What research shows about literacy instructional strategies specifically for students with specific learning disabilities.

Abstract

Within general education and special education classrooms are students with specific learning disabilities, and within these classrooms are general education and special education teachers who may or may not have specific training in how to teach reading to those students. This situation leads to the question of what literacy instructional strategies general education and special education teachers can use for literacy instruction with students who have specific disabilities related to literacy. The most appropriate way to answer this research question was with a research synthesis. The exhaustive literature review and subsequent research synthesis for this study produced three findings. The first is that research has determined five literacy instructional strategies that produce positive impact on students with specific learning disabilities: direct instruction with individuals, direct instruction in groups, repeated oral reading, technology integration, and simultaneous use of multiple strategies. The second is that the most useful and versatile instructional strategies are the three that produce positive results for all three age ranges of elementary, middle school, and adolescents: repeated oral reading which impacts oral fluency, direct instruction with an individual, and simultaneous use of multiple strategies, both of which impact reading comprehension. The third finding is that the main literacy skills to be targeted by literacy instruction for students with specific learning disabilities at the middle school and adolescent age range appears to be reading comprehension. These findings then form the basis of professional development for teachers that takes the form of an online interactive module.