reading activities for special education students

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

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23 Fun and Easy Guided Reading Activity Ideas

Boost reading skills in small groups.

Guided reading is small-group instruction that supports each reader’s progress with mini-lessons, practice, and feedback. Students read books at their level and engage in activities before and after that help them build core reading skills. Read on to learn how to teach a guided reading lesson, plus see our favorite guided reading activity ideas.

What is included in a guided reading lesson?

You’ll use the same text across multiple guided reading lessons. Depending on the skills you’re teaching and the text, you may plan guided reading lessons that span a few days or a week. The point is to really get into the text and practice reading skills with your feedback and guidance.

Each guided reading lesson is broken into parts:

Mini lesson

A mini lesson that focuses on phonemic awareness, phonics, word reading, fluency, or vocabulary. You can’t hit all of those in one mini lesson, so choose a skill that students will be using in the text they’re reading right after the mini lesson.

Read the book

Students read the decodable book independently. They may whisper-read while you listen, or they may read on their own and read aloud when you ask them to. During this time, you check in with students to make sure they are able to read and understand the text.

Comprehension activities

After students have finished reading, it’s time to talk about what they read. They’ll retell, answer questions, and engage in other comprehension-based activities.

The last part of a guided reading lesson is applying the skills they learned in writing. This could mean practicing writing words from the story, or writing sentences or responses to the story.

Preparing for Guided Reading

Guided reading takes planning—lots of planning. Doing this work on the front end will make guided reading an effective, fun time in your reading block. Here are the three steps you can take to make guided reading work:

Get students into groups

Ashleigh’s Education Journey/guided reading groups via Ashleigh-educationjourney.com

Use data from your school’s universal screening and other assessments to identify which students are working on the same thing for guided reading groups. Maybe you have a group of students who are working on long vowel patterns, while another group is working on reading multi-syllabic words. The text they read will give them a chance to practice what they’re learning, so it’s important to have the right groups.

Choose an appropriate text

Text selection is key during guided reading. Students should be working in text that they can just reach with support since they’re spending their reading time being closely monitored. Look for decodable texts, or texts that have words that students have learned. So, a short-“a” decodable reader would have words that only have the short “a” sound—it won’t include long “a” words or other vowels.

As students get older, finding books that they’re interested in reading continues to be important, but you’ll look for books that have features you want to teach, like text features or text structure.

Set the schedule

Ashleigh’s Education Journey/guided reading schedule

Set a schedule that ensures that each student gets what they need—students who are able to read and work more independently may need a different schedule than students who struggle to work on their own and need additional help with reading. A weekly schedule lets you make sure you’re hitting all the right skills and practice.

A guided reading schedule may also include intervention or Tier 2 groups. Read more about reading intervention .

Mini-Lesson Activities

Each guided reading lesson will start with a mini-lesson. You don’t have a lot of time, so focus on one aspect of reading that students are going to apply in the book that day.

Build and Write Words

Ashleigh’s Education Journey/guided reading activity via Ashleigh-educationjourney.com

Give students practice forming words with letter tiles or cut-out letter squares. Students choose the letters they need to sound out words that they’ll read in the book. Then, with the model they’ve created, they can write the word in the next column.

Pop and Write

Mrs. Winter’s Bliss/word mapping activity via mrswintersbliss.com

In this guided reading activity, have students use a Pop-It to break a word into sounds. Then, students use a whiteboard marker to write the word. (Could you include more fun things in one activity?!) Combining the Pop-It for phonemic awareness and writing to practice encoding letter sounds is a great way to reinforce two skills at once.

CVC Word Reading

Miss Kindergarten/CVC word reading via misskindergarten.com

Use cards like these from Miss Kindergarten to practice pointing to and blending each sound in a word. Choose words that will be in the book students are reading and point out when they use the same strategy they use during the practice in their actual book reading.

Pre-Teach Vocabulary

The Science Penguin/vocabulary concept building via thesciencepenguin.com

Help students start to organize and remember new vocabulary by having them work with words. In this example from The Science Penguin , students sort new words according to parts of speech to help commit them to memory.

Sight Word Sticker Book

First Grader … at Last/sight word sticker book via Firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com

As students master sight words, have them put stickers by each word. Then, as a warm-up in guided reading, they can review the words they know and practice words they don’t. Set a day as sticker day, when they can prove that they’ve mastered a new word and add more stickers to their book.

Learn more: First Grader … at Last

Fluency Strips

Mrs. Richardson’s Class/fluency Strips via mrsrichardsonsclass.com

In this guided reading activity, have students practice reading fluency with short, manageable strips of a phrase or a sentence or two. You can also print out sentences or short paragraphs from books they’re reading so you can build repeated reading practice into guided reading.

Learn more: Mrs. Richardson’s Class

Read more: Fluency Activities

Word Family Fluency

Miss Kindergarten/word family fluency via misskindergarten.com

Another way to work in some quick fluency practice is with word family sentence strips. Give students the strips for the word family they are working on and have them practice reading through the strips. If you organize them by color like Miss Kindergarten , you can also have a rainbow-sentence option with sentences from all the different word families.

Mrs. Richardson’s Class/phonics practice example via mrsrichardsonsclass.com

Practice making words that have the same spelling pattern—for example, writing all the words that end in -igh. Choose spelling patterns students will see in the book you’re going to read so students can get maximum practice with the spelling patterns.

Read more: Phonics Activities

Preview the Text

Previewing the text, or looking at the main features, is a habit that you’ll want students to have as they read on their own. Use time during guided reading to preview each text before you read it.

Here’s how to preview a text with students:

During reading activities

Teaching With Jennifer Findley/guided reading data tracker via jenniferfindley.com

During guided reading, the most important activity is reading. The teacher’s role is to listen as students read and then give them feedback on their reading. Correct a word here. Prompt them to use a strategy there.

Take notes on how students are reading each session so you have the data to track their progress.

Get it: Free printable guided reading note taker from Jennifer Findley

After reading activities

After students have read the text, it’s time to talk comprehension. They can practice retelling, answering questions, and discussing text with their small group. Their responses will show you how they’re doing in terms of understanding questions and pulling information out of the text.

Retelling Gloves

Buzzing With Ms. B/retelling gloves via buzzingwithmsb.com

Create a retelling glove and have students refer to each of the five fingers for each part of the story they should include in a retelling. This helps students who get lost in telling you all the details. You can have them put each finger down as they tell you that part of the story.

Learn more: Buzzing With Ms. B

Comprehension Fans

Runde’s Room/Comprehension Fans via rundesroom.com

Organize questions onto strips or cards, and put a collection of these questions on a ring to create a “fan” for this guided reading activity. Then have students select a question from the fan to ask a group, or write a response.

Learn more: Runde’s Room

Check out this list of printable questions for book discussions .

Fill In the Graphic Organizer

Courtney Schermerhorn/graphic organizer via teacherspayteachers.com

A graphic organizer is a great way to help students organize information they pull from a text. As students learn how to complete graphic organizers and use text structure to understand text, provide graphic organizers with some parts filled in to model a correct response (read: full sentences) and give students a scaffold to complete the entire organizer.

Buy it: Graphic organizer at Teachers Pay Teachers

Reading Dice

A Love 4 Teaching/reading dice via alove4teaching.blogspot.com

Write open-ended literature response questions on dice. Then, students roll the dice and answer the question that lands on top.

Learn more: A Love 4 Teaching

Comprehension Jenga

Counselor Clique/Questions on a Jenga game via counselorclique.com

Counselor Clique wrote questions for post-career goals in this example, but for guided reading, write questions on Jenga blocks that apply to your students’ age and reading goals. Then, play a game of Jenga—students pull a block from the stacked tower and answer the question they get.

Summarize Together

This Reading Mama/Summarizing Activity via thisreadingmama.com

Students practice summarizing using signal words by using sticky notes and papers that have the key features of a summary: who, what, when, where, why. After students write their signal words, they create a group summary by sticking them onto the paper. Over time, students can do this activity on their own or in a small group without direct supervision.

Read more: This Reading Mama

Bloom Balls

Coffee Cups & Lesson Plans/Bloom Ball activity via coffeecupslessonplans.com

Have older students create a Bloom Ball, a 12-sided ball with space to write on each side. Students write questions they can ask about any text, or projects they can do with any text, on each side. Then, they roll the ball to see which question they answer or which project they do.

Learn more at Coffee Cups & Lesson Plans .

Buy it: Bloom Ball template at Teachers Pay Teachers

Prediction Practice

Raise the Bar Reading/making predictions activity via teacherspayteachers.com

Making predictions using information from the text is an important skill students use to maintain comprehension. Use a template, like this one from Raise the Bar Reading , to help students identify the information from the text, then use that information to make predictions.

Buy it: Making Predictions printable at Teachers Pay Teachers

Student-Led Groups

The Mountain Teacher/student-led reading groups via themountainteacher.com

As students get older and learn how to discuss text on their own, put them into groups to discuss. Having roles in the group can help some students stay on task, and ensures that everyone has something to be accountable for.

Learn more: The Mountain Teacher

Guided Writing

The last part of guided reading is writing! This is when students are able to consolidate everything they learned, put it into their own words, and maybe add some more ideas.

Letter Writing

Whimsy Workshop Teaching/letter-writing examples via whimsyworkshopteaching.com

Letter writing is a great way to have students retell and engage with text. You can have students write a letter to a character (like the example from Whimsy Workshop Teaching ). Or have students put themselves in the mind of one character and write a letter to another character in the book from that point of view. This activity is good for after students read an especially dramatic part in the story and one character has a secret or new information they can’t wait to share.

