Teaching Reading to Learning Disabled Students: A Review of Research-Supported Procedures

According to a model presented by Graham (1985), several factors can jointly or independently affect students' pursuits during learning.The most important of these is the student's entry behavior.The knowledge, skills, motivation, and so forth that students bring to the task can have a powerful impact on learning.A student's classroom peers also can have a direct influence (either positive or negative) on pupil pursuits.In co'operative learning situations, for example, peers can affect a student's pursuits through encouragement or by offering assistance.The student's teacher represents a third and powerful factor that can directly affect a pupil's pursuits.Teachers can (a) direct and support the actions of students through the external provisions of the lesson; (b) attempt to change the student's entry behaviors into more preferred ones; and (c) develop arrangements that promote mutual assistance among students during learning.Although Graham's model only briefly mentioned the role of the family, the actions of a child's parents or guardians also can have a strong impact on student learning.This article focuses primarily on the effects of teacher behaviors and activities.First, it examines research-based teacher-directed activities administered before, during, or after the lesson (or any combination of these).Next, it presents procedures that teachers can use to change students_' entry behaviors (both reading skills and strategic behaviors).Finally, it discusses teachers' arrangement of peers and the impact of the student's family.