Founded in 1967, The Lab School of Washington (LSW) has been educating students with learning disabilities using an arts-based curriculum for over 50 years. Sally Smith originally started the school out of frustration with the inability of traditional educational environments to reach her intelligent, but learning disabled, young son and others…

This paper presents a rationale for teaching study skills to students with learning disabilities, a flexible study skills model, and suggestions for implementing the model. Students with learning disabilities are seen as capable of learning study skills but require specific instruction and practice and need teachers who understand learning styles,…

This final paper in the journal's special issue on educational intervention research for students with learning disabilities stresses the importance of cohesion and coherence in instruction across the curriculum. Emphasis is on the task of intervention teams to consider when, and for whom the various teaching models are appropriate. (Contains…

This response to Carr (1993) on the issue of inclusion for students with learning disabilities supports inclusion. It distinguishes between "mainstreaming" and "inclusion," describes one inclusion model being implemented, and suggests that the momentum of the inclusion model has been generated by the failure of programs currently serving students…

This paper argues that the shift from behaviorist learning theories to constructivist and social constructivist theories provides an opportunity to develop a hybrid model of mathematics instruction for students with learning disabilities. The proposed model embeds important skill learning in meaningful contexts. Evaluation data on such embedded…

This paper discusses arguments for the social nature of knowledge construction, the balancing influence of individual knowledge construction, conceptualization of the relative roles of individual and social dynamics in children's learning, important principles of effective instruction, and implications for designing educational programs for…

The Content Mastery program, which evolved from the synergistic model, provides instructional accommodations and teacher consultation and support that encourage the success of students with learning disabilities in regular classroom settings. Students remain in mainstream classes as long as they can profit from instruction and attend the Content…

This article notes the failures of traditional deficit models of learning disabilities and considers, instead, possibilities of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. It summarizes findings on talents of students labeled learning disabled, evidence of their abilities, implications of these for schools, and preliminary recommendations…

This introduction to a series of articles on the scaffolding metaphor in learning disabilities research introduces each article and raises two main concerns: the lack of careful delineation of how scaffolding becomes operational in research studies and constraints in the use of scaffolding arising from communication problems. (DB)

This document is a collection of six mathematics lesson plans for use with students with learning disabilities or mild mental retardation. The lesson plans utilize the Essential Elements of Instruction (EEI) 5-Step lesson design model developed by Madeline Hunter. The lesson plans and their authors are as follows: (1) "An EEI Lesson for 1st…

A qualitative research project with 71 successful adults with learning disabilities found that their individual achievements shared commonalities which can be taught and learned. A model of vocational success is presented which inculcates behaviors that facilitate adult adjustment. The model's focus is on student strengths rather than weaknesses.…

This article describes an approach to reading instruction in which teachers use principles of functional analysis to generate hypotheses for the causes of reading failure, which are then used to guide the selection and implementation of interventions. Five possible causes of reading difficulties are described, and each is accompanied by suggested…

This article presents the strategies instruction model as an effective intervention for students with learning disabilities. It describes the model's components (curriculum, instruction, environment), its theoretical basis, the teacher's role, teacher-student interaction, and appropriate contexts. Studies of the model's effectiveness are…

This paper reports on a meta-analysis of the research literature on effective teaching models for students with learning disabilities. It concludes: that the most effective models combined components of direct and strategy instruction; that eight major instructional factors captured most intervention programs; and that the explicit strategy…

This article presents the interactive, collaborative teaching and learning model developed to teach content area reading to students with learning disabilities or other learning problems. It identifies interactive and collaborative aspects of the model and explains its theoretical underpinnings, instructional decisions, the role of the teacher,…