Newspaper Article

Kirsten’s Kaboodle/newspaper template via kirstenskaboodle.com

Newspaper writing is retelling for older students. This activity has students retell what happened in the day’s or week’s reading in a newspaper article format. Use a graphic organizer to make sure that students include all the relevant sections.

Buy it: Kirsten’s Kaboodle newspaper template

Pitch a Sequel

In this guided reading activity, have students write an idea for a sequel to the book or story they just read. Where would they take the characters next? What conflict would these characters get into next?

Comic Strip Retell

Mrs. RM/comic strip retelling via Pinterest

Another way to retell for older students: Use a comic strip format to show the beginning, middle, and end of a story or scene. For longer texts, you could have students build out a comic strip across multiple guided reading lessons, or have students work collaboratively to turn the entire story into a comic.

Graph Character Arc

This one will really engage students’ creativity. Students choose a type of graph (pie graph, chart, etc.) and track the character’s emotions or level of conflict in a scene or book. Label the graph with information from the story.

What are your favorite guided reading activity ideas? Share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group  on Facebook.

Check it out: 49 anchor charts all about reading comprehension ..

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Mrs. P's Specialties

10 More Functional Reading Activities In Special Education

Instruction and Lesson Plans

Functional reading activities are a must in special education programs. We need to focus on various activities that students will need lifelong. These skills will help our students be more independent and improve their communication skills. Here are 10 MORE reading activities to use in your classroom to build functional literacy skills. Click HERE to read the first list.

FUNCTIONAL READING ACTIVITIES FOR LIFE SKILLS

• Reading and understanding community signs : It’s not enough for students to be able to read the signs… they also need to know what they mean. Students need to practice this in a variety of ways because signs don’t always look exactly the same. We work on this with clip art versions in file folders and clip cards . We also work on it with real photos and graphics in our community sign of the week sets . 
• Directional signs and posters: For example, when a person walks into the doctor’s office, there is a sign telling the person where to go, where to sign in, etc. Students need to be able to not only read these signs, but they need to be able to understand and ACT on what it says to do. We use these directional signs interactive books to work on reading these types of signs. 
• Recipes: A great functional reading activity is to teach students how to follow recipes in order to cook or complete a dish. Depending on your students, you could use visual recipes and build up to a more traditional recipe. We practice both food and nonedible visual recipes. A class favorite is the Cloud Dough Visual Recipe.
• Directions for set-up: For example, follow directions on how to build a toy, Lego set, furniture, etc. You could start with directions with visual supports like this interactive book on setting the table and then build to following directions without visual supports as students progress. 
• Schedules : Students need to be able to read and understand a variety of schedules— for example, bus schedules, work schedules, movie schedules, etc. Click here to read about using schedules in your classroom.  
• Coupons: While reading the newspaper may never be a thrill for your students, there are functional reading activities that include the flyers that come in newspapers. Students need to be able to read coupons and know what products they apply to, when it expires, how much it is worth, etc. We start with activities like this Boom Deck with coupons.
• Forms : Students need to be able to read forms and know which information the form is looking for. You can create a mock form that targets this skill while also generalizing other skills. For example, if a student is working on knowing and sharing personal info, create a form that asks for that information in a variety of ways. 
• Medical labels: Students need to be able to read medicine bottles (prescription and over-the-counter) in order to know how and when to take the medicine. Use worksheet based labels or empty bottles students find in the store or pharmacy. The goal would be for students to be able to read and understand both versions. 
• Menus: Students need to be able to read a variety of menus. For example, the menu board at a fast food restaurant looks different than a hand help menu you get at a fancier restaurant. Students need to know how to read menus and how to find the info they need on the menu. Practice reading menus in a variety of settings: school cafes, ice cream shops, fast food restaurants, a sit down restaurant menu, a drive-thru menu, etc. Exposing and teaching about a variety of menus will help students be able to read and understand menus wherever they are. 
• General labels : when you look around your house and community, you find there are a variety of labels. Students need to be able to read and follow the label on their clothes to clean and care for them. They also need to know how to use the household cleaners and the parking meter. They all look different, but students need to be able to read and understand all of them.

Don’t forget, reading and writing often go hand in hand and both are needed for functional life skills. Click here or the button below to read 10 activities that target functional writing skills. 

resources to target reading comprehension

Reading comprehension books with visuals

Read and Do Playdough set

Following directions: build a house set

Identifying Feelings In Pictures To Support Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension Worksheets Bundle

Context clues clip cards

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Ultimate Guided Reading Resource for Special Education

I made this massive resource a few weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to post about it yet! I absolutely love teaching reading. I think literacy for children with autism is an extremely under-researched area with very limited supports, curriculum, and resources. That being said – I also think that teaching children with autism to read is possible! Reading instruction for children with autism is successful when using the same strategies that we know are successful with our students: visuals, structure, and routine.

I do guided reading in my classroom when teaching reading. Guided reading is small group reading instruction designed to provide differentiated reading supports. This small group approach is ideal for children with autism because it allows us to target specific skills and areas of need. I have gotten a lot of emails about how I run reading groups, what materials I use, and if I recommend any specific curriculum sets. I haven’t found a curriculum I love because my students have such splintered skills that I need an individualized approach with each group.

I created this resource – the Ultimate Guided Reading Resource for Special Education – to guide your planning and instruction process for using a guided reading approach with children with special needs or autism. This packet contains schedules templates, lesson plan forms, reading activities, visual question prompts, academic visuals, and more! It has everything and anything you need! It’s over 80 pages of ready to go materials, easy to implement interventions, visuals, data sheets, student work, and more!

Here is everything included:

You know I am visual! On to some pictures:

Guided Reading Teacher Resources : data sheets, planning forms, templates, and more

Independent Reading Center Ideas and Materials

TONS of student activities and assessments {structured & visual}

Academic & Behavior Visuals for use during Guided Reading Groups

Visual Question Cards {laminate and keep near your reading table}

Visual Schedule for Guided Reading Groups {essential behavior management strategy}

Check out this product on TpT – the Ultimate Guided Reading Resources for Special Education . I have gotten some really great feedback on it!

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I think I watch your videos too much-I just watched the video to this and my husband said “Hey, that’s the Autism teacher! I recognize her voice!” 🙂

This is definitely next on my to buy list!

Omigosh this comment made my night! Haha! Glad you are not sick of my voice yet 🙂

How do you pick the books to read?

Based on their Guided Reading Level + interests 🙂

Can you talk about what guided reading looks like with your students who are pre-A?

We are really focusing on pre-academics like letter recognition, categorization, book experiences, letter sounds, rhyming, creating blends, etc. We do a lot adapted books, DTT, and fluency instruction to build up these skills !

I’m a 6th grade special day class teacher, how can I incorporate a whole class novel 6th grade level that the general education classes use so that my students feel they are on level with the school — or is this not possible? My co-teacher really likes to do this but most of the time the material is over their heads. Would love an honest opinion….

What reading level are the students on? If they are on a similar reading level you can break down the booking into smaller sections and work on the same book. If students are on lower reading levels, you can sometimes find the same book with easier text. That way the students are working on the same content but at their level. I think the goal should always be to be addressing students’ needs and current skill level while using similar themes, content, etc as gen counterparts when possible.

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PARENTING HUB

How To Teach Reading To Students With Learning Disabilities

Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge

• February 12, 2024

Providing reading strategies for students with learning disabilities requires a thoughtful and customized approach. Patience, flexibility , and a variety of special needs teaching strategies for reading are essential. Let me guide you on how to teach reading skills to kids with reading comprehension learning disability . 

My more than 30 years in clinical psychology allowed me to help dozens of children with dyslexia and reading strategies . Being a mom of dyslexics myself, I handcrafted these dyslexia reading strategies for special education students to provide step-by-step instructions for parents and educators to make teaching reading comprehension to students with learning difficulties easier and more efficient. 

10 Steps on How to Improve Reading Skills in Students

Developing strong reading skills is essential for academic success and personal growth. As educators, parents, or individuals interested in enhancing reading abilities, there are various effective preschool to high school reading strategies to support students on their reading journey. 

Here are the key methods to teach reading skills, which can be included in a special education reading curriculum. These are among the best reading strategies for teaching students with disabilities as they encompass everything from fostering a love for reading to implementing specific techniques that enhance comprehension and fluency. 

Whether you're a parent or teacher looking to enhance your teaching approach or a parent seeking ways to support your child's literacy development, these steps provide a comprehensive guide to promoting effective reading habits and proficiency.

Step 1: Assess Individual Needs

Before teaching reading strategies, it's crucial to assess each student's specific learning needs . Conduct assessments to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and preferred learning styles. Doing so will guide you to the development of effective content area reading strategies.

The use of evidence-based teaching strategies for students with intellectual disabilities is crucial for fostering meaningful and effective learning experiences (Spooner et al., 2012). Such an approach ensures that instruction is not only grounded in established best practices but also takes into account the individualized learning styles , strengths, and challenges of each student, promoting a more inclusive and supportive educational environment.

Step 2: Create a Supportive Learning Environment

Establish a positive and supportive atmosphere that promotes a love for reading. Ensure that the learning space is free from distractions, and provide materials that cater to various learning styles, such as visual aids, audiobooks, and interactive tools. These are reading comprehension strategies high school students will appreciate. 

