In this investigation, the acquisition of both functional and core content sight Words Was compared as replicated across three formats: direct massed trial instruction in a special education resource room, direct distributed trial instruction in a general education classroom, and embedded distributed trial instruction in a general education classroom. Four students With moderate disabilities across three age groups participated. During direct instructional trials, both functional and core content sight Words Were presented using a constant time delay procedure. During embedded trials, the students received instruction in the same manner as their peers Without disabilities (e.g., teacher lecture, Worksheets, activities). Although the results varied slightly across participants, there Were minimal differences in the acquisition and maintenance of both functional and core content sight Words across the three presentation formats.
Providing standards-based instruction in core content areas for individuals with moderate and severe disabilities is a hot topic in the field of special education, and teachers struggle to find the best methods for providing high-quality standards-based instruction in core content areas that also has personal relevance for the students. This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of a simultaneous prompting procedure to teach four adolescents with moderate intellectual disabilities to use the Pythagorean theorem to solve real-life scenarios (i.e., sewing, using a ladder, finding dimensions of a screen) shown on a short video on an iPad. A multiple probe design across participants evaluated the effectiveness of the procedure. Results indicate the participants acquired the skill of using the Pythagorean theorem and generalized it to additional real-life, novel problems. Social validity, limitations, and implications for practitioners are also discussed.
Reading and listening comprehension are areas of academic difficulty for students with intellectual disability (ID) that have historically precluded them from having access to core content within their assigned grade level. Unfortunately, previous academic expectations for students with moderate and severe ID were low, and studies consistently found a lack of instructional emphasis on literacy for these students (e.g., Agran, Alper, & Wehmeyer, 2002; Katims, 2000). Low expectations combined with a lack of opportunities may be one reason that up to 80% of students with mild ID or moderate intellectual disability (MID) lack minimal reading skills (Katims, 2001). Although research indicates that many students with ID can learn to read (e.g., Allor, Mathes, Roberts, Cheatham, & Al Otaiba, 2014), existing reading challenges are compounded by the time students reach middle and high school when the focus of reading shifts from learning to read to reading to learn. Not only does this shift leave struggling readers further behind, but also, secondary students are expected to have an increased understanding of expository text used in content areas (e.g., science; Gajria, Jitendra, Sood, & Sacks, 2007). Specialized, content-specific vocabulary and background knowledge required to comprehend expository text can be problematic even for accomplished students reading on grade level. For middle and high school students with MID and their teachers, emphasis on reading for understanding can be overwhelming. Students who are still struggling with decoding text are not yet reading for understanding, and even students who have some degree of fluency in their reading may not comprehend texts as they read (Edyburn, 2007). Yet, high school students with ID who cannot read, or who lack decoding or fluency skills, should not be prevented from engaging in grade-level text because they lack these skills or because they were not taught these skills adequately in earlier grades. Educators should consider when to shift the emphasis from remediation (e.g., teaching students to read) to compensation strategies (e.g., use of technology-based instruction to provide access to grade-level text; Edyburn, 2007). Especially for students with MID in middle and high school, compensation strategies to promote listening comprehension may offer a means to engage in the same grade-appropriate text as their peers (e.g., using text to speech). Strategies Used to Teach Comprehension to Students With ID Little is known about how best to promote comprehension of grade-aligned text for students with ID. Browder, Wakeman, 696273F OAXXX10.
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