This study aims to examine the language skills of Turkish-speaking primary school students who have learning disabilities (LD) and of their peers with typical development (TD) in comparison, by assessing these skills in the context of narration. For this, a comparative descriptive research model was used in the study. The study participants…

Multilingual children represent a rapidly growing population of students in U.S. schools. However, identification of language and learning disabilities for students from different linguistic backgrounds is complex, leading to frequent misidentification of multilingual learners for special education. This article provides guidance on how special…

Articles in this issue examine (1) the primary sources of variability in reading and language achievement among Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) in the United States, (2) the extent to which poor performance at the end of grade 2 is identifiable in developmental trajectories beginning in kindergarten, (3) the relations among core reading…

Overrepresentation of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in special education remains a problem even after 40 years of inquiry. One factor is that the U.S. federal government has neither clearly explained the definition of Specific Learning Disability (SLD) nor operationally defined it to identify children for special education services. This lack of…

Current assessment practices in the United States are not able to accurately capture the total linguistic, cognitive, and achievement abilities of bilingual learners. There are psychometric complexities involved when assessing and interpreting test results of bilingual students, which impact the validity of this practice. Further, the compromise…

English language learners (ELLs) who are in the process of acquiring English as a second language for academic purposes, are often misidentified as having Language Learning Disabilities (LLDs). Policies regarding the assessment of ELLs have undergone many changes through the years, such as the introduction of a Response to Intervention (RTI)…

Despite the lack of empirical evidence, the term "foreign language learning disability" (FLLD) has become popular in the learning disabilities (LD) and foreign language literature. I contend that there is not a unique "disability" for foreign language learning and suggest instead that foreign language skills run along a continuum of very strong to…

In the study, 40 normal and 40 learning disabled children classified by age (five and six) and level of auditory discrimination (impaired and normal), were tested for language ability using an elicited imitation paradigm. (Author)

Investigation of the effect of examiner unfamiliarity on the performance of eight learning-disabled (LD) and eight mentally retarded (MR) elementary school students on language tests revealed that, while LD subjects scored higher when tested in the familiar examiner condition, MR subjects scored similarly in the two examiner conditions. (Author/CB)

Seven independent studies of young children's performances on language tests were reviewed. (Author/BD)

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

Reviewed is the Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development, a test intended to provide speech and language pathologists information on early communicative behaviors. (BD)

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences between learning disabled and nonlearning disabled students in skill areas and total scores on the Brigance K & 1 Screen for Kindergarten and First Grade. The study investigated whether students with learning disabilities would show significant weaknesses in language-based…

Focusing on the realities and constraints operating in public school settings, this book suggests ways that school personnel with responsibilities for hearing-impaired and other language-delayed children can produce effective language assessments and interventions. Following an overview of language development, the book is organized into sections…

Twenty-two junior-year college students were tested at a college language, speech and hearing clinic. A statistical analysis was performed on their scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery and on oral and written language samples. Results were compared with those of a group of 25 normal college students in their junior year.…