Reading Comprehension Strategies to Foster Learning for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities: A Manual for General Education Teachers

In recent years, general education teachers have faced the difficulty of providing appropriate instruction for students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) in the general education classroom. While this includes a broad set of conditions, students with SLD account for close to forty-two percent of students who receive special education services in the United States. Students with SLD typically spend a majority of their day, up to 80%, (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014) in the general education classroom. Reading comprehension comprises a crucial portion of each academic day and thus, a student’s success in the classroom setting. With the significant time that students with SLD spend in the general education classroom, coupled with the prevalence of reading comprehension that occurs in the general education classroom, it becomes clear that general educators need the appropriate tools to support students with SLD in the area of reading comprehension. In response to this need, a manual for general education teachers in the elementary K-5 general education setting was created. Reading Comprehension Strategies to Foster Learning for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities: A Manual for General Education Teachers provides general educators with reading comprehension strategies that are designed to be applied during reading comprehension instruction as an additional, yet pinpointed support, allowing general education teachers to assist their students with SLD to make progress and achieve success in the area of reading comprehension. The reading comprehension strategies discussed in the manual include: (a) the need for explicit instruction, (b) activating prior knowledge and building background knowledge, (c) vocabulary instruction, (d) instruction on text structure, and (e) summarization strategies. Keywords: students with specific learning disabilities, general education teachers, elementary, reading comprehension, strategies, resource manual