# Essential Skills for Struggling Learners

## A Framework for Student Support Teams

**Authors:** [Erik Von Hahn, M.D.](https://products.brookespublishing.com/cw_Contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=184755&Name=Erik+Von+Hahn,M.D.), [Sheldon H Horowitz, Ed.D.](https://products.brookespublishing.com/cw_Contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=184756&Name=Sheldon+Horowitz,Ed.D.), [Caroline Linse, Ed.D.](https://products.brookespublishing.com/cw_Contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=184757&Name=Caroline+Linse,Ed.D.)

This innovative planning guide is your key to identifying and prioritizing the essential skills that students with and without learning difficulties need to succeed.

To provide the right supports for struggling students in grades pre-K to 12, your school team needs a thorough understanding of the skills that contribute to learning—and a systematic way to help students with a wide range of learning difficulties. This book presents 11 key domains of learning—divided into neurological, developmental, and educational domains—and gives your team a complete, collaborative plan for pinpointing where students need help and adapting your supports to meet those needs.

### Key Features of the Book
- Understand why the domain is essential to learning in both special and general education
- Learn about the research and resources used to develop the framework for that domain
- Take a deep dive and master key terms and definitions
- Discover how the skills associated with each domain develop in typical learners
- Identify students who are struggling by making good observations, and by recognizing missing or underdeveloped skills
- Clearly communicate observations to all team members
- Build better intervention plans and IEPs using the specific educational objectives, teaching strategies, and accommodations suggested in each chapter

### Support Students in 11 Domains of Learning:
- Vision Skills
- Hearing Skills
- Motor Skills
- Formal Language Skills
- Pragmatic Language Skills
- Social Skills
- Executive Skills
- Affect and Self-Regulation Skills
- Reading Skills
- Writing Skills
- Math Skills

## Reviews

### Joan Mele-McCarthy, Executive Director of the Summit School 
"I am very impressed with Essential Skills for Struggling Learners. When this book is published, I am seriously considering implementing a book study or a continuing education course for my staff. It will unite the knowledge base among my teachers, speech-pathologists, school psychologists, and administrators and will provide us with common language to use with parents."

### Kathleen G. Winterman, Director, School of Education, College of Professional Sciences, Xavier University
"Takes a strengths-based approach toward meeting the needs of struggling students...The authors’ suggestions are rooted in advocacy for the child’s future development."

### Paul Yellin, Director, The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education
"A well-written, well-researched, thoughtful, and valuable resource for those interested in truly understanding and addressing the needs of diverse learners…Anyone responsible for supporting struggling students will want to keep this rich resource close at hand."

## Practical Materials
Each chapter offers an in-depth Case Study example, a Skills Observation Sheet for note-taking during student observations, and a Skills Framework for quick reference when developing IEPs.

For additional resources, visit the [Download Hub](https://downloads.brookespublishing.com/resource/essential-skills-for-struggling-learners/).