Laws, practices, and research about reading difficulties have been gradually and rapidly changing since the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1974. It is difficult for schools to keep up, especially when it takes approximately 16 years for research to reach widespread public knowledge. In this article, I frame the…

Limited vocabulary knowledge has been cited as a key factor in the literacy achievement gap, particularly for students with learning disabilities, students of color, and English-language learners. Recent authorities have recommended multipronged approaches to assist vocabulary growth in classrooms. In addition, authorities have called for…

Children with learning disabilities tend to score below the mean on measures of oral language, but not all do. (HOD)

Shows that mentally handicapped preschool children can learn to read words when word cards become tools for communicating their wishes. Indicates also that language skills improve and that these transfer to other situations. (FL)

Dyslexia is a disorder of the language-processing systems in the brain. It is a specific learning disability in reading that often affects spelling as well. This article describes: (1) Common characteristics experienced by people with dyslexia or reading disabilities; (2) Common misconceptions about dyslexia; (3) What brain research tell us about…

Describes how the whole-language philosophy undergirds the teaching approaches used in a nontraditional special education program designed for students with language and learning disabilities. (SR)

Reviews recent literature in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) on the reading and learning difficulties of slow learners. (RB)

Reports on the successful use of a modified Fernald technique with second graders using colored chalk on the blackboard. (MKM)

Considers how IQ tests may not be an effective means of identifying English-as-a-second language (ESL) students with learning disabilities due to inherent cultural biases of the tests. Concludes that the use of IQ tests with ESL or English-dialect students is inappropriate when the student's first or primary language is different from the language…

Reports on some of the advantages--language creativity, applied phonics, and integrated skills--for the South African Indian children learning to read and write with the Language Experience Approach. (MB)

Describes how a teacher of children with learning disabilities worked with three regular classroom teachers to teach mainstreamed children in whole-language classrooms. Shows how students' reading abilities, self-esteem, and motivation improved as the lines were blurred between abled and disabled, teacher and specialist, and right and wrong. (SR)

Manual communication methods used by the deaf may be helpful techniques for remedial instruction with hearing children. (MKM)

Describes the following teaching ideas: note writing; books supplementing a unit on measuring; parents' activities calendars; quick phonics inventory; map reading; language experience chart stories; predicting activities with titles; summer mail for learning disabled students; role playing; teaching guides for novels; sentence transformation; and…