The majority of students with learning disabilities are taught through personalized and differentiated instructional approaches that often involve the use of individualized education plans ( IEPs ) that outline tailored strategies and accommodations to address each student's unique learning challenges.

Step 3: Choose Appropriate Reading Materials

Select reading materials that match the student's reading level and interests. Utilize books with clear fonts, ample spacing, and engaging content. Consider incorporating multimedia resources, as they can help support the reading comprehension disability of the child while promoting engagement. 

Make sure that the student is using the prereading strategy of previewing the text, which involves skimming headings, subheadings, and captions, to gain a preliminary understanding of the content before delving into a more detailed reading. Doing this makes reading for students a lot easier .

Step 4: Implement Multi-Sensory Techniques

There are different methods of teaching reading and engaging students in multi-sensory activities to reinforce reading skills is one. Incorporate touch, sight, sound, and movement into lessons. 

For example, use manipulatives, encourage finger tracing while reading, and integrate music or rhythm into the learning process. These strategies for reading with dyslexia are also effective for young learners.  

Step 5: Break Down Reading Skills

Break down the reading process into manageable components, focusing on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The reading method of developing targeted activities for each skill area to ensure a gradual and scaffolded progression works .

Step 6: Provide Explicit Instruction

Use explicit and systematic instructional methods for special education when teaching reading skills . Use clear and concise language, provide models, and offer ample opportunities for guided and independent practice. Effective ​​teaching strategies for special education involve reinforcing concepts through repetition and positive reinforcement.

Step 7: Foster a Growth Mindset

Encourage a growth mindset by emphasizing effort, perseverance, and the belief that abilities can be developed over time. Celebrate small victories, and create a safe space for students to make mistakes and learn from them.

A positive attitude and a growth mindset will make the reading program for special education more impactful as it fosters a belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. This mindset not only encourages resilience in the face of challenges but also cultivates a love for learning. Students tend to embrace the reading program with enthusiasm and openness to new strategies and skills.

Step 8: Utilize Assistive Technology

Incorporate assistive technology tools and resources to support students with learning disabilities and reading comprehension problems . Audiobooks, text-to-speech software, and adaptive learning apps can enhance accessibility and engagement. 

Including these tools in the reading curriculum for special education can give students tailored and differentiated support, addressing their unique learning needs and providing them with the necessary scaffolding to develop essential literacy skills at their own pace.

Step 9: Individualize Instruction

Tailor instruction to meet individual needs . Differentiate lessons based on each student's strengths, weaknesses, and learning preferences. Special Ed strategies such as offering additional support or challenges as needed, and regularly reassessing progress are crucial. 

Step 10: Collaborate with Support Services

Work collaboratively with special education professionals and speech therapists to implement SPED strategies. Regular communication and collaboration can provide valuable insights, resources, and strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities.

The techniques of teaching reading to students with learning disabilities require a holistic and individualized approach. When it comes to developing different reading strategies for high schoolers , it’s important to assess their needs, create a supportive environment, and utilize a variety of good reading strategies. Sometimes, the use of IEP alone is not enough (Catone & Brady, 2005). 

These will empower students to become confident and proficient readers. Consistent support, patience, and a commitment to ongoing assessment will contribute to the academic success of each learner.

Adapting research-based instructional strategies for students with learning disabilities is essential for providing effective and targeted support. These evidence-based approaches draw on validated research and proven methodologies to create a structured and supportive learning environment.

What is language experience?

Language Experience is an instructional approach that integrates reading, writing, listening , and speaking skills by using learners' language and experiences for literacy activities. This learning experience approach becomes the foundation for reading practice and language-related activities to promote a more personalized and engaging learning experience for the student.

What is the ​​neurological impress method? 

The Neurological Impress Method is one of the many reading techniques that entail both the teacher and the student reading aloud together from the same book. To maintain fluency, the teacher reads slightly faster than the student. Typically, the teacher positions themselves next to the student, directing their voice toward the student's ear.

What are the key components of a reading comprehension curriculum for special education?

A comprehensive reading comprehension curriculum for special education includes IEPs, differentiated instruction, and explicit teaching methods to address diverse learning needs . Multisensory learning, graphic organizers, and technology integration enhance engagement, while ongoing assessment and progress monitoring guide tailored support. 

What are the best teaching strategies for LD students?

Effective instructional strategies for students with disabilities involve individualized approaches such as multisensory instruction, differentiated learning, and explicit instruction to address diverse needs. These student ready strategies will also benefit from collaborative learning, structured environment, and individualized education plans. 

What are concrete examples of reading strategies for middle school?

Special education instructional strategies for middle school students include previewing texts, questioning, and visualizing to activate prior knowledge and enhance comprehension. Encouraging annotation, facilitating small group discussions , and incorporating digital tools promote active engagement and critical thinking. 

What is oral / written language disorder and specific reading comprehension deficit?

Oral and written language disorders (OWLs) encompass challenges in spoken and written expression, with oral language disorder involving difficulties in verbal communication and written language disorder involving challenges in written expression. Specific reading comprehension deficit refers to difficulties in understanding and interpreting written text despite adequate word recognition skills, involving challenges such as making inferences and summarizing information.

Catone, W. V., & Brady, S. A. (2005). The inadequacy of individual educational program (IEP) goals for high school students with word-level reading difficulties. Annals of Dyslexia, 55(1), 53–78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-005-0004-9

Spooner, F., Knight, V. F., Browder, D. M., & Smith, B. R. (2012). Evidence-Based Practice for Teaching Academics to Students with Severe Developmental Disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 33(6), 374–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932511421634

Dr. Roseann is a mental health expert in Learning Disorder who frequently is in the media:

• Business Insider Your kids could get the coronavirus when they go back to school. These are the risks and benefits to weigh before sending them.
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Always remember… “Calm Brain, Happy Family™”

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to give health advice and it is recommended to consult with a physician before beginning any new wellness regime. *The effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment vary by patient and condition. Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, LLC does not guarantee certain results.

Are you looking for SOLUTIONS for your struggling child or teen? 

Dr. Roseann and her team are all about science-backed solutions, so you are in the right place! 

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Dr. Roseann is a Children’s Mental Health Expert and Licensed Therapist who has been featured in/on hundreds of media outlets including The Mel Robbins Show , CBS , NBC , PIX11 NYC , Today , FORBES , CNN , The New York Times , The Washington Post , Business Insider, Women’s Day , Healthline , CNET, Parade Magazine and PARENTS . FORBES called her, “ A thought leader in children’s mental health. ”

She coined the terms, “ Re-entry panic syndrome ” and “ eco-anxiety ” and is a frequent contributor to media on mental health. 

Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge has three decades of experience in working with children, teens and their families with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, concussion, dyslexia and learning disability, anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), depression and mood disorder, Lyme Disease, and PANS/PANDAS using science-backed natural mental health solutions such as supplements, magnesium, nutrition, QEEG Brain maps, neurofeedback, PEMF, psychotherapy and other non-medication approaches. 

She is the author of three bestselling books, It’s Gonna Be OK! : Proven Ways to Improve Your Child's Mental Health, The Teletherapy Toolkit , and Brain Under Attack . Dr. Roseann is known for offering a message of hope through science-endorsed methods that promote a calm brain. 

Her trademarked BrainBehaviorResetⓇ Program and It’s Gonna be OK!Ⓡ Podcast has been a cornerstone for thousands of parents facing mental health, behavioral or neurodevelopmental challenges.

She is the founder and director of The Global Institute of Children’s Mental Health , Neurotastic™Brain Formulas and Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, LLC . Dr. Roseann is a Board Certified Neurofeedback ( BCN ) Practitioner, a Board Member of the Northeast Region Biofeedback Society ( NRBS ), Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional (CIMHP) and an Amen Clinic Certified Brain Health Coach.  She is also a member of The International Lyme Disease and Associated Disease Society (ILADS), The American Psychological Association (APA), Anxiety and Depression Association of America ( ADAA ) National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), International OCD Foundation (IOCDF ).

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Best Reading Strategies for Special Education Students

In the 2020–2021 school year, 15% of public school students were reported to be receiving special education services. Within that percentage, 33% of those students had a specific learning disability like dyslexia. As we all collectively recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that these students get the support they need during their literacy acquisition journey.

Many students have experienced some level of learning loss due to the pandemic, and accelerated learning is being prioritized now more than ever. This can be particularly hard on teachers, especially when there is a national shortage of teachers and content-area specialists. So, how can educators go about supporting special education students without stretching themselves too thin? It all comes down to implementing evidence-backed reading strategies supported by the science of reading.

What Is a Learning Disability?

Learning disabilities are defined as “a group of brain disorders that affect a broad range of academic and functional skills including the ability to read, write, listen, speak, reason, or complete mathematical tasks.” While there are certain parameters for different learning disabilities, one student’s experience is going to look completely different from the next.

In this blog, we’ll be covering some of the best evidence-based strategies to help students with disabilities strengthen their reading comprehension skills.

Reading Comprehension Strategies for Students With Disabilities

So, what exactly is reading comprehension? Gough and Tumner (1986) described reading comprehension as the product of decoding and language comprehension. This was known as The Simple View of Reading. For students with learning disabilities, comprehension can be particularly difficult. One reason for this is the difference between automatic thinking and cognitive thinking.

For example, let's say you ask two students to spell the word “car.” Student A writes down the word in two seconds and is ready to move on immediately. This is automatic thinking. Student B’s thought process might include questions like, “Does car start with a c or a k? Is the second letter an a? The last letter is an r. How do I write an r?” This is cognitive thinking, which involves actively thinking about every step in the process before acting.

