The largest group of students receiving special education services in the United States qualify under the category of Specific Learning Disability (SLD) (Cottrell & Barrett, 2015). The most recent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) was the first time that federal special education…

African American male students are disproportionately represented in special education. The purpose of the current study is to examine the disproportionality of African American male students who are referred to special education programs and are identified special education services, specifically in the areas of Emotional Disturbance (ED),…

Purpose: This article describes the process of developing and implementing a supplemental early literacy curriculum designed for preschoolers demonstrating delays in literacy development. Method: Intervention research and implementation research have traditionally been viewed as sequential processes. This article illustrates a process of…

Reading comprehension is a critical skill for school success. Struggling readers can benefit from computer-assisted instruction that utilizes components of effective instruction (e.g., frequent practice, immediate feedback). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Headsprout Comprehension, a computer-assisted reading program, on…

School and life achievement patterns for girls and women differ from those of boys and men. While girls have made dramatic progress in school, they need to be inspired to connect to lifelong achievement. Both research and clinical work at the Ohio-based Family Achievement Clinic find that more boys than girls underachieve in school. There is much…

This study examined students' understanding of diagrams and their use of diagrams as tools to solve mathematical word problems. Students with learning disabilities (LD), typically achieving students, and gifted students in Grades 4 through 7 ("N" = 95) participated. Students were presented with novel mathematical word problem-solving…

The extant literature offers little to describe the processes for screening students in adult basic education (ABE) programs for potential learning disabilities, referring adult students for diagnostic assessment, or barriers to obtaining diagnostic assessment for a learning disability. Without current documentation of a learning disability, ABE…

This article describes the initial findings for students with learning disabilities from the first year of The Ohio Longitudinal Transition Study (OLTS). The study included 416 participants with learning disabilities who were exiting high school. Data from an in-school survey were analyzed by sample demographics (e.g. school setting, school type,…

Response to Intervention (RtI) has promise for helping students, particularly ones with disabilities, achieve higher levels of academic and behavioral success in the general education classroom. What does it mean for gifted students or for those who are gifted and have a learning disability, such as twice-exceptional students? How might current…

This dissertation has two areas of focus: learning and developmental disorders (LDDs) and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs). Epidemiological and exposure assessment methods are applied to each. The first paper used geographic location as a surrogate for exposure and broadly assesses the effect of the environment, both physical and social, on LDD…

A central issue in the study of reading and spelling has been to understand how the consistency or frequency of letter-sound relationships affects written language processing. We present, for the first time, evidence that the sound-spelling frequency of "subgraphemic" elements of words (letters within digraphs) contributes to the…

A year long Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program was developed for middle schools students on Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) involving learning disabilities. The workshops were designed to encourage students both on IEPs and not on IEPs to explore STEM as a future career choice by building their knowledge and…

No Child Left Behind requires school districts to demonstrate adequate yearly progress in mathematics for all students, including the sub-population of disabled students. Given that more than 200 Ohio school districts have implemented Everyday Mathematics (EM) to achieve this mandate, districts need to know if this standards-based program meets…

The booklet specifies procedures used in Ohio for determining the existence of a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement in learning disabled (LD) students. An introductory section outlines state regulations regarding eligibility criteria for determining LD. A three-step procedure is then described (and illustrated in a…

The guidelines focus on procedures for determining eligibility for services of children with specific learning disabilities. A 13-step process is delineated from the classroom teacher's response to individual learner needs through multifactored evaluation team function to annual review and reevaluation. Throughout the process, special emphasis is…