Learning Disabilities: Story Map Analysis

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Learning disabilities are common in education. According to Taylor, Smiley, and Richards (2009), learning disabilities were created and inputted as a category of disability, due to the existence of large number of students who were having problems progressing academically but had no observable disability. Learning disabilities is the largest area of disability, constituting 45% of all students served under IDEA 04, and it has demonstrated considerable growth over time, probably due to increased awareness and the reclassification of students with other disabilities, such as mental retardation, into the learning disability category (Taylor, Smiley, & Richards, 2009). Factors play a role in the prevalence rate of learning disabilities. These factors …show more content…
Research has stated that multiple studies have been conducted on students with learning disabilities to help with reading comprehension by utilizing graphic organizers specifically story maps. Story mapping is one instructional strategy that can improve students reading comprehension skills of narrative text (Boon, Paal, Hintz, & Cornelius-Freyre, 2015). A story map is a visual framework, typically presented in the form of a graphic organizer, to facilitate the acquisition of story structure and story elements (Boon, Paal, Hintz, & Cornelius-Freyre, 2015). A story map assists the students by helping them visualize the story structure and identifying the main components in the …show more content…
Graphic organizers can reduce cognitive demands by providing a framework for students to create a visual representation of the most significant information in the text (Singleton & Filce, 2015). According to Boon, Paal, Hints & Cornelius-Freyre (2015), a large amount of reading comprehension interventions utilizing story map graphic organizers have been completed on students with learning disabilities in the last couple of years. In one particular research, that conducted twelve studies with students from different ages, ethnicity, gender, and environments, was found to be effective in utilizing story mapping. Our findings indicated that even though a limited number of studies were found since 1975, the use of a story map was an effective strategy to improve students’ ability to recall and comprehend the story grammar components in short, narrative story passages (Boon, Paal, Hintz, & Cornelius-Freyre,