General Principles

• General Principles
• Reading
• Spelling & Written
• Numeracy
• Oral Language

Effective intervention for students experiencing some learning difficulties involves the use of both direct instruction of skills as well as the instruction of strategies the learner can apply in new learning situation.  The combined use of both direct instruction and strategy instruction has consistently resulted in markedly improved outcomes for students rather that intervention using only one of the approaches (Ellis, 2005; Swanson et al, 1999).   

Features of direct instruction include the following:

• Scripted presentations
• Teach the component skills / knowledge identified through task analysis;
• Target small group sessions (5-10 students);
• Sessions should include rapid pacing of activities;
• Practice and drill should be occurring (prompts, checking for understanding with directed feedback)
• Students continue to practice until skills have been mastered.

Strategy instruction would involve the following:

• Teaching a specific strategy such as note-taking, paraphrasing or visualising;
• Ensuring students know how, when and why to apply specific strategies

For many students, strategies often need to be explicitly taught. Seidenberg (1988) outlined an instructional approach toward the development of learning strategies which involves the following steps:

·         Introduce and explain the relevance of each strategy;

·         Provide direct instruction and modelling, focusing on each step involved;

·         Provide multiple practice opportunities with specific prompts and feedback;

·         Graduate the difficulty of the task with support; and

·         Assist with generalisation of strategy use across a range of activities and settings.

For example:

A model of teaching that considers the characteristics of the learning process that could be applied to intervention with students who have oral language difficulties is that developed by Collins, Brown & Newman (1989).  This model has six principles of instruction, three which are the responsibility of the Teacher and three that are the responsibility of the student.  The principles are as follows: