The specific learning disabilities (SLD) identification literature is replete with competing narratives concerning the advantages and disadvantages of various techniques and methods. Until a widely accepted and empirically proven SLD identification methodology is universally supported, evaluators should seek to improve the existing alternatives.…

Proposed guidelines have been published recently (Al-Hilawani, 2016) to help identify and determine for the first time the existence of learning disabilities among students in the Middle East Arab (M.E.A.) countries. These guidelines have been drawn from recent and up-to-date information available on learning disabilities. The purpose of this…

Barbara Keogh is a true Californian. She was born in Glendale, received her education and professional training in California colleges and universities, and has been a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for more than 40 years, where she is now Emerita. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and has worked as a…

Background: Children with learning disabilities are identified by their severe learning problems and their deficient school achievement. On the other hand, children with sub-average school achievement "and" sub-average intellectual development are thought to suffer from a general intellectual delay rather than from specific learning disabilities.…

Thirty-one female learning disabled college students were administered a battery of psychoeducational measures. Results revealed that less than one-fourth had significant verbal-performance IQ discrepancy. It was concluded that LD college females may be more similar in intellectual functioning to non LD Ss than their LD male counterparts. (CL)

Contemporary education theory (and official South African policy) underwrites learner-centredness. I analyse learner-centredness as a possible piece of the puzzle about why it is proving so difficult to improve academic achievement. Learner-centred ideas are grounded in the belief that cognitive abilities develop spontaneously in accordance with a…

In a sample of children with significant learning disabilities, it was found that those born in warm months had higher IQ's than those born in cold months. The effects of temperature and humidity upon neonatal cortex development are offered as a possible explanation of the differences noted. (ST)

Assesses the etiology of the covariation between mathematics performance and general cognitive ability in data from a sample of 555 twins selected for learning deficits and from a sample of 570 control twins pairs. Results show that the phenotypic relationship between mathematics and general cognitive ability is due primarily to genetic…

The author reports on recent Soviet studies of developmentaly delayed (DD) children, which compare clinical characteristics of DD, mentally retarded, and normal children relative to such aspects as attention, memory, intellectual functioning, and verbal facility. Noted is the similarity of DD children to American learning disabled children.…

The effect of 1 or 2 year special class placement on academic achievement and intellectual functioning of 28 learning disabled children (8 to 11 years old) was investigated. The number of years in a self-contained class significantly affected arithmetic achievement. (Author)

A developmentally sensitive problem-solving task--the 20-Question Game--was used to examine development and treatment variables among 48 learning disabled and 48 normal boys at two age levels (8-13 years old). Results indicate that both younger boys and learning disabled boys demonstrated less efficient problem-solving skills than did others. (TJH)

The relationship of lateral awareness and directionality with intellectual ability, academic achievement, and age was investigated with 288 first through third grade elementary school children. With the exception of first graders, Ss were administered three tests: the Lockavitch Test for Lateral Awareness and Directionality (LTLAD), the Short Form…

A survey of the evidence shows that some degrees of malnutrition is relatively widespread among poor children. However, the effects of inadequate nutrition on growth and mental development depend to a large extent on the severity, the timing (pre and postnatal), and the duration of the nutritional deprivation. The data are inadequate on the true…