Individualized Instruction for Students with Special Needs Who Present Challenges with Regard to Reading Comprehension

When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices. Accordingly, our mentees should know how to individualize instruction.

Below you will find several suggested modifications to individualize instruction for students with special needs who have challenges with regard to reading comprehension.

Specific Learning Challenge	Some Suggested Modifications to Individualize Instruction*
Reading comprehension	· Shorten or edit student reading materials, or select a portion for the student to read.** · Allow students to read in pairs, a weaker reader being paired with a stronger one. · Highlight the main ideas that are important for the student to understand.** · Record the reading and allow the student to listen to it being read to him or her.**

In the next post we will share specific modifications to individualize instructions for students who present challenges with regard to understanding vocabulary.

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*This is taken, with permission, from the website of the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ), special needs menu, http://urj.org/educate/specialneeds/. Retrieved January 30, 2009.

** The double asterisk denotes an activity that can be done by a teaching assistant, a trained madrich, a trained parent volunteer, or the student or co-teacher.