Resources

These resources were created and/or collected by Outreach staff to assist you in better understanding how to teach students with LBLD.

  • An image of a finding the main idea strategy

    Finding the Main Idea

    Updated August 31, 2023 A commonly used reading comprehension strategy is to teach students how to find the main idea. But why does this strategy work?  To support students’ understanding and to help lessen students’ cognitive demands, the research recommends that educators explicitly teach students about text structure. What Works Clearinghouse offers recommendations for improving

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  • Research Writing Process: Organize, Outline, and Draft

    March 1, 2023 The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) report titled Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively asserts that “Effective writing is a vital component of students’ literacy achievement, and writing is a critical communication tool for students to convey thoughts and opinions, describe ideas and events, and analyze information” (Graham et al, 2016, p.1).  

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  • Student Perspectives on Executive Function

    Interview conducted by Lauren Murphy and Kaia Cunningham April 22, 2022 Building positive, productive, and trusting relationships with students is a cornerstone of effective teaching. Just as our personalities and lived experiences shape and inform our teaching persona, students also bring their histories to the classroom. Part of student history incorporates the intersection of their

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  • Technology to Support Study Skills

    January 19, 2017 The term “study skills” refers to the management and organization of time, materials, and information. Study skills topics range from time management and organization to utilizing specific strategies for comprehending material. Instruction in study skills can incorporate the physical organization of materials, as well as the organization of information through note-taking templates.

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  • A boy takes notes at a desk

    The Two-Column Method of Note-taking

    Updated February 26, 2023 Academic proficiency requires students to manage the many language demands inherent in school. As students move from learning to read to reading to learn, systems to help students organize the information that they encounter are not only essential for students with specific learning disabilities, but can be beneficial for all students.  

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  • Study Skills: What to Know

    October 27, 2020 Study skills are defined as the management of time, materials, and information and/or language.  Study skills are often equated with the organization of physical materials like binders, desks, lockers etc. They are also frequently associated with a student’s ability to study for and perform on tests or other assessments. Although these skills

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  • Cognitive Load and the Learning Management System (LMS)

    By Lauren Murphy and Kaia Cunningham October 27, 2022 Collectively, we have over 20 years of experience teaching secondary school, and we’ve taught a variety of classes: literature, psychology, history, writing, and study skills. This year is unprecedented. We find ourselves filled with apprehension, and much of the familiarity and routine that we have both

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  • Strategies to Support Students with Learning Differences in the COVID-19 Educational Landscape

    by Dr. Mandi Davis Skerbetz November 11, 2020 As a society we are working to pivot and develop new routines due to the impact of COVID-19. The world of education, which historically is resistant to change, has been forced to evolve. Educators have been in a race against time to develop new learning environments and

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  • The Language Box and Technology

    September 28, 2020 There are so many factors to consider when deciding what technology to utilize, especially in the context of supporting students with language-based learning disabilities (LBLDs) and those who have weaknesses in executive function. Students with LBLDs may benefit from the multimodal and interactive format that many of these tools offer. However, the

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  • Interactive Notebooks for Social Science Classes

    By Abby Cain February 20, 2020 The primary way that information is conveyed in most social science classes is through reading, and mine is no different. I assign students a reading on a topic, they read it, and then in class, we discuss it, sound familiar? Over the years, I’ve stopped using a history textbook

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  • A man speaks to a classroom of boys

    Study Skills: Materials Management

    In order for students to become independent and competent learners, they need to possess strong study skills. In other words, they need to understand and use strategies to help them manage their time, materials, and language. Many students diagnosed with a specific learning disability (SLD) benefit greatly from direct instruction in study skills, including methods

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  • Strategies for Teaching Question Types

    by Deirdre Mulligan October 7, 2021 There are two main principles that I try to keep at the forefront of my mind when planning and developing lessons and working with my students. #1, I try to set the students up for success, and #2, I never assume anything. To set them up for success, I

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  • Strategies for Teaching Question Types

    by Deirdre Mulligan December 12, 2019 There are two main principles that I try to keep at the forefront of my mind when planning and developing lessons and working with my students. #1, I try to set the students up for success, and #2, I never assume anything. To set them up for success, I

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  • A boy reading in a classroom

    Metacognition and Reading Comprehension

    Updated March 6th, 2024 Landmark’s Sixth Teaching Principle encourages teachers to create opportunities to include students in the learning process, and this allows students to become aware of how they learn and why certain skills benefit them. As a result, students are more motivated and more likely to apply those skills when working independently. In

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  • BLOG SERIES: Helping Students with LBLD Experience Academic Success

