Teaching Geography and the Social Studies to Students with Learning Disabilities

This chapter describes how geography and the social studies can be taught to students with learning disabilities (LD). The focus of this chapter is primarily on the United States. LD is defined followed by a description of the legal requirements in the United States to meet the educational needs of LD students. Curricular challenges for LD learners in the social studies, including geography, are then discussed. Finally, research on best practices for teaching LD students in the general social studies classroom is described. Overall, the research on best practices is limited and focused on the social studies rather than geography specifically. There is a need for increased attention to this topic to ensure that LD students receive appropriate and challenging instruction in geography and the social studies.