Schools conduct comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations to identify students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) and determine whether they qualify for special education services. This decision-making process is complex and research has documented many factors influencing SLD identification decisions. One such factor may be…

Although specific learning disabilities (SLD) represent the largest category for which school-age children receive special education services, the science and practice of SLD identification continues to evade consensus. Our goal is to bring together trainers and researchers with different perspectives on SLD identification to help spur a move…

Aims: People with a learning disability are at increased risk of becoming homeless, but little is known about how learning disability is viewed by people accessing homeless services. This study aimed to obtain the views of people experiencing homelessness about learning disability, in the context of a project that was exploring how to increase…

This study examined intervention fidelity (IF) and the extent to which this essential feature of response to intervention (RtI) was included within artifacts (laws and guidance documents) for states requiring RtI for specific learning disability (SLD) identification. Intervention fidelity is defined as the degree to which an intervention is…

Handwriting difficulties may signal dysgraphia or other writing difficulties that can affect literacy performance. Existing instruments measure different handwriting features to identify students for interventions but can take extra testing time and restrict potential indicators appropriate for evaluating adolescents. This exploratory study aimed…

Multi-exceptional children often have deficits in auditory, visual, or sensory processing. As few psychologists have training in modalities, these deficits may be misdiagnosed as AD/HD, Nonverbal Learning Disorder, Autism, Dyslexia, or a host of personality disorders. This article describes the symptoms of these processing deficits and offers…

This study investigated the extent to which preschool teachers have been prepared to recognize students with potential learning needs. The ability of these teachers to recognize students with learning needs and provide appropriate support or referrals is critical for the success of the students. Through this research, several insights have emerged…

This study aims to classify subtypes of mathematics disability (MD) using a novel classification method, cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs), and examine whether domain-general skills, namely, linguistic, working memory, and spatial skills, were related to the identification of the subtypes. Participants were 454 children (246 boys; age: M ± SD =…

My research topic is the diagnosis of learning disabilities (LD) in elementary school children. The poorly defined criteria and methods of LD determinations leads to a large number of students labeled with the disability category of LD (Graves et al, 2011; Hutchison, 2021), even though the process is inconsistent and subjective (Graves et al,…

The identification of specific learning disabilities (SLD) remains fraught with controversy and uncertainty about professionals' capacity to appropriately identify special education eligibility. For students from linguistically minoritized backgrounds, the "exclusionary clause" prohibits the identification of learning difficulties…

Background: People with a learning disability from ethnic minorities experience barriers in their access to healthcare services and poorer health outcomes. This study aimed to explore the factors that contribute to these barriers and to better understand how they can be reduced. Methods: Twenty 'experts by experience' took part in experience-based…

Social problem solving (SPS) represents a social cognitive reasoning process that gives way to behavior when individuals are navigating challenging social situations. Autistic individuals have been shown to struggle with specific aspects of SPS, which, in turn, has been related to social difficulties in children. However, no previous work has…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a language deficit affecting approximately 7% of the general population and does not associate with any hearing impairment, neurological damage, or mental disorder. In DLD, the complications arise over time due to the learning difficulties experienced, which causes eventual cognitive delay compared to…

Purpose: Intentional communication acts, or purposefully directed vocalizations and gestures, are particularly difficult for infants at elevated likelihood for eventual diagnosis of autism. The ability to measure and track intentional communication in infancy thus has the potential to aid early identification and intervention efforts. This study…