This essential book offers clear guidelines for determining if the Culturally Linguistically Diverse (CLD) students / English Language Learners (ELL) in your general education classroom are experiencing typical language differences, learning disabilities, or both. By combining helpful case-studies with insightful research, the authors provide a framework for differentiating instruction that uses culturally appropriate interventions to build upon student strengths while creating a foundation for further learning and achievement. You will discover how to connect your own and your students' cultural assets to classroom content; review language acquisition stages and design corresponding instruction; collaborate with peers and discuss the realities of reaching out for support and problem solving; choose effective and appropriate instructional strategies based on documentation of data through progress monitoring; move from a traditional behavioristic perspective to a more culturally responsive perspective; and identify patterns in formal assessments and informal instruction in order to distinguish between language differences and learning disabilities.