The Common Core has made the learning of frequently used academic vocabulary words a top priority in their focus on creating standards in the public schools.   It follows then that finding just the right instructional strategies to teach these words is an important task for K-12 teachers.  Here is an 8-step strategic plan based...Read More

Several years ago, I wrote a book for elementary and middle school students entitled You’re Smarter Than You Think: A Kid’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences(published by Free Spirit Publishing).  Since it came out, I have received letters from young readers responding to their experience of reading the book.  Just this month, I received a packet...Read More

I’m seriously concerned that the schools aren’t doing enough (change that:  aren’t doing anything!) to prepare students on the autism spectrum for a range of careers that are beginning to open up for them in the workplace.  So much of recent educational ”reform” has been about preparing our students to be college and career-ready.  If this...Read More

It is part of federal law that students with special needs should have their strengths identified and described in their IEPs (IDEA 2004 Section 1414(d)(3)(A)).   And yet, when I search the special education literature online, I find virtually nothing dedicated to identifying strengths in these students. If a student is having difficulty in school,...Read More

When I was a special education teacher, most of my students had difficulty with academic tasks involving either words or numbers (or both).  However, many of these kids were gifted artists, cartoonists, Lego experts, mechanics, visualizers, and in other ways demonstrated competence in visual-spatial thinking.  Now, an exciting new article by a Duke researcher makes...Read More