The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two forms of concept mapping, hand-drawn and computer-generated, on the descriptive essay writing of middle-level students with learning disabilities. Twelve eighth-grade students composed descriptive essays under three conditions: no-map support, handmap support, and computer-map support. The essays were compared on four measures: number of words, syntactic maturity, number of T-units, and holistic writing scores. Writing attitude was also examined. Results showed that student descriptive essays produced in the hand-and computer-mapping conditions demonstrated significant increases above baseline writing samples on number of words, number of T-units, and holistic writing scores. Carry-over effects were observed in the no-mapping condition and provide an indication that students may have acquired writing skills that generalized into their essay writing when not using maps. Results showed that students' attitudes toward writing were significantly more positive in the computermapping condition when compared to no-mapping and hand-mapping conditions.Writing involves a wide range of cognitive skills and processes. Writers must be able to keep a single theme in mind, generate products in the correct syntactic and semantic form, as well as remember and produce words correctly (Outhred, 1989). Even for the skilled writer, written language production can be a trying experience.Requests for reprints should be sent to

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S Leveled books originally selected by or produced for use in Reading Recovery or its regular classroom initiative are now also widely used in regular and special classrooms having no affiliation with Reading Recovery. The frequent use of these leveled books in settings other than Reading Recovery raises an important question: Do books leveled for use in Reading Recovery support other reading instructional emphases in addition to the ones that Reading Recovery teachers are trained to provide? The purpose of this study was to examine the curricular dimensions of books leveled for use in Reading Recovery in order to judge how supportive such texts are for early reading instruction emphasizing word recognition or decoding instead of, or in addition to, the three main cueing systems. The study found that Reading Recovery books, as a category of early reading instructional texts, provide only a moderate amount of support for word‐recognition instruction and almost none for decoding instruction in the use of onsets and rimes. The study also found that books leveled for use in Reading Recovery do not consistently increase in word‐level demands as their levels increase. Los libros nivelados, originalmente seleccionados o producidos para su uso en el programa Reading Recovery (Recuperación en Lectura) o en aulas regulares que adoptaban el programa, se usan actualmente en aulas regulares y especiales sin relación alguna con dicho programa. El uso frecuente de estos libros en contextos diferentes del de Reading Recovery introduce una pregunta importante: ¿los libros nivelados para Reading Recovery son adecuados en enfoques didácticos diferentes de aquellos para los que fueron capacitados los docentes de Reading Recovery? El propósito de este estudio es examinar las dimensiones curriculares de los libros nivelados de Reading Recovery con el fin de evaluar el apoyo que proporcionan esos textos en una didáctica de la lectura inicial que enfatiza el reconocimiento de palabras o la decodificación en lugar de, o además de, los tres principales sistemas de pistas. El estudio halló que, como libros de enseñanza de la lectura inicial, los textos de Reading Recovery proporcionan sólo un apoyo moderado a la enseñanza del reconocimiento de palabras y casi ninguno para enseñar decodificación con el uso de ataques y rimas. Asimismo el estudio encontró que en los libros de Reading Recovery no se halla un aumento de las demandas en el nivel de las palabras consistente con el aumento de los niveles. Eingestufte Lesebücher, ursprünglich ausgewählt für oder hergestellt zur Verwendung bei der Leseverbesserung durch Reading Recovery® oder in ihrer regulären Klassenzimmerverwendung, werden jetzt auch weitgehend in regulären und Sonderschulklassen benutzt, die keine Bindung zu Reading Recovery haben. Der häufige Gebrauch dieser eingestuften Lesebücher in andere Bereichen als Reading Recovery wirft eine wichtige Frage auf: Unterstützen Bücher, die zur Verwendung bei Reading Recovery in der Leseverbesserung benutzt werden, andere leseanleit...

School-age students who use AAC need access to communication, reading, and writing tools that can support them to actively engage in literacy learning. They also require access to core literacy learning opportunities across grade levels that foster development of conventional literacy skills. The importance of the acquisition of conventional literacy skills for students who use AAC cannot be overemphasized. And yet, one of the critical challenges in supporting the literacy learning of students who use AAC has been a lack of knowledge about literacy curricula and supports to literacy learning for these students. Most students who use AAC do not become conventionally literate and few of those who do achieve literacy skills beyond the second grade level. This article will provide an overview of the most frequent reading instructional activities in first and third grade classrooms. To better understand the foundational experiences important to literacy learning, the results of a survey project that examined the reading activities of general education students and teachers during primary grade instruction are presented, and critical shifts in instruction that occurred between first and third grade are highlighted. The primary instructional focus of core reading activities is also examined, along with adaptations for students who use AAC.