Reading Strategies for Elementary Students with Learning Difficulties

Proven instructional techniques are spelled out in a one-stop source for success with struggling young readers!

With an estimated 40% of the country′s elementary students reading below grade level, heightened demands and expectations are being placed on teachers, including national mandates that require implementation of research-proven reading strategies. To alleviate the strain of these added pressures, while promoting increased student success, this indispensable guide outlines a wide array of practical instructional strategies, founded in current research, which have been proven effective in elementary and middle school classrooms across the United States.

Covering everything from phonemic instruction and vocabulary building, to reading comprehension and fluency, this ready reference provides a comprehensive range of instructional options and assessments that can be applied to inclusive classrooms, small groups, and individual teaching situations.

The book′s timely information and tools include:

• Tactics and Teaching Tips for immediate implementation, coupled with more detailed strategies that practitioners can easily build upon and integrate
• Reflective exercises and activities to reinforce ideas addressed
• Ready-to-use graphic organizers, surveys, and sample checklists
• Accessible interpretations of brain-based reading research
• Web site resources

Reading Strategies for Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities masterfully tackles the challenges associated with learning disabilities and other reading disorders, so students and teachers can not only overcome these difficulties together, but also gain deeper understanding and insight into why reading problems exist. The well-organized text offers best practices that complement federal initiatives, including "No Child Left Behind" and the work of the National Reading Panel (NRP).

William N. Bender, PhD, has had a long and distinguished career in education, teaching in public school for several years and in higher education for some 26 years at Blue?eld State College in West Virginia, Rutgers University in New Jersey, and the University of Georgia. He has written 36 books in special and general education. With his retirement, he has stepped back from his rigorous workshop schedule, which as recently as 2016 included some 40 workshop days per year. While the COVID-19 pandemic impacted his work, he has written four historical ?ction novels and several educational books in recent years. He has delivered several professional development projects, including most recently a keynote for a virtual conference on project-based learning in Brazil in conjunction with his Corwin book Project-Based Learning (2012).

Martha J. Larkin taught public school students in general education and special education at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels for several years before beginning a career in higher education. She has authored and coauthored 17 journal articles, 10 book and monograph chapters, and 5 research reports and commissioned papers in education and special education. She specializes in instructional strategies, particularly for students with learning disabilities. Her specific teaching and research interests include scaffolded instruction, content enhancement, learning strategies, graphic organizers, and grading rubrics. She especially enjoys pursuing these interests in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. She earned her PhD from the University of Alabama in 1999.