According to this article from the Michigan Reading Journal, students with learning disabilities typically have to use a tremendous amount of effort to actively think about learning. They also tend to need more modeling and practice than other students. Because these students might lack the cognitive processing skills it takes to read and write, they tend to avoid doing those activities—which puts them even further behind their peers.

Provide Explicit Instruction

Explicit instruction is a key component of a Structured Literacy approach to reading, which is a term coined by the International Dyslexia Association . Students with learning disabilities greatly benefit from explicit, step-by-step instructions for every part of the literacy acquisition process—especially reading comprehension. “Explicit instruction” just means that teachers are stating exactly what is expected, defining terms, modeling, giving examples, and including step-by-step directions on the board for students to follow.

Build on Students’ Prior Knowledge

Good readers create meaning from texts by connecting new information with topics and concepts they already understand. Developing prior knowledge should occur in all stages of reading, not just comprehension, and it can be especially helpful for students with learning disabilities. Having students connect texts to their real-life experiences before, during, and after reading will help strengthen their comprehension abilities.

Have Students Identify Themes

Theme identification is a key component of early reading comprehension. For younger students, this just means asking them to determine the lesson or moral of the story they just read. As students become stronger in their reading comprehension abilities, theme identification can branch out into more complex topics. In many cases, theme identification for elementary-aged students helps build their background knowledge, which can then be applied to other texts in the future.

Use Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers serve as visual representations that assist students with identifying, organizing, and remembering important concepts from what they read. Graphic organizers come in many forms—Venn diagrams, flow charts, checklists, or mind maps—and, when used effectively, they can be great tools for students with learning disabilities. These tools highlight the most important parts of the text while eliminating extra details that students might get caught up in.

Incorporate Literature Circles

Literature circles and other forms of peer-to-peer reading activities are great ways to get students involved and excited about reading. Within these groups, students are supporting each other’s learning with teacher guidance, and each student gets assigned a role: discussion leader, vocabulary enricher, illustrator, and connector. Each group should have around four to six students, which allows those who tend to stay on the sidelines of classroom discussions to get directly involved with what they’re learning.

Before, During, and After Reading a Text

The Council for Learning Disabilities outlines what educators should do before, during, and after introducing a new text to students with learning disabilities.

Before reading , one of the best things to do is to activate students’ background knowledge. As mentioned before, students better understand and retain information when they’re familiar with it. The CLD's tips include:

• Use specific strategies to activate prior knowledge, such as previewing headings or key concepts and making a prediction and confirmation chart.
• Prepare and guide previewing activities to support and focus the connections students make.
• Use graphic organizers to introduce important information, solicit prior knowledge from students, and make predictions.
• Avoid soliciting guesses from students without guidance or feedback.
• Keep it short. Previewing should not take longer than five minutes, especially if a teacher has limited time with students.
• Revisit after reading to assist in reviewing, confirming, or refuting predictions, summarizing, and making connections.

Along with activating prior knowledge, explicitly teach specialized vocabulary terms for the text and ask students to predict what will happen next to get them thinking.

During reading , make sure to teach students what types of questions they should be asking, as well as how to ask them. This includes questions that have answers directly in the text, as well as questions whose answers must be inferred. It is also important to show students how to evaluate questions posed by the teacher to determine if the answer can be found in the text or if it is something they have to infer.

Along with asking questions, bringing in graphic organizers to visually show what is happening in the text is extremely helpful for students—especially those with learning disabilities.

After reading , show students how to summarize the text they just read. This should be taught in an explicit and systematic way, as teachers shouldn’t assume that students will understand how to summarize texts automatically. The CLD outlines how to do this:

• Selecting a topic sentence or inventing a topic sentence if one is not explicitly stated
• Using one word to replace a list of related items
• Deleting trivial and redundant information
• Rereading to make sure your summary makes sense
• Teach students how to use graphic organizers to write summaries.
• Provide examples and non-examples of summaries to help students recognize and produce summaries that contain only key ideas.

Making Reading Possible for Everyone

The vast majority (95%) of students have the ability to learn how to read, even those who have learning disabilities. The best way to ensure students find success (and even joy!) in the reading process is to lead with evidence-based strategies. This means making sure instruction is based on the science of reading.

One of the most common learning disabilities is dyslexia, which can be tricky to spot in students. Potentially 1 in every 5 students in a given classroom has dyslexia, which is why it’s so important to know what to look out for and how to best support these students. This Lexia® white paper explains how to identify the early warning signs of dyslexia, as well as how to provide effective interventions that allow for student success.

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More than 5 million Emergent Bilinguals (EB) are in the U.S., yet only 3% of educators are experts in teaching them. How can oral language support literacy development for this population? Learn more about how to develop oral literacy in classrooms.

Six Fun Strategies for Increasing Reading Fluency

Fluency refers to a reader’s ability to read a text with accuracy, speed, and proper expression. Many students struggle with this part of literacy acquisition, which is why we’re offering six evidence-based reading strategies to help increase reading fluency.

What Are the Best Dyslexia Reading Programs?

Dyslexia is one of the most common reading disabilities in students, which is why educators should prioritize the implementation of high-quality reading programs that support all students. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the essential elements to look for in a high-quality reading program.

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Literary components include adapted art, visual recipes, games, writing activities, and more. Units include corresponding vocabulary words, editable templates, craftivities, and other printables for teachers and paraprofessionals to create anchor charts for group lessons. Using adapted books, story maps, adapted visual pieces, vocabulary, follow up comprehension activities, and assessments, each differentiated unit corresponds with a fiction and non-fiction text allowing you the ultimate story time sessions and meaningful literacy lessons with your special education students.

Because sensory recipes are a fun, hands-on way to incorporate academic and life skills, each unit includes one edible and one sensory visual recipe along with easy-to-complete student reflection sheets! Plus, no prep activities are the perfect staple to have on hand, so each Made For Me Literacy unit has a variety of differentiated cut and paste activities to help assess student knowledge, promote independence, and practice fine motor scissor skills.

The Made For Me Literacy product line also include several Made For Me Math and Made For Me Literacy Digital Skill Practice units, as well as a Made For Me Literacy: Sub Pack .

Be sure to join the Made For Me Literacy Facebook Group to share ideas or get answers to all your first time special education teacher questions, read all the blogs about MFML , and sign up for the newsletter to stay up to date on the new products.

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4 Comprehension Activities for the Special Education Classroom

As teachers and educational therapists may know, many special education students often have difficulty learning reading comprehension skills and word definitions. The good news is that there are numerous in-person and online learning resources beyond worksheets and books to improve children’s listening and reading comprehension.

Interactive activities provide children who are learning to read with the opportunity to practice and reinforce their comprehension skills in various ways. Many games, such as word search puzzles and other kid-approved favorites, can be tailored to a specific grade level and are simple enough for even young children to play.

Our special education experts have scoured the web to select a few of our favorite comprehension activities, which educational therapists and teachers can easily incorporate into any special education classroom. 

With the help of these exciting four comprehensive activities, students can build confidence in their critical reading skills, learn how to respond to a passage effectively, and repurpose an activity they have participated in previously. Without further ado, here they are!

• Journal Responses 

After reading a passage, students can write an individualized reader-response journal entry in response to various reader-response prompts. For example, students may be asked to retell the story in their own words, identify major characters, describe the plot, asks questions, make inferences, and utilize other key comprehension strategies . The journal response below was written about the book Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure .

• Sequencing Activities

Another way that students can respond to a text is by sequencing the order of events through words, sentences, and pictures. Below is an example of a useful comprehension activity that asks children to read a short passage and recap the story’s events by numbering the steps chronologically. 

• “Read and Do”

Another fun and interactive activity is “Read and Do,” which helps children, especially kinesthetic learners , practice their comprehension skills. Students read or listen to a passage and then act based on what they read. For example, in the example below, a child firsts read the sentence on each index card and then practices what it says, such as “count to ten,” “stomp your feet,” or “say hi to Miss Pam.”

• Meaning Matching

Because students are often confused by “multiple meaning words,” which include homophones, homonyms, and homographs, they can benefit from direct instruction on these tricky words. For example, students can use puzzles and pictures to match a word to multiple meanings, such as “bark.” After reading a sentence or short passage, students can indicate which picture illustrates the correct definition.

To conclude, these four exceptional comprehensive activities will equip special education students to respond compellingly to texts, expand their critical thinking skills, and reuse activities that they have previously completed. 

Specifically, students will learn essential skills, such as responding to texts by utilizing key comprehension strategies like making inferences, sequencing the order of events, identifying  “multiple meaning words,” and more. 

As students transition from learning how to read to reading to learn, we encourage swapping out mundane worksheets and routine comprehension exercises for these four educator-approved activities –and allow children to practice their comprehension skills in an individualized, exciting, exciting, and even fun way. 

Educators, which comprehension activities have you used in your special education classroom? Please share in the comments below!

Want to get activities and apps sent to your inbox monthly? Visit txsource.com/newsletter .

If you’re looking for a therapy or teaching job, check out our current openings: https://jobs.txsource.com .

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Free Leveled Reading Comprehension Passages

• January 2022

Are you always struggling to find quality, leveled reading comprehension passages for your special education students?

Then look no further.  

These worksheets were created to make special the planning process easier for teachers like you! Whether you are planning for your literacy instruction or just need a tool to progress monitor an IEP goal, these worksheets are great.

