Psychometric test performances of two groups of school children were analyzed: 80 fourth graders, 40 of whom had been identified by their school district as learning disabled (LD); and 51 children referred for "possible LD placement" and diagnosed LD or not LD by school district personnel applying a severe discrepancy criteria. Results…

The author points out two problems with the field of learning disabilities: the term caught on before a satisfactory definition had been determined and the field totally disregards the Law of Parsimony, which requires that one should never give a complicated answer when a simple one will do. (SBH)

Presents a typology for differentiating between varying definitions of educational needs. The typology is based on the assessment of learner competence, motivation, and the relevance of the learning activity. A case study to test the typology investigates the degree of interdependence of these elements in the assessment of learner needs.…

Provides an overview of the use of models in instructional design. Highlights include a definition of the term model; types of models, including conceptual, procedural, mathematical, and prescriptive; procedures for model development; classification of models in the literature; and alternative techniques for model validation. (Contains 38…

Discusses whether "kategorija ostojanija" (category of state) should be considered as a part of speech in Russian, proposes a definition of the term "part of speech," and suggests that short adjectives and impersonal nonverbal predicatives be viewed as a single part of speech with personal and impersonal subtypes like Russian verbs. (21…

The Division on Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) of the Council for Exceptional Children adopted this position statement concerning the revised American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) definition of mental retardation. The position statement views the revised mental retardation definition and classification as a…

This letter to the editor comments on a 1998 article by J. S. Yaruss which proposed that classification of stuttering be adopted to foster improvement in basic understanding. The article is critiqued as failing to recognize the two major components of a stuttering event and for the author's definitions of impairment and disability as applied to…

Since the phenomenon of fossilization in interlanguage is proposed by Selinker in 1972, it has drawn much attention and commonly acknowledged at home and abroad. This paper introduces the definition, classification, presentation, and causal factors of fossilization in an attempt to help Chinese students better understand the phenomenon and avoid…

The phrase "academic bullshit" presents compositionists with a special dilemma. Because compositionists study, teach, and produce academic writing, they are open to the accusation that they both tolerate and perpetuate academic bullshit. We argue that confronting this problem must begin with a careful definition of "bullshit" and "academic…

The capacity of the visually impaired to perform normal tasks is the basis of a new classification system proposed to supplant the current legal definition of blindness, now based on arbitrary numerical values used to measure visual acuity and angular field. A discussion of the current plight of the visually impaired focuses on the failure of the…

The seven levels of education, as classified numerically by International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), are defined along with courses, programs, and fields of education listed under each level. Also contained is an alphabetical subject index indicating appropriate code numbers. For related documents see TM003535 and TM003536. (RC)

Although publications of conferences may be handled as either serials or monographs, at present there are no definitive guidelines. The Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, International Standard Bibliographic Description for monographic publications, and practices at the Library of Congress, and the University of Iowa Libraries are discussed.…