The approach can be used in regular, resource, and self-contained special education classrooms in public schools and in alternative settings. It is applicable to social studies, humanities, natural science, and vocational courses. The method emphasizes skills acquisition and not students' individual characteristics. For students to be successful in content courses, they must possess the following prerequisite skills: knowledge of key words, definition of key words, and comprehension of the main ideas and details in a reading passage. The paper outlines steps for teachers to follow in evaluating a student's skills and illustrates the process with an example in American history. It also explains how to task analyze a textbook and suggests ways to alter textbooks so they are appropriate for students' reading levels. Charts and seven references are supplied. (Author summary modified)