Implementing Virtual Interview Training for Transition-Age Youth: Practical Strategies for Educators
This column shares strategies for implementing a technology-based intervention within secondary special education transition services. is a web-based job interview training that uses educational content and virtual hiring managers () to help teach job interview skills. Eight strategies were assembled by research staff, teachers, and administrators during two research studies conducted across n=47 schools that delivered the program (commonly called " to n=561 students in secondary special education transition programs. Eight support strategies for implementing are described. Strategies include: prepare for implementation, ensure administrative support, prioritize training and support, address logistical challenges, integrate the program into the curriculum, take advantage of the administrative center, individualize student support, and offer virtual delivery. The purpose of this column is to prepare others for successful implementation of within special education transition programs.
Scaffolding Inference-making for Adolescents with Disabilities that Impact Reading
Middle and secondary grade students with disabilities that impact reading, including learning disabilities in reading (LD-R), high functioning autism (HFA), emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), and students who are at-risk for reading failure due to the effect of poverty often struggle to make knowledge-based inferences while reading informational texts. As a result, this population of students is not able to read for understanding and learn from grade-level texts. Unfortunately, many special educators have had little preparation in how to develop their knowledge of inference-making or methods for explicitly teaching inference-making. Despite their lack of knowledge, special educators are often solely responsible for teaching skills that support reading comprehension, such as knowledge-based inference-making, to students with LD-R, EBD, HFA, and students reading below grade level. This article provides special educators, via self-directed learning, with information and resources to enhance their understanding of knowledge-based inferencing and methods for teaching knowledge-based inference-making to middle and secondary grade students with and at-risk for disabilities that impact reading achievement.
Embedding Number-Combinations Practice Within Word-Problem Tutoring
Two aspects of mathematics with which students with mathematics learning difficulty (MLD) often struggle are word problems and number-combination skills. This article describes a math program in which students receive instruction on using algebraic equations to represent the underlying problem structure for three word-problem types. Students also learn counting strategies for answering number combinations that they cannot retrieve from memory. Results from randomized-control trials indicated that embedding the counting strategies for number combinations produces superior word-problem and number-combination outcomes for students with MLD beyond tutoring programs that focus exclusively on number combinations or word problems.