This meta-analysis synthesizes the literature on interventions for struggling readers in Grades 4 through 12 published between 1980 and 2011. It updates Scammacca et al.'s analysis of studies published between 1980 and 2004. The combined corpus of 82 study-wise effect sizes was meta-analyzed to determine (a) the overall effectiveness of reading…

This study investigated the role of strategy instruction and working memory capacity (WMC) on word problem solving accuracy in children with (n = 100) and without (n = 92) math difficulties (MD). Within classrooms, children in Grades 2 and 3 were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: verbal-only strategies (e.g., underlining…

Writing difficulties are common among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the nature of these difficulties has not been well studied. Here we relate behavioral, psycholinguistic, cognitive (memory/executive), and graphomotor measures to spelling skills in school-age girls with ADHD (n = 30) and an age-matched group…

Response-to-intervention (RTI) approaches to disability identification are meant to put an end to the so-called wait-to-fail requirement associated with IQ discrepancy. However, in an unfortunate irony, there is a group of children who wait to fail in RTI frameworks. That is, they must fail both general classroom instruction (Tier 1) and…

Results of the comparison of 34 learning disabled and 37 low achieving fifth grade students on curriculum based assessment of reading, spelling, and written expression found significant differences between the two groups suggesting that norm-referenced tests which find no differences may reflect an inefficient procedure for confirming teacher…

While the normative frame of reference is adequate for diagnosis, a behavioral approach may be more suited to the prescriptive phase of assessment. The behavioral frame of reference is described and its relevance to prescriptive assessment is discussed. (Author)

A study examined test-retest reliability, practice effects, and relations among normed measures of word identification and spelling and experimental measures of achievement and reading-related cognitive processing in 78 children (ages 6-8) with reading disabilities. There were strong relations between normed measures of decoding and spelling and…

The study examined the performance of 28 students (ages 12-15) with mild educational handicaps and 38 with learning disabilities on a combination of norm-referenced and curriculum-based assessment approaches. There were no significant differences on measures of word recognition, but significant differences favoring learning-disabled students…