Productive engagement in fractional reasoning is essential for abstracting fundamental algebraic concepts vital to college and career success. Yet, data suggest students with learning disabilities (LDs), in particular, display pervasive shortfalls in learning and mastering fraction content. We argue that shortfalls in understanding are in fact…

Writing in science can be challenging for all learners, and it is especially so for students with cognitive or language-based learning difficulties. We examined the effects of a cognitive apprenticeship on student disciplinary writing skills as well as near and far transfer of learning outcomes. This instructional approach included a gradual…

A self-talk monitoring and goal-oriented thinking (STM+GOT) intervention package was used to teach four U.S. middle school students with high-incidence disabilities to develop and track progress toward self-determined behavioral goals. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to determine the effects of STM+GOT on both behavior and…

Schematic chunks denote patterns, schemes, or sophisticated rules and knowledge stored in the long-term memory in the form of chunks. We investigated whether schematic chunking is effective in improving the performance of students with math difficulties (MD) and students at risk of math failure, and how the complexity level of geometry problems…

This is an official document of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD), of which Council for Learning Disabilities is a long-standing, active member. With this position paper, NJCLD addresses points of agreement in the field, common misperceptions, and unresolved issues in scholarship and practice, and makes recommendations…

This study examined the effects of reading modality (oral vs. silent) on comprehension in elementary school students with a specific learning disability in reading (N = 77). A 2 (development-level) × 2 (reading modality) × 2 (time) mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine the influence of these variables on…

Systematically observing instruction for students with learning disabilities (LD) provides information regarding the quality of school-based interventions, allocation of instructional time, and other implementation variables associated with student outcomes. In this synthesis, observation studies of reading and mathematics instruction from 2000 to…

The authors report findings from a systematic observational study of middle school educators (Grades 6-8) in two states who provided reading interventions within Tier 2 and Tier 3 of a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. Intervention sessions were coded and analyzed to understand (a) the frequency and type of evidence-based strategies…

This study investigated the effectiveness of "Solve It!" instruction on students' knowledge of math problem-solving strategies. "Solve It!" is a cognitive strategy intervention designed to improve the math problem solving of middle school students with learning disabilities (LD). Participants included seventh- and eighth-grade…

As a result of the upcoming Federal reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), practitioners and researchers have begun vigorously debating what constitutes evidence-based assessment for the identification of specific learning disability (SLD). This debate has resulted in strong support for a method that…

Little to no information exists explaining the nature of conceptual gaps in understanding fractions for students with learning disabilities (LD); such information is vital to practitioners seeking to develop instruction or interventions. Many researchers argue such knowledge can be revealed through student's problem-solving strategies. Despite…

This study investigates the impact of The Personal Strengths Program (PSP) on seven college students with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (LD/ADHD) using a multiple baseline design. Students with LD/ADHD experience increased challenges in school settings and decreased post-secondary outcomes when compared with…

In this article, we provide an overview of current knowledge on the underlying cognitive deficits associated with mathematics learning disabilities (MLD). We highlight difficulties surrounding the identification of MLD that include inconsistency in defining MLD, comorbidity with other disabilities, problems associated with assessment tools and…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that is commonly used for guiding the construction and delivery of instruction intended to support all students. In this study, we used a related model to guide creation of a multimedia-based instructional tool called content acquisition podcasts (CAPs). CAPs delivered vocabulary instruction…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of explicit, direct, and generative strategy training and working memory capacity (WMC) on mathematical word problem-solving accuracy in elementary schoolchildren. In this study, children in third grade ("N" = 82) identified as at risk for math difficulties (MD) were randomly…