Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in secondary school settings often have deficient reading skills. Secondary school teachers who serve this population of students may need additional training, support, and resources to maximize the effectiveness of the time they spend teaching reading. This article focuses on two instructional practices for improving the reading comprehension of secondary grade students with EBD: explicit vocabulary instruction and main idea identification. Also included are suggestions for how to incorporate behavioral strategies and assessment of comprehension into effective reading instruction.