We have all have been inundated with all the things that we need to plan and differentiate for.  The worksheets do all the work for you which will make your life so much easier!

I have created 225 passages for you and even some FREE worksheets for you to try!  Therefore, that is enough reading comprehension passages to last a whole school year and even summer school!  Keep reading for your FREE passages!

Let me tell you about them!

Do these Reading Comprehension Passages Really work?

Comprehension is really difficult for students in special education. However, having an organized and predictable routine can make such a difference! The more practice that students can get with comprehension, the better chance they have of understanding it.  In other words, all of the worksheets are in the same format so that the students really understand what is expected from them. However, you would love these ones!

What are the different levels for the reading comprehension passages? 

LEVEL EMERGENT (easiest)

• passages are shorter and a bit easier to read (or read by the adult)
• there are only 3 questions
• only works on Who, What, and Where
• visual cues for non-verbal learners
• finding the evidence only works on highlighting specific words
• cut and paste options

LEVEL ONE (easier)

• passages are shorter and a bit easier to read
• multiple-choice questions

LEVEL TWO (harder)

• passages are longer and a bit harder to read
• there are 4 questions
• works on Who, What, Where, and When
• open-ended questions
• finding the evidence needs to go back and read

How to use these passages with my students:

have your students:

• read the passage 3 times
• color the star after each read
• answer the comprehension questions
• find the keywords (if applicable)
• find the evidence (if applicable) 

Similarly, you can also use these as a tool for collecting data for your IEP goals related to comprehension. 

What is included in a Month's Bundle?

One month of reading passages will provide you with 45 passages of reading comprehension practice.  Each worksheet has a short passage, 3-4 WH questions, focusing on Who, What, Where, and When Questions (I have left out the Why as this is a very difficult question and students struggle with this and so I will work on it separately).  Students are asked to read the passage 3 times, answer the questions and go back to find some evidence.  After that, you will have enough for the whole month!

 You will get:

• 3 different levels of each passage
• 15 different passages

What grade level are these passages?

Although these passages do not have a specific level attached to them, I have designed them to be in the first – second-grade ballpark.   Those students who are unable to read the passages will still be able to have the passages read to them and answer the comprehension questions. 

What makes these reading comprehension passages so unique?

The reading comprehension passages are differentiated and so you are able to work with students who can answer open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions, and students who need visual supports all in the same reading group.  You can have a fully-included literacy instruction lesson!  For instance, you can have 3 different grade leveled-students sitting at your reading group using the same passages.  AMAZING!

Another thing that I just couldn't find in other passages, were the visual field of 4 options, and for students who needed that cut and paste option.  However, I could find these types of things in different formats, but I wanted it all in one resource. 

I knew I had to create an emergent level for students well below grade level.  

This specific reading comprehension passage is from my December Bundle , you can grab that here !

What is included in the Year Long Bundle ?

There are 15 different bundles included in this year-long resource:

• January themed
• February themed
• March themed
• April themed
• June themed
• July themed
• August themed
• September themed
• October themed
• November themed
• December themed

And 3 bonus BUNDLES

• Animal themed
• Fantasy-themed
• Science themed

That makes a whopping 225 passages , which is enough for all 12 months of the year!

In addition, if you would like to grab this MASSIVE BUNDLE you can do that HERE !

Are there any passages for secondary students?

Similarly, I am currently working on a real-image-only bundle that would be for secondary students .  Or really any student that would prefer real images to clipart. 

This is something that I am continuously working on this year.  For instance, I am currently creating a few bundles (December and January) but they are taking me a long time to find just the right pictures to use for these passages.  You can find them here!

Okay, I am ready to try these passages out, where are the FREE ones?

In conclusion, I have two free versions for you:

• School themed version this version still only has 2 levels it has not yet been upgraded
• Holiday themed version has 3 levels

Both of these are FREE for you to try!  Each one has 5 passages.

You can also click the image below!

I am a High School, self-contained Autism teacher from Central New York, who is passionate about individualizing student learning. I am a mommy of three, lover of all things Disney, married to my best friend and addicted to chocolate!! I hope that you find great ideas and inspiration here, so welcome!!

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Teacher Vision provides the cutting edge resources teachers need to support their students. Their team of certified, current classroom educators reviews and creates materials that are accurate, up-to-date and reflect changing educational needs.

Teaching is more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to bring your vision to life. When the daily duties seem overwhelming and start threatening that dream, Teacher Vision is here with thousands of resources created by teachers for teachers: from standards-aligned lesson plans, helpful classroom management advice or stress relief workbooks.

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LD OnLine is determined to open doors of opportunity for both children and adults, arming them with the knowledge they need about learning disabilities and ADHD. LD OnLine provides invaluable resources to help teens and adults navigate the transition from school into higher education or meaningful employment. Our information also helps individuals with learning disabilities confront challenges which can otherwise impede success in these goals.

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Comprehension quick links :.

Improve Reading Comprehension with These Tips

• Start with pre-reading engagement. Look at the book cover with your child and make predictions about the subject of the book based on the title and picture. If you're reading "Hansel and Gretel," you might say, "I see that the title of this book is 'Hansel and Gretel.' I also see a boy and a girl on the front cover. I predict that this book will be about Hansel, a boy, and Gretel, a girl." Older children can be prompted to make their own predictions.
• Ask questions as you read with your child. You can ask your child how you think a character feels based on his picture or words in the text. You might also point out surprising things in the pictures. Kids also love making preditions mid-story; ask your child, "What do you think will happen next?"
• After you've finished a book, have a short discussion about what you've read. You can ask your child to summarize the story, or tell you his favorite part, or tell you what he thinks will happen to the characters after the book ends.
• Encourage your child to complete reading comprehension worksheets regularly. There are perfect post-story reading comprehension worksheets, including story maps, 'fan fiction' writing prompts, and comprehension bookmarks. You can also try printing reading comprehension worksheets with stories and exercises together.

