Direct instruction:Emphasizes carefully planned lessons for small learning increments
Scripted lesson plans
Rapid-paced interaction between teacher and students
Correcting mistakes immediately
Achievement-based grouping
Frequent progress assessments
Classroom adjustments:
Special seating assignments
Alternative or modified assignments
Modified testing procedures
Quiet environment
Special equipment:
Word processors with spell checkers and dictionaries
Text-to-speech and speech-to-text programs
Talking calculators
Books on tape
Computer-based activities
Classroom assistants:
Note-takers
Readers
Proofreaders
Scribes
Special education:
Prescribed hours in a resource room
Placement in a resource room
Enrollment in a special school or a separate classroom in a regular school for learning disabled students
Individual education plan (IEP)
Educational therapySternberg has argued that early remediation can greatly reduce the number of children meeting diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities. He has also suggested that the focus on learning disabilities and the provision of accommodations in school fails to acknowledge that people have a range of strengths and weaknesses, and places undue emphasis on academic success by insisting that people should receive additional support in this arena but not in music or sports. Other research has pinpointed the use of resource rooms as an important—yet often politicized component of educating students with learning disabilities. Society and culture
School laws
Schools in the United States have a legal obligation to new arrivals to the country, including undocumented students. The landmark Supreme Court ruling Plyler v. Doe (1982) grants all children, no matter their legal status, the right to a free education. This ruling suggests that as a country we acknowledge that we have a population of students with specific needs that differ from those of native speakers.
While some attribute the disproportionate identification of racial/ethnic minorities to racist practices or cultural misunderstanding, others have argued that racial/ethnic minorities are overidentified because of their lower status. Similarities were noted between the behaviors of "brain-injured" and lower class students as early as the 1960s. The distinction between race/ethnicity and SES is important to the extent that these considerations contribute to the provision of services to children in need. While many studies have considered only one characteristic of the student at a time, or used district- or school-level data to examine this issue, more recent studies have used large national student-level datasets and sophisticated methodology to find that the disproportionate identification of African American students with learning disabilities can be attributed to their average lower SES, while the disproportionate identification of Latino youth seems to be attributable to difficulties in distinguishing between linguistic proficiency and learning ability. Although the contributing factors are complicated and interrelated, it is possible to discern which factors really drive disproportionate identification by considering a multitude of student characteristics simultaneously. For instance, if high SES minorities have rates of identification that are similar to the rates among high SES Whites, and low SES minorities have rates of identification that are similar to the rates among low SES Whites, we can know that the seemingly higher rates of identification among minorities result from their greater likelihood to have low SES.