Learning Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors: Using the Building Blocks Model to Guide Intervention and Classroom Management

Why do children in grades K–12 struggle, and how can teachers help students develop the competence and confidence they need to succeed? This book had all the answers in 2001: and now the fully revised new edition shows teachers how to support children with learning disabilities and behavioural challenges in today's era of high-stakes testing and accountability. They'll have an innovative framework to help them understand the reasons why students in K-12 struggle.

Even more comprehensive and user-friendly than the popular previous edition, this text follows the same basic format: a detailed questionnaire pinpoints student strengths and needs, and the Building Blocks model targets 10 factors and abilities related to school success and gives teachers practical strategies for helping students succeed. With timely new material infused throughout the whole book, pre- and in-service educators will:

• Keep up with the very latest knowledge on learning disabilities. Every chapter has been revised to reflect the tremendous amount of new research.
• Address a broader age range with more on the early childhood and elementary years
• Increase their understanding of how to help students with behaviour challenges. An expanded chapter on behaviour includes more on preventive approaches to discipline so teachers can address problems before they become severe.
• Help students with emotional difficulties. Examining emotions as separate from behaviour, the authors give readers updated research on a wider range of emotional disorders and difficulties and more information on how to intervene.
• Teach more effectively in today's diverse classrooms with new information on English language learners and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds

The reliable, up-to-date research makes this an essential textbook for any course focused on learning disabilities and behaviour problems, and the practical advice and guidelines will be a lifeline to in-service teachers year after year. Sure to be a best-seller, this new edition helps educators effectively address variations in children's environments, abilities, needs, and learning styles; and ensures better outcomes for students who struggle.

What's New:

• New in-depth information on today’s most critical topics, including school climate, multi tiered systems of support (MTSS), positive behaviour interventions and supports (PBIS), social emotional learning, and student—teacher interactions.
• You’ll also get fresh contributions from experts on learning disabilities and behaviour challenges
• plus lists of helpful apps and other online resources.

Table of Contents

• About the Authors
• About the Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• A Note to Teachers

SECTION I: Introduction

• CHAPTER 1. The Building Blocks of Learning: A Framework for Understanding Classroom Learning and Behavior
• CHAPTER 2. Theoretical Foundations
• CHAPTER 3. The Learning Environment

SECTION II: Foundational Blocks

• CHAPTER 4. Attention and Self-Regulation: Understanding and Managing Students with Hyperactivity and Poor Attention, Planning, and Impulse Control
• CHAPTER 5. Emotions: Understanding and Managing Worry and Hopelessness in the Classroom with Gretchen Schoenfield
• CHAPTER 6. Understanding and Managing Behavior Problems
• CHAPTER 7. Strategies to Promote Self-Esteem and Resilience with Robert Brooks

SECTION III: Symbolic Processing Blocks

• CHAPTER 8. Learning Disabilities and the Symbolic Processing Blocks
• CHAPTER 9. Instruction for the Symbolic Processing Blocks: Decoding, Encoding, Reading Fluency, Calculating, and Handwriting

SECTION IV: Conceptual Blocks

• CHAPTER 10. Thinking with Languages, Images, and Strategies with Ann M. Richards
• CHAPTER 11. Instruction in Reading Comprehension, Written Expression, and Math Problem Solving with Ann M. Richards
• CHAPTER 12. The Classroom Environment as a Microcosm of the World

Additional Resources

• References
• Index