Vygotsky�s Vision: Reshaping the Practice of Special Education for the 21 st Century B. Gindis, Ph.D. Published in: Remedial and Special Education , (1999). Vol.20, No. 6, pp. 32-64. INTRODUCTION. The last two decades of this century in the USA have been marked by an upsurge of interest in Lev S. Vygotsky's ideas. Several volumes of new translations of Vygotsky's writings appeared recently, the most prominent among them being "The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky" (Vygotsky, 1987-1998) and "The Vygotsky Reader" (Valsiner & Vanderveer, Eds., 1994). Since the late 1980s, literally dozens of books, articles and book chapters have been published by professionals in different fields interpreting, elaborating and expanding Vygotsky's scientific legacy. Lately, numerous websites and electronic discussion forums on the Internet have emerged to discuss ideas written by a fountain pen. Within the last two decades an "invisible college" of enthusiastic and inspired Vygotskians has formed in this country. Vygotsky has emerged as one of the major psychologists in the 20th century (Wertch, 1885, 1998), the "icon" of the "cognitive revolution" (Haywood & Tzuriel, 1992), post-modern educational progressivism (Newman & Holzman, 1993), and cultural pluralism (Rogoff, 1990). He is rightfully considered to be the founder of "cultural psychology": a psychological theory in which the human being is the subject of cultural, rather than natural processes (Ratner, 1991). What is it in Vygotsky's works that invite scientists from different fields to scrutinize his writings as if he were our contemporary? Indeed, many factors created the stage for Vygotsky's selection as a promising alternative to existing psychoeducational theories and practices. According to some observers (Brunner, 1987) what has brought Vygotsky into the limelight was, in fact, a powerful pendulum swing from biologically-based understanding of human behavior to the social/cultural explanation of human activity. The timeliness of Vygotsky's works is borne out by the fact that he discovered the connecting links between sociocultural processes taking place in society, and mental processes taking place in the individual. Vygotsky, as no other psychologists in this century, succeeded in developing an approach that connects social and mental processes and describes the essential mechanisms of the socialization and development of the human being. In education, Vygotsky's theory is viewed as a counterbalance to behaviorism, and what is more important, as an alternative to the influential concepts of Piaget. For years, the predominant theoretical framework for child care and education in this country had been Piaget's theory. In this theory, a maturational process determines cognitive competence and a child's ability to learn: learning follows maturation. Contrary to this, Vygotsky considered learning as a shared/joint process in a responsive social context. In the Vygotskian framework, children are capable of far more competent performance when they have proper assistance ("scaffolded learning") from adults. The optimism of Vygotsky's general message, substantiated by a number of concrete methodologies (such as "dynamic assessment", "mediated learning", "cognitive education" among many others) developed within Vygotsky's theory, found an enthusiastic audience in American education of the 90s. Vygotsky has become a powerful "identification figure" in education (Mall 1990, Gredler 1992, Kozulin 1998), developmental psychology (Wertsch & Tulviste, 1992, Valsiner & Vanderveer, 1991), school psychology (Gindis, 1995, 1996), educational psychology (Karpov & Bransford, 1995, Das, 1995) and, recently, in early childhood education (Berk & Winsler, 1995, Bodrova & Leong, 1996). Unfortunately, the powerful influence of Vygotsky�s ideas has not been as obvious and fruitful in the domain of special education in the United States. There is a sad irony in this fact because special education not only played a distinct role in Vygotsky's professional activity and personal life (Vygodskaya & Lifanova, 1996), but it also constitutes an important part of his scientific heritage (Kozulin, 1990, Valsiner & Vanderveer, 1991, Yaroshevsky, 1993). Special education was the main empirical domain from which Vygotsky obtained data to support his general theoretical conceptions. Being conscious of the "artificiality" of the data brought about in psychological experiments, Vygotsky considered special education as a huge natural laboratory where general psychological laws were discovered on the basis of various anomalies. Indeed, many of the major concepts of his cultural/historical theory were conceived, formulated and elaborated upon within the special education theoretical framework and terminology (Wertsch, 1985, Kozulin, 1990, Yaroshevsky, 1993). All this became apparent in the USA only recently, with the publication of the second volume of Vygotsky�s Collected Works, "The Fundamentals of Defectology", (Vygotsky, 1993). Finally, his major writings in the area of special education become available to English language readers. Nevertheless, we are still far away from utilizing the scope of intellectual treasures of Vygotsky�s writing in this domain. The translated book reflects the content of Volume V of the original (not complete) Russian publication (Vygotsky, 1983). Since that time, several important, previously unpublished papers relevant to special education written by Vygotsky (in one case in collaboration with A. Luria, in another with B. Warshava) appeared in the Russian language. In 1995, in Moscow, the most complete collection of Vygotsky�s writings on special education and related matters was published under the title: "Problemy Defectologii" (Problems of Defectology) (Vygotsky, 1995). This article will introduce Vygotsky�s ideas in special education based on all sources available. "Defectology" is the term reflecting the domain of Vygotsky's research and practice relevant to contemporary special education. Special educators, however, may need some clarification regarding this term which has no real parallel in the English language and sounds rather degrading. As once noted by an American scholar (McCagg, 1989, p. 40), this term would not survive for three minutes in a discussion of the "handicapped" in the Western world today because it carries too much negative connotation towards the "disabled". In fact, the word "defectologia" (or "defectology" in the English transliteration) literally means "study of defect". In Russia, for more than a century, this term has referred to the study of the children with disabilities and the methods of their evaluation, education, and upbringing. To be technically precise, in Russia this term covers the following disabilities: the hard of hearing and deaf ("surdo-pedagogika"); the visually impaired and blind ("tiflo-pedagogika"); children with mental retardation ("oligophreno-pedagogika"); and speech/language impaired children ("logopedia") (Petrovsky, 1998, p. 364). As one can see, "Defectology" includes neither psychopathology nor learning disability or emotional disturbance as known in this country. It offers services to roughly the same population as special education in the USA, minus two large groups of students with disabilities: the emotionally disturbed and the learning disabled (who account for more than half of the special education population in the USA, according to Schulte, et al., 1998). According to defectological principles, children with organically intact brains and sensory systems traditionally belonged to general education in spite of the wide range of educational problems they presented (Gindis, 1986, 1988). Moreover, "learning disability", as it is understood in the contemporary USA, was definitely unknown in the Russia of Vygotsky�s time (Gindis, 1992). That is why an attempt to explain Defectology as a combination of "learning disability and abnormal psychology", as was done by the publisher of the second volume of Vygotsky's "Collected Works" (Vygotsky, 1993) is somewhat misleading (Gindis, 1994). In spite of some obvious lack of congruence between the fields of Vygotsky�s defectology and contemporary American special education, Vygotsky�s theoretical and methodological finding is the most powerful single source of professional inspiration for current and coming generations of special education professionals. But this is not an easily digested source! It may be difficult for special education professionals to devour Vygotsky's texts: a difficulty that may be caused by many factors, including the differences in psychological and general humanistic traditions in American and Russian science (Valsiner & Vanderveer, 1991), the innovative nature of Vygotsky�s writing, "non-academic" and sometimes "unsystematic" and contradictory ways of expressing ideas, passionate argumentation with authors who are completely forgotten today, and last but not least - unfamiliar terminology (many of which are terminological relics sounding harsh to our ears!). No doubt, Vygotsky belongs to the cohort of the so-called "romantic" scientist (as it was defined by his most prominent student Alexander Luria, 1979) and his "romanticism" obviously determined the style of his discourse. This is not an "academic text" in the traditional sense, but rather an inspirational humanistic appeal (in the very broad, almost biblical, sense) to reconstruct the social/cultural reality. Stating this, let us go on to discover the essence of Vygotsky's ideas. There are two ways of applying Vygotsky�s theories to contemporary special education: his general theory, known in the West as Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and his special theory (less known in this country) which is called the theory of "disontogenesis" (literally: "distorted development"). UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL/CULTURAL ASPECT OF THE DISABILITY. Understanding the nature of a disability and the means of compensating for it are the core of any system of rehabilitation and special education. The uniqueness of Vygotsky's approach lies in his understanding of the disability not as a "biological impairment having psychological consequences", but as a socio-cultural developmental phenomenon. Based on the comprehensive review of many anthropological and historical studies (including reports authored by individuals with impaired organs) Vygotsky argued that a disability is perceived as an "abnormality" only when and if it is brought into the social context. The human brain, eye, ear, or limb are not just physical organs: impairment of any of these organs "leads to a restructuring of social relationships and to a displacement of all the systems of behavior" (Vygotsky, 1983, p. 63). Moreover, a defect varies psychologically in different cultural and social environments: "The blindness of an American farmer's daughter, of a Ukrainian landowner's son, of a German duchess, of a Russian peasant, of a Swedish proletarian - these are all psychologically entirely different facts" (Vygotsky, 1983, p. 70). Another argument: from the survival point of view, blindness, in the world of nature, is a more severe impairment than deafness. In the social world, however, deafness is a more severe disability because it prevents mastering of speech, blocks verbal communication, and bars entry to the world of culture. Therefore, being deaf "....disrupts a person's social connections in a more substantial way than blindness" (Vygotsky, 1983, p. 77). Vygotsky pointed out that from the social perspective, the primary problem of a disability is not the sensory or neurological impairment itself but its social implications: "Any physical handicap�. not only alters the child's relationship with the world, but above all affects his interaction with people. Any organic defect is revealed as a social abnormality in behavior. It goes without question that blindness and deafness per se are biological factors. However, the teacher must deal not so much with these biological factors by themselves, but rather with their social consequences. When we have before us a blind boy as the object of education, then it is necessary to deal not so much with blindness by itself, as with those conflicts which arise for a blind child upon entering life" (Vygotsky, 1983, p. 102). Within the context of his paradigm of the social nature of the disability, Vygotsky introduced the core concepts of the "primary disability, "secondary disability" and their interactions. A "primary" disability is an organic impairment due to biological factors. A "secondary" disability refers to distortions of higher psychological functions due to social factors. An organic impairment prevents a child from mastering some or most social skills and acquiring knowledge at a proper rate and in an acceptable form. It is the child's social milieu, however, that modifies his/her course of development and leads to distortions and delays. From this point of view, many symptoms such as behavioral infantilism or primitivism of emotional reactions in individuals with mental retardation are considered to be secondary handicapping condition, acquired in the process of social interaction. Vygotsky pointed out that from the psychoeducational perspectives the primary problem of a disability is not the organic impairment itself but its social implications: an organic defect is recognized by society as a social abnormality in behavior. Expectations and attitudes of social milieu and conditions created by the society influence the access of a child with disability to socio-cultural knowledge, experiences, and opportunity to acquire the "psychological tools". Changing negative societal attitudes towards the individuals with disabilities should be one of the goals of special educators (Vygotsky, 1995). The search for positive capacities and qualitative characteristics in the upbringing (nurturing) of children with disabilities is the "trademark" of Vygotsky's approach. He called for the identification of a disability in a child from a point of strength, not weakness - he labeled this "positive differentiation". With his slashing sarcasm he nicknamed the traditional approach to the individuals with disability an "arithmetical concept of handicap" because of its view of a child with disability as the sum of his/her negative characteristics. He suggested, for example, the identification of levels of overall independence and needs for support rather than levels of feeblemindedness in children with mental retardation ( see: "Methods of Study a Child with Mental Retardation", Vygotsky, 1995, p. 114). Sixty years later this approach was employed by the American Association on Mental Retardation in their newest manual (AAMD, 1992). UNDERSTANDING DISABILITY AS A DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS. Vygotsky tirelessly pointed to the dynamic nature of disability: he argued that constant changes in the structure and content of a disability take place during development and under the influence of education/remediation. Vygotsky formulated the following basic assertions of child development fully applicable to the child with a disability. Human development is a socio-genetic process carried out in social activities. Education "leads" development which is the result of social learning through the internalization of culture and social relationships. Development is not a straight path of quantitative gains and accumulations, but a series of qualitative, dialectic transformations, a complex process of integration and disintegration. The essence and uniqueness of human development resides in its mediation by material instruments and social signs/language. Culture is acquired through internalization of social signs starting with language. Within the context of development, Vygotsky stated, there are two classes of psychological functions: "lower" (natural) and "higher" (cultural). The first class comprises elementary perception, memory, attention, dynamic characteristics of the nervous system, in short, everything that creates a biological predisposition of the child's development. The second class includes abstract reasoning, logical memory, language, voluntary attention, planning, decision making, etc. These are specifically human functions that appear gradually in the course of transformation of the lower functions made through the so-called "mediated activity" and "psychological tools". The formation of individual consciousness takes place through relations with others: it is a socially meaningful activity that shapes the individual�s makeup. Vygotsky indicated that each psychological function in the child "... appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological), and then inside a child (intrapsychological) (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 57). As one can see, the concepts of "natural" and "cultural" psychological functions discussed earlier are related to his notion of "primary" and "secondary" disability. Vygotsky wrote that progressive divergence in social and natural development leads to social deprivation as a society's response to a child's organic impairment. This, in turn, adversely affects the whole developmental process and leads to the emergence of delays and deficiencies, the so-called "secondary" handicapping conditions. QUALITATIVE VERSUS QUANTITATIVE DIFFERENCES IN UNDERSTANDING OF DISABILITY. Traditionally, a child with a disability has been considered to be either "underdeveloped/developmentally delayed" (in the case of mental retardation) or "a regular child lacking a sensory organ" (in the case of physical and/or sensory impairments). In other words, the difference between a child with a disability and his/her non-disabled peer is only quantitative. According to Vygotsky, the development of the individuals with a disability is not "slowed-down" or "missing" variations of normal development. For example, he objected to the terms "developmental disability" or "developmental delays" in relation to mental retardation. He called our attention to the qualitative uniqueness of a disabled child�s development mediated by a such powerful factor as the social implication of disability. He wrote: "A child whose development is impeded by a disability is not simply a child less developed than his peers; rather, he has developed differently." (Vygotsky, 1983, p. 96). The development of a child with a disability has major qualitative differences in the "means and ways" of his/her internalization of culture. The core of the development of a child with a disability is the "divergence" between his/her "natural" and "social" paths of development. Vygotsky pointed to two major differences in the development of a child with a disability in comparison with his typically developing peers: the formation of compensatory strategies (mechanisms) and the emergence of social complications of the disability. Without an understanding of these qualitative differences, no effective remediation is possible. Vygotsky suggested that in the future science will be able to create the disability-specific "profile" of this discrepancy as the most important characteristic in the psychological development of the child with a particular disability. He listed the dynamic and forms of socialization, adoption of "psychological tools", and formation/use of compensatory strategies as the "milestones" of this profile (Vygotsky, 1993, see: "Defect and Compensation" and "Principles of Social Education for the Deaf-Mute Child"). Compensatory strategies are by no means "mechanical substitutions" of impaired functions: they are the product of the child�s personality, his/her experiences, and education. Compensatory strategies are aimed at mastering of "psychological tools" and using them to acquire cultural forms of behavior. When the direct way of developing psychological functions is blocked (e.g. in the case of blindness) the compensatory strategies offer an "indirect" path to the same goal of cultural development. Creating the "disability-specific" compensatory strategies was Vygotsky�s vision of the future in remedial education. In Russia, based on Vygotsky�s theoretical foundation, an effective system of educating and raising deaf individuals was created (Knox & Kozulin, 1989, Lebedinsky, 1985, Zaittseva et al. 1999). Vygotsky�s understanding of disability as a social/cultural, developmental, and qualitatively-specific phenomenon has brought about two distinctive methodologies that may have a long-lasting impact on the field of special education: "zone of proximal development" and "dynamic assessment�. "ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT" and "DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT". Thousands of teachers and parents, well before Vygotsky, observed that with the proper assistance from an adult or a more advanced peer, a child is capable of much more learning than on his/her own. Vygotsky elevated this simple observation to a theoretical generalization known as the "Zone of Proximal Development" (ZPD). He stated that the process of scaffolding brings about abilities that have been in the process of emerging, developing, (that is, have not yet matured) and thus reveals the hidden potential of a child which is crucial for both diagnosis and prognosis. The ZPD is one of Vygotsky's ideas that has a direct bearing on practice, both in psychological testing and in school instruction (Moll, 1990) and is, perhaps, the best known and most experimentally scrutinized concept in Vygotsky's entire legacy. (For an elaborate review, see: Rogoff & Wertsch, 1984, Valsiner & Vanderveer, 1993). The ZPD in its application to special education, however, still remains pretty much "terra incognita". It is known that in terms of individual differences, the depth of the ZPD varies, reflecting a child's cognitive and meta-cognitive learning potential. From this perspective, it offers a qualitative distinction between children with mental retardation and educationally neglected, temporally-delayed, or bilingual students from impoverished families. Those children might appear similarly backward in their functioning according to the results of standardized psychological testing because those tests report the current samples of behavior (Sattler, 1992), but they do indeed differ dramatically in their ability to benefit from an adult's help, as Vygotsky and his followers in Russia showed (Lebedinsky, 1985; Lubovsky, 1990; Rubinshtein, 1979). On the other hand, questions do arise about the validity and effectiveness of this notion applied to children with disabilities, whose unaided performance could be extremely limited ((G. Cole, 1987, p. 171-172). The real advantages of this concept and its practical application within the American system of special education still remain to be seen based on further verification of its merits and limitations (for a more in-depth discussion, see: Gindis, 1992). Vygotsky is rightfully considered to be the "founding father" of what is now known as "dynamic assessment" (Minick, 1987; Guthke & Wingenfeld, 1992; Lidz, 1995). In the early 1930s, at the height of the enthusiasm for IQ testing, Vygotsky was one of the first (if not the only one in his time) who defined IQ tests� limitations based on his understanding of disability as a process, not a static condition, and on his understanding of development as a dialectical process of mastering cultural means. He noted that standardized IQ tests inappropriately equalize the natural and cultural processes and, therefore are unable to make the differentiation of impaired functioning that can be due to cultural deprivation or can be the result of organic damage. In the essay "The Difficult Child", Vygotsky (1993, pp. 139-149) described the case of a bilingual Tatar (a nation within the Russian Federation) girl who was diagnosed as having mental retardation. In fact, her poor performance on the standardized cognitive tests was due to her social/cultural deprivation and related to her limited knowledge of both Russian and her native language. Vygotsky showed that as a result, she had not attained the level of acculturation expected at her age: her overall development was frustrated and she appeared to have mental retardation according to an IQ test. The most appropriate test in this case should be a "developmental assessment", which, Vygotsky insisted, should concentrate on mental processing and certain qualitative meta-cognitive indicators, such as cognitive strategies employed by the child, type and character of mistakes, ability to benefit from the help provided by the examiner; and emotional reactions to success and failure. Although Vygotsky had no chance to elaborate on his ideas to formulate specific assessment operations, he laid down the background for a family of testing procedures commonly recognized as "dynamic assessment" (DA). This is an interactive procedure that follows a test-intervene-retest format focusing on the cognitive processes and meta-cognitive characteristics of a child. Through an analysis of a child�s pre-test and post-test performance following test-embedded intervention, an evaluator can derive important information about the child�s cognitive modifiability, his/her responsiveness to an adult's mediation, and his/her amenability to instruction and guidance. Therefore, the DA provides information - not readily available through standardized testing - crucial for effective remediation, which is the ultimate goal of this assessment. As was observed by Lidz (1995), traditional standardized assessment trails the child's cognitive development to the point of "failure" in his/her individualized (independent) functioning, while DA in the Vygotskian tradition leads the child to the point of his/her achieving success in joint/shared activity. A breakthrough in practical application of the DA procedures in special education is attributed to the works of R. Feuerstein (1980) and his colleagues. As of now, DA is still mostly a "supplementary" procedure to the traditional assessment, however, the next century may witness an accelerated shift from standardized testing towards dynamic assessment (Haywood, et al., 1990). A group of prominent researchers in different countries: USA (Brown & Campione, 1987, Lidz, 1991, Swanson, 1995), Canada (Daz, 1995), Israel (Tzuriel 1992, Kozulin 1998, Feuerstein, 1997), Great Britain (Evans, 1993), Germany (Guthke & Wingenfeld 1992), Russia (Ivanova, 1976, Vlasova, 1984, Lebedinsky, 1985, Lubovsky, 1990), are productively developing different aspects of DA in its application to individuals with different disabilities. COMPENSATION, REHABILITATION, AND EDUCATION OF THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. Vygotsky wrote that the effectiveness of the compensatory strategies may be relatively free from the severity or type of the child�s disability. Timeliness and appropriateness (in terms of methodology used) are more important. One of the most outstanding confirmations of this rather bold statement was the work of Vygotsky�s compatriots I. Sokoliansky and A. Meshcheriakov (1979) with deaf-mute-blind children. An innovative idea of L. Vygotsky's was that the most efficient compensation for the loss or weakness of natural functions can be achieved through the development of the higher psychological functions. Paradoxically, while what may be impaired are the natural processes (visual, auditory, motor, etc.), the objects of rehabilitation are the cultural processes of abstract reasoning, logical memory, voluntary attention, goal-directed behaviors, etc. Vygotsky pointed to the limitations of traditional sensory-motor training, saying that pure biological compensation (e.g., superior hearing in individuals who are blind) has been an exception rather than the rule, while the domain of higher psychological activities has no limits: "Training sharpness of hearing in a blind person has natural limitations; compensation through the mightiness of the mind (imagination, reasoning, memorization, etc.) has virtually no limits" (Vygotsky, 1983, p. 212). In Vygotsky�s view, special education programs should have the same social/cultural goals as general education programs. Their specificity is in addressing the "secondary" disability syndrome, that is in countering the negative social consequences of the "primary" disability. Instructions in special education should follow the same principle as general education, namely, that "education leads development". In the essay "Defect and Compensation" Vygotsky (1993, pp. 52- 64) wrote about the "two-sided nature" of a handicap: an underdevelopment or absence of the functions related to an organic defect and forming an adaptive-compensatory mechanism. The effectiveness of this mechanism depends on the adequacy and timeliness of the methods of correction used in educating the child. The focus of the compensation should be the intensification of cultural enlightenment, strengthening of the higher psychological functions, the quantity and quality of communication with adults, and social relationship with a "collective" (an organized group of peers). Vygotsky believed that a physical/mental impairment could be overcome by creating alternative but equivalent roads for cultural development. Common laws of development (for children with a disability and their non-disabled peers) include internalization of the external cultural activities into internal processes via "psychological tools" and "mediated learning" provided by adults. The concept of the internalization of psychological tools as the main mechanism of development has a special importance for rehabilitation in the field of special education. Different "tools" (e.g. various means of communication) may convey essentially the same educational information, the same meaning. "Different symbolic systems correspond to one and the same content of education... Meaning is more important than the sign. Let us change signs but retain meaning."(Vygotsky, 1983, p. 54). Vygotsky pointed out that our civilization has already developed different means (e.g. Braille reading, sign language, lip-reading, finger-spelling, etc.) to accommodate the unique way of acculturation for a child with a disability through acquiring different symbolic systems. We should continue developing special "psychological tools" to address special needs, concluded Vygotsky. This appeal was made well before the era of sophisticated electronic gadgets and computers and is now more compelling than ever! An organized peer group (a "collective" in Vygotsky�s terminology) as a remedial factor is not a particularly popular approach in special education (Evans, 1993), although it was found that students with special needs may benefit both academically and even more so in social/emotional domains through peer-mediated activities (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1998). According to Vygotsky, a "collective" is an effective means of mediation and a powerful facilitator in forming the higher psychological function in a child with a disability. In a group of peers under the guidance of an educator, a child with a disability may extend his/her ZPD. In fact, Vygotsky believed that it is the "collective" that has the most promising remedial potential for a child with a disability (Vygotsky, 1993, an essay: "The Collective as a Factor in the Development of the Abnormal Child", pp. 191-209). This particular aspect of Vygotsky�s legacy applied to children with mental retardation has an interesting and practically significant development in Russia (Rubinstein, 1979, Vlasova, 1984, Lubovsky, 1990) and may be useful for American special education (Gindis, 1992). Lately, one can observe growing interest in this idea (Topping & Ehly, 1998). "INCLUSION" AS THE FUTURE DESIGN FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION. Within his general theory of child development, Vygotsky created a comprehensive and practice-oriented paradigm of educating children with special needs. Vygotsky's idea that the development of a child with a disability is determined by the social aspect of his/her organic impairment creates a new perspective for socialization/acculturation and overall remediation of children with special needs. It took Vygotsky several years to develop his unique vision for the future model of special education which may be called (using his own words) "inclusion based on positive differentiation". ("Positive deferential approach", according to Vygotsky, means a favorable societal outlook on a child with a disability from a point of view his/her strengths, not weaknesses). In order to properly comprehend and fully appreciate his conceptualization on this matter we have to understand the historical background of the development of this idea and Vygotsky�s dialectical mode of thinking (for more elaboration, see Kozulin, 1990 and Yaroshevsky, 1993). A reader of Volume ll of his "Collected Works" may be somewhat confused that Vygotsky was equally critical of what he called the "unlawful segregation" of the disabled and "mindless mainstreaming" of children with special needs. It is true that in the early stages of his career as a researcher and an administrator, Vygotsky did call for "normalization through mainstreaming" of all children with disabilities, going sometimes to the extreme. In many aspects his earlier writings had a lot in common with what is nowadays called "The Full Inclusion Model" as described in Stainback et al., 1989, and in Lipsky & Gartner, 1996). Vygotsky passionately argued against what he called "the social prejudices against the handicapped" (see, for instance, his essay: "Principles of Education for Physically Handicapped", Vygotsky, 1993, pp. 65-76) - an appeal that found a deaf ear in Stalinist Russia (McCagg, 1989), but was fully appreciated half a century later in the USA by a broad audience (Newman & Holzman, 1993). In fact, Vygotsky's idea of social inclusion of children with disabilities into the social/cultural life of their communities as a condition of effective rehabilitation and compensation was never realized in his native country (Lubovsky, 1996). His criticism of a "negative model of special education" as a combination of lowered expectations, a watered-down curriculum, and social isolation sounds very much up to date (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1994). On the other hand, in his later works Vygotsky expressed firm conviction that only a truly differentiated learning environment can fully develop the higher psychological functions and overall personality of a child with a disability. Special education should not be just a diminished version of regular education, but a specially designed setting where the entire staff is able to exclusively serve the individual needs of the child with a disability. It should be a special system that employs its specific methods because students with disabilities require modified and alternative educational methods. Vygotsky insisted on creating a learning environment which would supply students with disabilities with alternative means of communication and development, on using those "psychological tools" that are most appropriate to compensate for their particular disability. Students with disabilities need specially trained teachers, a differentiated curriculum, special technological auxiliary means, and simply more time to learn. How realistically can these demands be met in a regular classroom situation? His main premises were that a child with a disability must be educated with a special set of "psychological tools" (Vygotsky actually used the phrase: ""sign system"). The process of arming a child with a disability with these "tools" must take place within their "zone of proximal development" (which is "disability-specific") and in a mainstreamed social/cultural milieu where compensation for the "secondary defect" should take place through experiences and opportunities that are as close as possible to normality. In Vygotsky's view, the main objective in the field of special education was the creation of what he called a "positive differential approach". Special education in his vision should be a system that employs its specific methods (because students with special needs require modified and alternative educational methods), but remains within the mainstreamed social/cultural situation. The main goal of special education, therefore, is not only to compensate for primary defects through facilitation and strengthening of intact psychological functions but, mainly, to prevent, correct, and rehabilitate secondary defects by psychological and pedagogical means. The "mainstreamed" social/cultural environment is the only adequate context where it may occur. CONCLUSION. Lev S. Vygotsky formulated a unique theoretical framework for the most comprehensive, inclusive, and humane practice of special education known in the 20th century. By no means did he leave a completed system, ready for application and free from contradictions or "blind spots". It is more an approach than a paradigm ; a blueprint for further elaboration rather than a tested model. The timeliness and fruitfulness of many of Vygotsky's theoretical concepts in the domain of special education have been substantiated by empirical data accumulated within the half century since his death. Scientific validation and actual implementation of others are yet to be seen. Vygotsky�s appeal to consider psychoeducational assessment and methods of training/teaching as a social/cultural process is finding acceptance with thousands of professionals throughout the world. His idea that the development of a child with a disability is determined by the social implication of his/her organic impairment creates a new perspective for socialization, acculturation, and development of children with special needs. Vygotsky's scientific legacy contains a theoretical framework that might integrate all branches of contemporary special education. The socially, culturally, and developmentally oriented theory of the late genius has the potential to unify, restructure, and promote special and remedial education as a science, profession, and social institution. In spite of the fact that special education became the "testing ground" for many of Vygotsky�s innovative ideas, this domain itself remained for a long time in the shadow of his scientific heritage. Hopefully, this special issue of Remedial and Special Education will be the groundbreaking event in embracing Vygotsky�s ideas in special education in this country. On the whole, this issue of Remedial and Special Education testifies to the extraordinary timeliness of Vygotsky's ideas. Publication of this issue creates a knowledge base for the theoretical and practical implications of Vygotsky's ideas within the American system of special education. Indeed, Vygotsky's scientific legacy sets a course to follow for special education at the cusp of the 21st century. REFERENCES

