Curriculum
Modifications for
Children in Elementary
School Who Exhibit
Learning Difficulties
Laura A. Riffel, Ph.D.
Reading and Subject
Comprehension
Interventions
Advanced
Organizers:
Concept maps
KWL charts
Venn Diagrams
Gatekeeper
US Government
Legislative
Congress
Senate
House of
Representatives
Executive
President
Vice President
Judicial
Supreme
Court

KWL Charts
KNOW
WANT to know
LEARN
• Capital is
Topeka
• Dorothy in the
Wizard of Oz is
from Kansas
• Kansas is flat
• Kansas is
shaped like a
rectangle.
• More about
cowboys in
Kansas
• What is the
state flower,
bird, mammal
and insect?
• What is a
Jayhawk?
• Dodge City is
the town
where Boot
Hill is and
where Wyatt
Earp is buried.
• Wheat is the
major crop.
• Pizza Hut
started in
Kansas.
Copying from the
board
Writing on the plane is a
pain…..
• Some children have difficulty
transferring what they see on a
vertical plane to a horizontal
plane.
– Some teachers assume the students
are being lazy.
• I used to type out whatever was on
the board and I told the students to
decide which worked best for
them.
– Within a few weeks, I knew how many
copies I needed to make each day.
Venn Diagrams
Animals
with 4
legs and
two legs
Gatekeeper Game
Animals
Got through gate
• Cows
• Horses
• Chickens
• Pigs
• Sheep
• Goats
Were told to turn back
• Elephant
• Tiger
• Shark
• Crocodile
• Whale
• Lion
• Bear
Mnemonics
Spelling
• Michenbaum’s 5-step Cognitive Learning Theory
– Step One: The teacher voices and demonstrates the
concept
– Step Two: The teacher voices the concept while the
students demonstrate on individual boards
– Step Three: The students voice and demonstrate the
concept on individual boards
– Step Four: The students whisper and demonstrate
the concept on individual boards
– Step Five: The students think and demonstrate the
concept on paper or boards.
M-U-S-C-L-E-S
• M-u-s-c-l-e-s, muscles make the very best
biceps (sung to the tune of Nestle’s Quick)
Spelling
Manipulatives
For spelling struggles try:
• Practicing with:
Writing in the sand
Use dye cut machine
Writing with glue
Word Searches
http://www.edhelper.com/puzzles.htm?gclid=CN3xus-1pJICFQGCxwodUk3xQg
This one has a price of $19.99
http://websearch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=websearch&zu=h
ttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.armoredpenguin.com%2Fwordsearch%2F
This one is free 
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Positive Behavior Support
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Spelling on a Ring
• Give children index cards to write:
– Difficult spelling words
– Favorite words
– Word of the Day
Have a Ball
Kinesthetic Activities
Connect visual and auditory
• Take an ordinary rubber ball and
a permanent marking pen.
• Divide the ball into sections.
• Write questions all over the ball.
• The students toss the ball and
where their right thumb landsthat is the question they must
answer.
• The child can “phone” a friend if
needed.
• The student then chooses to toss
the ball to someone else.
Math
Interventions
Dot Math
10, 11, 12, 13, 14
15, 16, 17, 18
Music to Learn
Secrets about Math
Creative Writing
and Report Writing
Interventions
3 Stars and Wish
I wish you’d add some more detail
describing the main characters.
Way to go, I can’t wait to read it
again.
1. The way you used
in
2. personification
The spacing of your
3. The
action
words
this story
really you
cursive
handwriting
chosevisualize
made the
helped
reallyme
made it easy
climax
of the story
the
setting.
for me
to read.
very pivotal.
3-2-8 Paragraph
The things I learned about Kansas included
mythical creatures, state symbols, and land
facts. There is a mythical creature called a
jayhawk. The jayhawk is the mascot of the
University of Kansas. The state flower is the
sunflower. The state bird is the meadowlark.
The main crop grown in Kansas is wheat. The
geographical center of the United States is in
Kansas. I learned some interesting facts
about Kansas.
Writing Tool page 43
• PenAgain
• www.penagain.com
– Also available at Wal-mart, Walgreens & Office
Depot.
Elements Page