When practising

• Use supportive practice. Provide a series of prompts and/or questions to help guide the learner through the strategy.
• Ask frequent questions. Maintain communication with the learner as he practises the strategy. Ask questions to ensure he is focused on the task and understands the steps in the strategy.
• Break down tasks into little chunks.
• Provide scaffolding. Do some of the work for a learner who cannot do all of the task by himself so that the learner can focus on parts of the task. Later, remove the support so he can do the entire task independently.
• Use checklists and memory devices to remember steps.
• Don’t use more than approximately seven steps in a technique.
• Adapt the pace of the lesson to the difficulty of the task for that learner. Provide breaks based on the learner’s needs.
• Provide lots of opportunity for practice. Learners with learning disabilities require plenty of opportunities to practise retaining new skills and/or information.
• Provide corrective feedback immediately in a straightforward manner.
• Make sure that the learner understands all essential information before moving on.

Adapted from Fowler, J. A. (2003). Learning disabilities training: A new approach. London, Ontario: Literacy Link South Central. Used with permission.

Handout 10.8