The paper presents results of a phenomenological longitudinal qualitative study undertaken with mentors associated with the Big Brothers Big Sisters programme in the Czech Republic. Ten mentors were interviewed during the first month and after 5 and 10 months of their mentoring involvement employing phenomenological in-depth semi-structured…

Background: Intervention to increase self-determination of people with learning disabilities is a major issue for social care practices. This study examines relational needs of people with learning disabilities regarding self-determination in the context of the relationships they share with social care professionals. Method: We held focus group…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have academic and behavioral deficits that impact their school success. For example, reading achievement of students with EBD is lower than typically developing peers and fails to improve over time without intervention. Despite this, the academic deficits of students with EBD often get…

Background: There are a significant number of adults with a learning disability who live with and are cared for by their parents. There is a pressing need for interventions to support older parent carers with their role and to plan for a time when they can no longer continue caring. This article reports on the experiences of older parent carers…

Cyberbullying is defined as "an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself" (Smith et al., 2008, p. 376). There are many quantitative studies on cyberbullying, but now researchers argue that we need…

To enhance the positive adjustment of youths with high incidence disabilities, a better understanding of the factors that influence their use of effective responses in challenging situations is needed. In this qualitative study, adolescents described individual and peer factors that would influence their use of effective nonviolent or aggressive…

The intervention of Intensive Interaction is gaining attention for its demonstrated effectiveness in promoting social engagement in individuals with severe communicative impairments. The present study sought to extend the evidence base for this intervention by investigating the rapidity with which an increase in engagement becomes apparent.…

Since many children with learning disabilities (LD) face interpersonal conflict resolution problems, this study examines the efficacy of social stories in helping them choose more appropriate interpersonal conflict resolution strategies. A social story was recorded and played to the 31 children with LD in the experimental group twice a week for a…

Education is a fundamental right for all children which must be guaranteed in every nation. Unfortunately, children with disabilities have been marginalized in many countries preventing them from accessing an appropriate education. Although some countries have legislation that guarantees educational rights to children with disabilities, some of…

The academic achievement and social functioning of children with learning difficulties (LD) and children without LD (7-12 years old) was examined. Attainment scores in mathematics and English were obtained for each child, and a sample of children without LD was further classified as low achieving (LA) or high achieving (HA) on the basis of these…

There have been many changes in social skill instruction over the past three decades. Many of them are good, some continue to challenge. The author is just as convinced today as she was at the beginning of her career that children can be taught to be more adaptive. She does not believe that educators cannot afford to fail, because this is germane…

This paper addresses early identification, services, supports, and intervention for young children, birth through 4 years, who demonstrate delays in development that may place them at risk for later identification as having a learning disability (LD). Such delays include atypical patterns of development in cognition, communication, emergent…

The majority of children who receive special education services meet criteria for reading disability (RD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but additional research is needed to understand the long-term academic outcome of children in these groups. Individuals with RD only (N = 71), ADHD only (N = 66), both RD and ADHD (N = 51),…

A variety of coding schemes are available for direct observational assessment of student classroom behavior. These instruments have been used for a number of assessment tasks including screening children in need of further evaluation for emotional and behavior problems, diagnostic assessment of emotional and behavior problems, assessment of…

For over 30 years, researchers have studied the social-emotional side of learning disabilities (LD). This article highlights the science-based research on three domains of social skills of children with LD: characteristics, interventions, and the impact of policy. The article concludes with concerns regarding the translation of research on…