    See all of the blog posts that are a part of this series

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  • Study Skills in Early Elementary School: Teaching Time Management

    March 19, 2019 This post is part of a series about helping students with LBLD experience academic success. Read Lauren’s other blog posts: Organization of Materials Vocabulary Instruction Strategies and Activities Assigning and Working through Research Projects by Lauren Guerriero Another big take away that I have learned and been able to implement into my substantially

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  • Study Skills in Early Elementary School: Organization of Materials

    February 13, 2019 This post is part of a series about helping students with LBLD experience academic success. Read Lauren’s other blog posts: Teaching Time Management Vocabulary Instruction Strategies and Activities Assigning and Working through Research Projects by Lauren Guerriero My name is Lauren Guerriero, and I currently teach in a language-based, substantially separate, second-grade classroom

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  • International Dyslexia Association

    Explore the International Dyslexia Association’s website. The site includes valuable resources and helpful background information about dyslexia.

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  • Note Taking Apps

    Explore this list of note taking apps from Understood.org. This list highlights 11 apps that can help students with the note-taking process.

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  • Student Outcomes of Teaching Executive Function and Study Skills

    March 1, 2018 by Kaia Cunningham When we think of our most successful students, we often imagine individuals who not only have a deep grasp of the content they learn in school, but also are able to easily organize their binders and computer files, able to effectively manage their time, and able to demonstrate a

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  • Image of the website LD Online

    LD Online

    Explore the LD Online website  to gain valuable and practical resources to support students with learning disabilities and ADHD.

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  • Boy tired of study and sleeping near the clock

    Basic Time Management Skills

    Being able to tell clock time is different from understanding the concept of time. Many students can read the clock perfectly well, but when asked to estimate how long an assignment will take, they can seldom provide an accurate answer. While some grossly underestimate the time required and set themselves up for disappointment and frustration,

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  • A teacher and student on the floor learn new vocabulary

    Importance of Explicitly Teaching Vocabulary

    Gain a deeper understanding of the importance of explicitly teaching vocabulary, particularly for students with learning disabilities through reading this comprehensive report from the Council for Learning Disabilities. This detailed compilation explains why teaching vocabulary is essential, answers common questions about teaching vocabulary, and offers templates and researched strategies to effectively teach vocabulary.    

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  • The Master Filing System

    Materials Management The best way to teach materials management is for a school, or a team of teachers, to settle upon a system by which students will organize their school materials — books, papers, pencils, equipment, etc. The system should be designed to account for everything students need to participate in the school day and do

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  • Executive Function: Activation Routines

    Several Outreach resources are related to six aspects of executive function: activation, focus, effort, emotion, memory, and action.1 In addition, we’ll continue to organize the resources in relation to Landmark’s Six Teaching Principles™. This resource focuses on strategies to activate students toward successful task completion by exploring reference tools, working on time management, and cueing students to empower them

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  • Edutopia

    Explore Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation website. This site features articles and resources on many popular topics in education.

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  • A silver pen on a piece of torn sheets of paper

    Skill Based Writing Instruction

    Katrina Schwartz, writing for Mind/Shift, outlines research, data, and testimonials about the benefits of teaching students to write using explicit skill based strategies that start at the word and sentence level and systematically work up to complex essays. She references research by Nell Scharff Panero and the popular Atlantic Monthly article: “The Writing Revolution.”  

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  • Children reading on an ipad with a teacher assisting them

    Accessible Technology Across Grade Levels

    April 13, 2017 How to Choose Technology With a variety of technology options available for classroom use, it can be difficult to know what to choose and when to incorporate it. Joy Zabala’s SETT Frameworks provide helpful documents to aid teachers in determining if a technology is appropriate, as well as help them to consider

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  • Three female students sitting outside reading a book

    Collaborative Strategic Reading: Get the Gist

    Continuing with Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR), this resource will examine the third step in the process: get the gist. While preview occurs before reading, both click & clunk and get the gist occur during reading. Essentially, get the gist refers to understanding the material and being able to identify who or what the reading is about (the topic) as well as

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  • A young child playing with a tea pot

    Executive Function and Self-Regulation

    The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University outlines the link between executive function and self-regulation, focusing on how these skills can develop in children.  They call particular attention to the importance of explicitly teaching executive function skills to young children. The overview video can be viewed by clicking the button at the top of

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  • a young woman reads and takes notes

    Finding the Topic

    What is the Topic? One way to find the topic in a reading selection is to see whether one word is repeated in the paragraph. As you count, it is important to consider whether the author is using any synonyms for a word that might be the topic. A synonym is a word that has

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