Content area
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Students with intellectual disability (ID) often have limited access to general education science content. The current study evaluated the effects of a content area literacy intervention designed to improve the comprehension of high school students with moderate intellectual disability on adapted expository science text. The multicomponent intervention included explicit instruction in comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading an adapted text in a shared reading lesson. Using a multiple-baseline across participants, results showed that students improved their ability to answer both multiple choice and open-ended comprehension questions about the text. In addition, students and classroom staff expressed positive feedback regarding the intervention procedures, goals, and outcomes.
Federal law mandates that students with disabilities, including students with moderate to severe intellectual disability (ID), multiple disabilities, and developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act [IDEIA], 2004), have access to the general education curriculum. Access to the general education curriculum can improve academic and functional achievement during students' younger and adult lives and can improve social skills, self-competence, engagement, reading and math achievement, and post-secondary transition (Cosier, Causton-Theoharis, & Theoharis, 2013; Ryndak, Ward, Alper, Storch, & Montgomery, 2010). Research on access to the general curriculum and academic instruction for students with ID has grown steadily the past several years (Hudson, Browder, & Wood, 2013b; Spooner, Knight, Browder, & Smith, 2012). Despite this, many students with significant disabilities receive instruction that remains largely disconnected from the general education curriculum (Timberlake, 2014).
Comprehension of Content Area Texts
Reading a range of texts in the content areas (e.g., science, history, social studies, mathematics) is part of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) English Language Arts (ELA) standards for science and other technical subjects and is considered part of the general curriculum (CCSS, 2010). For high school students, these standards include being able to accurately summarize or paraphrase the central ideas or conclusions ofan expository text (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.2) and understand the domain-specific vocabulary words and phrases used in a scientific or technical text (i.e., CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.4). Science is one content area where students work towards these standards. Science, in particular, requires extensive vocabulary knowledge and comprehension of abstract concepts (Mason & Hedin, 2011; Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Okolo, 2008). Science texts can be difficult for students with...