upon ways to protect children with LD and other disabilities in your school from bullying, giving you the information and tools needed to both ensure their safety and help them be recognized and appreciated as valued members of their school community. More >
Special education teacher and learning disability expert Meg Randall discusses a teaching technique she uses to better serve her students, including those with LD, in the classroom. More >
Background and Purpose
Research conducted in the 1980s and more recently has suggested that children with learning disabilities (LD) have difficulties with reading comprehension that are the result of broadly based language problems and not limited to simple difficulties with word ... More >
On a daily basis, teachers face multiple challenges in the classroom. One of those challenges is teaching a group of students with varying abilities so that everyone can learn grade-level skills and content. This means that while teaching to the group, you have to keep in mind the nee... More >
Teaching students with the learning disability dyslexia is challenging, especially in a classroom of heterogeneous learners. Here are strategies both general education and special education teachers can use.
8 Ways to Enhance Interactive Instruction
Gaining students’ attention and... More >
Reading Problems Do Not Just Go Away
During the past few years, there has been a significant effort, both within schools and throughout the community at large, to draw attention to the critical importance (and benefit) of effective reading instruction, especially for students in th... More >
The following summary of effective reading instruction has been excerpted from a 64-page booklet, designed by teachers for teachers, that summarizes what researchers have discovered about how to successfully teach children to read. Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for ... More >
Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is the best-known method of student progress monitoring. CBM helps teachers find out how students are progressing in basic academic areas such as math, reading, writing, and spelling. CBM can be helpful to parents because it provides current, week-b... More >
Background and Purpose
Learning to read is critical to a child's (and an adult's) well-being. The child and adult who cannot read at a comfortable level experience significant difficulties mastering many types of academic content, are at substantial risk for failure in school, and ... More >
Dyslexia is a life-long condition. With proper help people with dyslexia can learn to read and/or write well. Early identification and treatment is the key to helping dyslexics achieve in school and in life. Most people with dyslexia need help from a teacher, tutor, or therapist spec... More >
Almost 25 years ago, a group of researchers at the University of Kansas set out to change "business as usual" in terms of instruction for students with learning disabilities (LD). They recognized that adolescents were especially vulnerable to school failure, especially in the area of... More >
Great progress has been made during the past 15 years in the area of reading, and particularly, in our understanding of the underlying skills needed to be an efficient reader. Beginning readers must master a set of phonemic awareness and phonics skills that allow for new words to be ... More >
A Research Synthesis (Executive Summary)
Background and Purpose
The desire for a positive evaluation of self affects a person's feelings, actions, and aspirations throughout life. In the course of childhood and adolescence, school experiences play an important role in the develo... More >
Practitioners and parents have the incredible responsibility of preparing their students to participate in a literate society. If the ultimate goal of reading is the comprehension of written text, whether encountered in academic, work or life settings, then we must ensure that our st... More >
Executive Summary
Background and Purpose
The last 25 years have seen the largest wave of immigration in the history of the United States. Projections indicate that one student in four will be Latino in 2020, compared to only one in ten in 1982.
What is the best way to t... More >
There are many benefits to using Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM). It helps teachers plan effective instruction, estimate and document student progress, and communicate with parents or other professionals about student progress. Moreover, CBM data can help teachers improve the acad... More >
What top-line information can researchers in the area of special education tell us about students with learning disabilities (LD) and writing? Are there basic guidelines – based on research – for teaching expressive writing to students with LD? Yes!We know that personal and expos... More >
A Meta-Analysis of Treatment Outcomes (Executive Summary)
Background and Purpose
In the last 20 years, the number of children classified as having learning disabilities has increased substantially, from roughly three-quarters of a million in 1976 to more than 2.6 million in 1997... More >
A Meta-Analytic Review (Executive Summary)
Background and Purpose
American schools are educating an increasingly diverse student population. This diversity is present in students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds, behavior, and learning abilities. One of the greatest challeng... More >
While traveling to and from meetings during the past few weeks, I noticed the news seemed to be all about sports: the start of the baseball season, the NCAA basketball tournament and the Kentucky Derby. I am not a sports enthusiast (I do confess to be a ready participant, and my int... More >
There is no doubt about it: "Research" is a very hot topic in the field of learning disabilities (LD) as well as throughout the educational community at large. The phrase "scientifically based research" is mentioned 111 times in the No Child Left Behind Act, and the law compels educat... More >
There was a time, not too long ago, when children with disabilities were "separate and unequal." They were kept away from their peers during periods of classroom instruction; assigned to separate tables in the lunchroom, and even kept apart from others in their grade for gym and spec... More >
When the term "research says" or "research supports" comes up in a conversation about education, it is greeted with cynicism.
In part, this is because many confuse the diverse types of research. The purpose of this brief essay is to articulate a way of looking at research studies a... More >
A Meta-Analysis of Outcomes Related to High-Order Processing (Executive Summary)
Background and Purpose
As children go through adolescence, striking changes occur in their problem-solving abilities. As a result, adolescents are generally more efficient and sophisticated learners... More >
How does Universal Design for Learning Help Teachers in Real Classrooms?
From pre-kindergarten to graduate school, classrooms usually include learners with diverse abilities and backgrounds, including students with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities, differing cultural an... More >
The U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was established to provide educators, policymakers and the public with a central, independent and trusted source of information regarding what works in education, essentially a Consumer Reports for educational research... More >
This podcast features Skip Stahl, Senior Policy Analyst and Project Director, NIMAS Center from the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) and Laura Kaloi, NCLD's Director of Public Policy.Mr. Stahl discusses Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework for designing curricu... More >
Students often come to the classroom with a variety of needs, skills, talents, and interests. For many learners, the typical curriculum -- which includes goals, instructional methods, classroom materials, and assessments -- is littered with barriers and roadblocks, while supports are ... More >
Learning disabilities (LD) is the most prevalent educationally handicapping condition in school-aged children. While the challenges faced by students with LD often overlap with those experienced by students who have other disorders that impact learning, behavior and attention, a keen... More >
Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is a way for educators to gather precise information about what their students know; record (chart) these data, and measure their learning progress over time. The good news about CBM is that by targeting and sampling performance in specific skill ar... More >
Teaching students with dyslexia across settings is challenging. Here are some accommodations that general education and special education teachers can use in a classroom of heterogeneous learners.
Accommodations Involving Interactive Instruction
The task of gaining students attentio... More >
Background
The determination that a child has a specific learning disability (SLD) and is in need of special education requires a carefully implemented multi-step process. The objective is to ensure that the child receives the instruction, support and services needed to succeed in ... More >
Do you remember the last time you read a newspaper article, magazine feature or full-length book that grabbed your attention and wouldn't let go until the final punctuation mark on the last page? Or how about the last time you nestled in with a book and found yourself thinking that ... More >
The following is a transcription of the podcast, “Universal Design for Learning (Audio).”
In this podcast on the topic of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Laura Kaloi, Public Policy Director for the National Center for Learning Disabilities, interviews Skip Stahl f... More >
OK already! I get it! Reading does not just "happen" and young children, even those who seem to be learning to read without formal instruction, need to be taught the specific foundational skills that are known to support decoding, comprehension, vocabulary development, and fluency in... More >
Does the item measure what it intends to measure?
Reflect the intended content standards (reviewers have information about the content being measured)?
Minimize knowledge and skills required beyond what is intended for measurement?
Does the item respect the diversity of t... More >
Research is Not Just for Researchers
The words "research-based" or "evidence-based" are now used widely throughout the education world. (This is a very good thing!) As mentioned a year ago in my column "Scientifically Based Practice: Show Me the Evidence," the No Child Left B... More >
In a perfect world, students with learning disabilities would have easy access to simple techniques that help compensate for their unique learning challenges. If implemented as intended, the universally acceptable standards set by the National Instructional Materials Accessibility St... More >
The U.S. Department of Education is a source of research and resources for parents and educators. Featured below are some of the core funded activities by the Office of Special Education (OSEP) and the Institute of Education Sciences.
But, First, a Little Background.
Remembe... More >
National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD):
How do the teaching methods employed at the Lab School differ from those of more mainstream schools?
Sally Smith:
We bring art or some type of art form into almost everything we teach. For example, if we're teaching science, we'l... More >
There is no question that there is an "art" to teaching. And we all know that underlying good teaching practice is the "science" that speaks to which instructional strategies are most effective to deliver specific content to students in different settings and at different points in t... More >
In the for-profit business world, companies often conduct research in ways that give them a competitive edge. Data collected lead to the creation of products that are prized possessions, marketed to the public with great fanfare and with the hope that sales will generate income to su... More >
Students with disabilities are too often handicapped by the very textbooks that are intended to help them learn. As designed, textbooks that are intended to facilitate learning inadvertently pose barriers to students who, for example, are limited in their ability to see printed text ... More >
Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young ChildrenPrepared by the National Research CouncilThis expansive report examines factors that put children at risk for poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, i... More >
The National Center for Learning Disabilities’ (NCLD) RTI Action Network is dedicated to the effective implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) in school districts nationwide. Their website, rtinetwork.org, provides crucial materials to support RTI implementation, in addit... More >
My child is struggling 
Now that my child has 
