The main purpose of this study was to validate the curriculum-based measure "Indicadores de Progreso de Aprendizaje en Matemáticas" (IPAM [Indicators of Basic Early Math Skills]) in a local, Spanish-speaking context. This tool has been designed to identify first-grade students at risk for mathematics learning disabilities. The IPAM…

The purpose of this article was to describe an initial step developing a new scale to identify individuals with learning disabilities (LD) and test anxiety. Eighty-eight students answered the "Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2" (MMPI-2). The participants were drawn from the following three groups: (a) adults with LD and test…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence of teacher biases with regard to identification of students with learning disabilities (LD). Factors related to teachers' gender, age, and experience, along with children's gender, were investigated. Results suggested that teacher gender is associated with biases with regard to…

Comparison of the free recall of learning-disabled (N=24) and non-disabled (N=24) eight- and ten-year-old readers during directive and nondirective encoding conditions found that both groups recalled more semantically- than nonsemantically-organized items. Learning-disabled readers preferred to encode categorically-organized items nonsemantically…

A schema for categorizing a student's inferred motivation to learn was tested with 37 students (9 to 18 years old), who had been referred because of a diagnosis of learning disability. Students were classified on three dimensions: level of motivation, degree of misbehavior, and degree of learning ability. (SW)

This article uses a self-organizing systems (SOS) framework to explain the complexity of learning disabilities (LD) and suggest that traditional classification schema may be inadequate. It explains principles of self-organizing systems and reviews research concerning reading and math disabilities and the roles of language, attention, working…

Patterns of memory dysfunction were determined in 50 middle school learning disabled readers (LD) through a hierarchical cluster analysis. Results were consistent with memory capacity theories of LD and provided external validation for classification of LD readers on psychometric measures according to patterns of memory performance. (Author/DB)

This article discusses issues of classification and identification, while evaluating some of the continuing controversies about learning disabilities (LD) related to those topics. The author suggests that many problems have to do with confusion between the two. Despite years of effort and an extraordinary increase in the number of individuals…

A recent overview of the field of learning disabilities (Torgesen, 2004) laid out several issues that will likely consume the field for the foreseeable future, including problems of definition and etiology, differentiation of learning disabilities from other disabilities, and issues in identification and service delivery. It has been approximately…

Expert systems are briefly reviewed and applications in special education diagnosis and classification are described. Future applications are noted to include text interpretation and pupil performance monitoring. (CL)

In the first of two articles, the author discusses purposes of and problems involved in diagnosing learning disabilities (LD). Sections focus on three topics: the relationship between LD diagnosis and other assessment activity, the objectives of diagnostic classification, and specific conceptual concerns regarding the LD label. (Author/SBH)

The relationship between intraindividual discrepancy and exceptionality was studied in 248 children in first through sixth grades. Results revealed a significant relationship between discrepancies and exceptionalities, though a relatively low strength of association was found. (Author/SBH)

This article commences with an excerpt from a memo entitled "Problems in Assessment of LD Children," recently found when the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) relocated their offices. The letter was written by then junior staffer Lou Danielson to a university professor. Although Danielson's letter was written in 1977, 27…

Problem-behavior rating scale data on elementary-aged learning disabled and normal boys were factor analyzed. Somewhat different factors were identified for normal and learning disabled groups. Implications of the findings for hyperactivity as distinct from other conduct problems and for classifying youngsters' behavior and emotional problems are…

Surveys of 1,164 special educators revealed that they did not support a combination of the traditional categories of mental retardation and specific learning disabilities. Special education teachers and evaluators of the handicapped were stronger in their endorsement of separate categories than special education administrators. (CL)