Supporting Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders’ Comprehension and Reading Fluency

In addition to behavior problems, students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) often experience persistent reading difficulties. These struggles in reading become more pronounced in secondary school (grades 6-12) due to the increased rigor of the curriculum. Although the research pertaining to academic interventions for students with EBD in secondary school is limited, there are several promising instructional practices that teachers can use to improve student engagement and reading comprehension. This article describes two effective strategies – student choice of instructional procedures in reading and story mapping to improve narrative text comprehension – that can be utilized to enhance active engagement, reading fluency, and reading comprehension for adolescent students with EBD. Step-by-step instructions, examples, and materials are presented to support instruction.