Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Every Teacher

The concise guide to successfully teaching students with learning disabilities! What is to be done to help a student who does not have an obvious special education condition, but whose expected achievement on certain academic tasks falls short of his or her actual achievement-despite evidence-based instruction? Let Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities be your guide! This compact resource describes the characteristics associated with learning disabilities, and offers practical teaching strategies proven to increase the success rate of these students both in and outside the classroom. Highlights include: A pretest and posttest to help readers assess their understanding of the nature of learning disabilities and how they are best addressed Cognitive, academic, communicational, physical, and behavioral characteristics that are associated with learning disabilities Strategies to improve the work habits and study skills of students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD Highly effective methods for improving the performance of students with learning disabilities in reading, writing, and mathematics Key vocabulary terms

Table of Contents:
About A Practical Approach to Special Education for Every Teacher Acknowledgements About the Authors Self-Assessment I Introduction to Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities 1.What Are Learning Disabilities? Criticism of the Definition Criteria for Identification 2.How Common Are Learning Disabilities? Rapid Growth in the Category Explanations of the Category’s Growth 3.What Causes Learning Disabilities? 4.How Are Learning Disabilities Assessed? What Is Unique About Learning Disability Assessments? Trends in the Assessment Process 5.What Characteristics Are Associated With Learning Disabilities? Cognitive Academic Physical Behavioral Communication 6.How Do Teachers Teach Students With Learning Disabilities? Improving Basic Skills Improving Classroom Behavior Improving Social Relations 7.What Should Every Teacher Know About Learning Disabilities and ADHD? Definitions of ADHD Principles of Remediation 8.What Trends and Issues Influence How We Teach Students With Learning Disabilities? A Changing Definition Subtypes of Learning Disabilities Definitions Vary by State Transition Questions 9. Learning Disabilities in Perspective 10. What Have We Learned? Key Points Key Vocabulary Self-Assessment II Answer Key for Self-Assessments On Your Own Resources Books Journals & Articles Organizations References Index

About the Author :
Jim Ysseldyke, Ph.D., is Birkmaier Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, director of the School Psychology Program, and director of the Center for Reading Research at the University of Minnesota. Widely requested as a staff developer and conference speaker, Ysseldyke brings more than 30 years of research and teaching experience to educational professionals around the globe. As the former director of the federally funded National Center on Educational Outcomes, Ysseldyke conducted research and provided technical support that helped to boost the academic performance of students with disabilities and improve school assessment techniques nationally. Today, he continues to work to improve the education of students with disabilities. The author of more than 300 publications on special education and school psychology, Ysseldyke is best known for his textbooks on assessment, effective instruction, issues in special education, and other cutting-edge areas of education and school psychology. With A Practical Approach to Special Education for Every Teacher, Ysseldyke seeks to equip educators with practical knowledge and methods that will help them to better engage students in exploring-and meeting-all their potentials. Bob Algozzine is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina and project codirector of the U.S. Department of Education-supported Behavior and Reading Improvement Center. With 25 years of research experience and extensive firsthand knowledge of teaching students classified as seriously emotionally disturbed, Algozzine is a uniquely qualified staff developer, conference speaker, and teacher of behavior management and effective teaching courses. He is active in special education practice as a partner and collaborator with professionals in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina and as an editor of several journals focused on special education. Algozzine has written more than 250 manuscripts on special education topics, including many books and textbooks on how to manage emotional and social behavior problems.