Best practice for ell students

The article I read was about best strategies to use with ell learners with disabilities. This was an action research study that was conducted in a few states throughout the US. The focus was on strategies that work in math,reading and science. The top teaching strategies were named for each subject. For reading using visuals, teacher prereading and repeated reading were the top strategies. For math it was using manipulatives, connecting math to real life and using visuals.  The top science strategies were hands on activities, graphic organizers and student made models. The biggest connection I saw between all subjects was the use of visual strategies. I recently went to a training on nonverbal communication which also stressed the importance of using visuals and symbols academically and for management.
I found this article to be interesting but only applies to a very small population of the students I work with (ell students with disabilities).  I do teach a lot of ell students and have had questions on how to differentiate between learning English and a learning disability. There were a few conclusions that were not met in this action research article but it was really well written and gave me some ideas on how to write my next ar write up better.