Encouraging children's intrinsic motivation can help them to achieve academic success (adelman, 1978; adelman & taylor, 1986; gottfried, 1983, 1985). To help students with and without learning disabilities to develop academic intrinsic motivation, it is impoptant to define the factors that affect motivation (adelman & chaney, 1982; adelman & taylor, 1983). This article offers educators an insight into the effects of different motivational orientations on the school learning of students with learning disabilities, as well as into the variables affecting intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Also included are recommendations, based on empirical evidence, for enhancing academic intrinsic motivation in learners of varying abilities at all grade levels.

The Orton-Gillingham ® and TouchMath ® systems of instruction were implemented to improve language and mathematics skill development for 6-and 7-year-olds in a 1st-grade classroom. After 2 years of intervention, the participants were found to be no longer in need of special education services. All the participants showed marked improvement in reading scores on the Wide Range Achievement Test-III. The students who were considered to be at risk for reading and mathematics difficulties at the beginning of their 1st-grade year were no longer in need of special education services at the end of their 2nd-grade year.Practitioners, researchers, administrators, parents, and policymakers have been concerned about the reading and mathematics skill development of students in schools all over the world for more than a century. Teachers often cite reading difficulties as the main reason for referring students to special education services. Failure to learn to read in the first grade can have serious and long-term consequences on an individual's literacy development (see Stein

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Stories in one form or another have been used for thousands of years to influence social behaviour. A social story is a short story created specifically for an individual with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and focuses on social skills (e.g. initiating conversations) that need to be developed for him or her or on helping the individual adjust to challenging situations (e.g. transition between activities). This qualitative study was conducted to investigate how teachers create social stories and to uncover their perspectives about the impact of these stories on students with ASDs. Teachers (n = 6) were interviewed to ascertain their understanding of social stories, and to identify the skills and resources they used as well as wished were available to them for developing stories relevant for their students. Findings from this study raise implications relevant for research, policy and practice not just in the field of autism but also in teacher education for inclusive settings.

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