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Evidence-Based Reading Instruction for Secondary Students With Reading Difficulties Within Multitiered Systems of Support

Affiliations.

• 1 Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, Department of Special Education, University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA.
• 2 Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education, University of Virginia, VA, USA.
• 3 Department of Learning Sciences, Georgia State University, GA, USA.
• PMID: 39145109
• PMCID: PMC11323112
• DOI: 10.1177/00400599221079643

Christian Scott recently returned home from college and was set to begin his first year as a middle school special education teacher. During his first meeting with his new principal, he learned about his teaching schedule. His principal, Mrs. Walker, explained their district was making a push for using multitiered systems of support (MTSS) as a framework for instruction. Her school would identify students with reading difficulties based on their performance on prior state reading tests and use this information to develop student schedules that allow students to receive additional reading interventions (i.e., Tier 2, Tier 3). Christian would teach reading to students with disabilities on his caseload across instructional tiers (Tiers 1-3). He would be tasked with providing co-teaching support for students with disabilities as they participate in general education classes (i.e., Tier 1). He would also provide additional Tier 2 supports to students with and without disabilities that did not pass the state achievement test in reading. Finally, he would provide intensive interventions to students with disabilities who required small group instruction (Tier 3). Having just received his special education teaching credential, Christian was familiar with the co-teaching service delivery model and the elements of effective instruction for middle school students with reading difficulties. However, he wondered, "What will this actually look like? How will I support the general education teacher providing Tier 1 supports? It sounds like I will also provide Tier 2-type instruction to students via a reading intervention class. What should this look like? How will this differ from the small group, Tier 3 instruction I need to provide?" Christian's mind raced with questions he was too nervous to ask in his first meeting with his new supervisor. The special education lead teacher noticed Christian seemed unsure how to respond. She jumped in, "Don't worry, Christian. School doesn't start for a few weeks. I'll help you with the details so you can hit the ground running." Christian felt excited about the challenge but also overwhelmed. Planning lessons for students with varying needs across instructional tiers was a tall order, and he felt unsure about how to get started.

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DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Secondary reading instruction across instructional…

Secondary reading instruction across instructional tiers

Sample Tier 1 lesson plan

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Example of a vocabulary graphic organizer Note . Reprinted with permission from the…

Sample Tier 2 lesson plan

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Sample student prompts for get the gist comprehension strategy Note . Reprinted with…

Sample Tier 3 lesson plan

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