Early educators in their professional practice are expected to use data-based decision making when deciding which children may be at risk, and make changes in interventions based on data (Akers et al., 2015a, 2015b; Division for Early Childhood, 2014). While these concepts and practices are promoted in early intervention and early childhood special education (Division for Early Childhood, 2014), only recently have measures designed for use by practitioners engaged in universal screening and progress monitoring emerged in early childhood (Kaminski, Abbott, Bravo-Aguayo, Latimer, & Good, 2014; McConnell, Wackerle-Hollman, Roloff, & Rodriguez, 2014). These measures are very good at identifying children who are and are not making progress in the curriculum. However, because they are focused on learning outcomes, little information is available about what the instructional problem conditions are, the most likely treatment adaptations needed, and how such decisions should vary given a child with a weak literacy skill level (literacy risk) and/or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The implications of this information gap crosscuts nationally and locally reported trends in (a) low levels of instructional supports provided to children by preschool teachers in early education (Justice, Hamre, & Pianta, 2008) and inclusive early childhood special education classrooms (Carta & Driscoll, 2013; Guo, Sawyer, Justice, & Kaderavek, 2013), and (b) the high rate of expulsion of children struggling to adhere to classroom routines (Gillam et al., 2008). Children who are not responding to intervention are not learning from the experiences arranged for them by the teacher. Several approaches exist that seek to identify instructional problem conditions surrounding a child's lack of response, and suggest change in instructional intervention, including functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and ecobehavioral assessment (EBA; Watson, Gable, & Greenwood, 2010). The goal of both approaches is to investigate response contingencies (environment-behavior interactions) that are 741968T ECXXX10.

No abstract

No abstract

Teachers need knowledge of preliteracy skills and instruction. Sheridan, Edwards, Marvin, and Knoche (2009) reported that the combination of didactic training workshops and teacher coaching led teachers from knowledge acquisition to classroom implementation. Convergence of 652103T ECXXX10.

Secondary schools across the United States are adopting response to intervention (RTI) as a means to identify students with learning disabilities (LD) and provide tiered instructional interventions that benefit all students. The majority of current RTI research focuses on students with reading difficulties in elementary school classrooms. Recommendations for practice that stem from this empirical work are not generalizable to high school classrooms, where adolescents with LD experience unique learning challenges. This is especially true in secondary science classes, where an emphasis on complex vocabulary and sophisticated phenomenological investigations places added cognitive requirements on these students. This article presents a foundation for conceptualizing the role of technology in RTI implementation at the secondary level. We examine how video games can enhance RTI instructional practices by providing multiple tiers of academic supports and realtime progress monitoring in secondary science classrooms. The article illustrates how evidence-based practices can be included in the games in a manner that increases intervention fidelity and assessment reliability. While this article focuses on science video games, we contend that there is considerable conceptual overlap among high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses that will allow for further expansion of this discussion. The article concludes with recommendations for future research.

This article reports the findings of a study examining independent variables that contributed to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) achievement of students with reading difficulties who participated in a technology-enhanced astronomy curriculum. The curriculum incorporated key elements of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theoretical framework. Participants (N = 1153) included middle school students from 64 inclusive science classrooms. A two-level hierarchical linear model was developed to determine the contribution of student-and teacher/classroom-level factors to the prediction of posttest and problem-solving scores. Results reveal differences across schools in the effect of being in a lower reading ability group on performance on the posttest and problem-solving measures, with some students performing at a level commensurate with their proficient reading peers. Factors associated with differential performance are identified. Implications of these findings are discussed. Areas for future research are identified.

Play is a significant aspect of preschool curricula. We report two studies that examine the effects of play-related variables: length of free play, type of language instructional approach, degree of structure of free play, and amount of teacher involvement in communication with peers. For each study, we target three dependent variables: rate of utterances, vocabulary diversity, and mean length of utterance. In the first study, neither vocabulary diversity nor language complexity differed between the first and second halves of free playtime, regardless of instructional approach. There was a small but significant decrease in the rate of utterances to peers in the second half of the play period with children in the direct language classroom. In the second study, children increased talking with peers and vocabulary diversity when the teacher structured the play situation but did not participate. Taken together, these two studies suggest that some teacher-provided structure may maximize the peer language interaction of young children with disabilities. Keywords play, language development, early childhood, disabilities Play is an important medium for optimal child development, and is especially critical for the social and communication development of young children (Ginsburg, 2007; Lifter, Mason, & Barton, 2011; Odom, McConnell, & Chandler, 1993). It not only provides a context in which children are motivated to communicate, but the availability of playmates increases the frequency and range of opportunities for language practice (

No abstract