Game-based learning has emerged as a promising tool in education, particularly for students with disabilities. Educational games can significantly enhance student engagement, motivation, and skill development across subjects by providing personalized learning experiences and immediate feedback. New developments in generative AI offer opportunities to embed advanced features into educational games. Drawing on focus group insights from educators and families (N = 21), we highlight the key features that teachers and parents want to see in educational games. We then discuss how generative AI can potentially supplement and ensure that those key features are included. A case study of applying these features to a game-based tool to support writing across curriculum is provided. This article offers a glimpse into the informal exploration phase of a larger design research project aimed to develop a proof-of-concept for an intervention that builds a bridge between AI, educational games, and scaffolding STEM content for students with all abilities.

The importance of mathematical problem solving (MPS) has been widely recognized. While there has been significant progress in developing and studying interventions to support teaching and learning MPS for students with disabilities, the research on how to accurately and effectively assess the impact of those interventions has lagged, leaving a gap in understanding whether interventions are truly achieving their intended outcomes. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to explore how a dynamic assessment (DA) approach can be used in the context of an evidence-based MPS intervention, Enhanced Anchored Instruction, as an alternative means of assessing the MPS of students with disabilities. Our findings suggest that DA is an adequate assessment tool and can provide additional information for teachers to better understand the MPS strengths and challenges of students with disabilities such as MPS ownership transition. Study limitations, considerations for future research, and implications for practice are discussed, emphasizing the importance of rigorous evaluation of the DA approach to improve teaching and learning MPS for students with disabilities.

A study using a multiple-baseline across participants design was conducted in a U.S. alternative education setting to examine the functional relation between students’ use of a technology-based graphic organizer (TBGO) with embedded self-regulated learning strategies on the quantity and quality of their persuasive essay writing. Three third- to fifth-grade students with writing difficulties and complex behavioral needs receiving services in an alternative special education program participated in the study. The dependent variables included the number of words, number of transition words, and writing quality scores across (a) baseline (writing on the computer without the TBGO), (b) TBGO-use phase (writing on a computer with the TBGO), and (c) maintenance (writing on the computer without the TBGO). The visual and statistical analyses of data indicated all participants improved the quality of their writing, and two students also increased the quantity of their writing across phases. Students’ self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in writing ratings were also monitored throughout the study. Results indicated an overall increase in their perceived self-efficacy for writing.