Intervention Techniques

Flash: Read our blog, TeachEffectively.

Here's a place where you can find effective teaching techniques. Students studying special education at the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and East Tennessee State University College of Education have read and summarized scores of research articles about teaching techniques for exceptional learners. To be included in this data base, the articles had to describe research-validated methods for teaching specific skills to individuals with disabilities. The contributions are edited for quality (content and clarity), use of contemporary terminology, and people-first language on an on-going basis (i.e., this site is always "under construction" for new additions and improvements). We suggest that you browse the topics of interest to you and follow up your own research by acquiring articles of interest in their full-length versions. You can find articles at libraries or through web sites like UnCover that should be able to send most of the articles contained in this database (for a fee).

These links take you to entries for each of the areas shown. The articles that are summarized address a range of ages, grade levels, and categories of exceptionality that taken together may provide you with some helpful suggestions. Each entry is based on the results of one study reported in journals relevant to special education. For each item you will find information about (a) the targeted skill or behavior addressed by the research, (b) with whom the technique was studied, (c) a description of the teaching procedure, (d) a description of how the technique was evaluated, (e) the citation so that you can obtain the full document, and (f) the names and university affiliations of the people who created the entries.

Reading

• Oral Reading, Fluency
• Comprehension
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Phonics (Letters, Sounds)

Spelling

• Strategies
• Program Structure

Handwriting

• Letter Formation
• Copying
• Correcting Reversals

Writing

• Paragraph Writing
• Essay Writing
• Story Writing
• Creative Writing

Mathematics

• Basic Concepts
• Basic Facts
• Multiplication
• Subtraction
• Story Problems
• Fractions
• Performance, in General

Content Instruction

• Recall of Information
• Science
• General Problem Solving
• Creativity
• Study/Organizational Skills
• Active Responding

Behavioral Problems

• Attention to Task
• Disruptive Behavior
• Aggressive Behavior
• Self-Injurious Behavior
• Assignment Completion
• Self-Esteem, Competence

Language Skills

• Stuttering
• Communication, Linguistic Structure

Social Skills

• Peer Interactions
• Community Activity
• Directional Gaze
• Staff Interactions
• General Social Skills

Vocational Skills

• Production Skills
• Transition to Work
• Employee Social Skills

Functional Skills

• Money
• Health, Fitness
• Shopping Skills

For additional information about effectiveness in education, see George Klima's extensive resources on educational reform.

Feedback

These pages were developed and are maintained by Kerri Martin (kerri@ahab.engr.utk.edu) of East Tennessee State University's Department of Human Learning and Development and John Lloyd (johnl@virginia.edu) of the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education. Please direct mail to us, if you have suggestions, comments, requests, and such. The interventions pages benefited from the work of Joanne Heubusch at UVA and Linda Hensley at ETSU.

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Last modified June, 1998 by Kerri Martin (kerri@ahab.engr.utk.edu)