Students with learning disabilities (LD) present unique challenges to teachers who are confronted with the difficult task of engaging them in the learning process and helping them to overcome their learning difficulties (Swanson & Deshler, 2003). Currently, these students are educated in a wide variety of settings including self-contained, inclusion and even regular classrooms. In addition, some of these students who have not been successful in any of the aforementioned programs have been placed in alternative schools (Lehr & Lange, 2003; Swanson & Deshler, 2003). This paper offers a comparison of the instructional methods and opportunities for students with LD in programs in the home school district with those of alternative schools.
One of the key factors that distinguish the instructional approaches utilized in the home school district from those of the alternative schools is the fundamental objectives of the programs. In the case of the home school district, the teachers employ instructional approaches that are designed to enhance the students' ability to achieve expected standards of performance for the particular class. Therefore, teachers in the home school district typically utilize three types of instructional strategies. First, the teachers will present and model the use of an instructional method that the students can employ to help them to perform a specific learning task. Second, they will break down the learning sequence into several steps in order to facilitate the students' understanding of the process. Finally, supported by the repeated prompts and feedbacks from the teachers and the peers, students with LD will be given the opportunity to practice the strategy until they have mastered it. In spite of slight modifications of the instructional strategies, teachers in the home school district basically require the students with LD to conform to the learning requirements that apply to their typical counterpart...