The author is naturally a kinesthetic learner. As a child she was steeped in the wilds of seashore, fields, and woods in which she was free to roam, explore, and imagine in a deeply sensual, movement-oriented world. Because of these first experiences of freedom of movement and spontaneity in the highly intense natural world, she found the…

A teaching-learning procedure in early instruction in mathematics is anchored in Piagetian and Russian psychology and traces internalization processes that occur between material and mental actions, namely perceptual actions of visualization and imagination, verbal action, symbolization, and generalization. (Author/CL)

The author reviews the controversy over definitions of learning disabilities and posits two "givens" in any defintion of the condition: that all learning is neurological, and that learning is conditioning. He proposes a definition based on neuropsychological dysfunction which can be translated into an educational regimen. (CL)

Twenty-four children (8 to 9 years old) who reversed letters were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group (15 additional minutes of laterality training per day for 4 weeks). Analysis of results demonstrated that training did not significantly affect the number of reversals. (Author/CL)

The results suggested that on a perceptual task not related to reading or mathematics, the addition of input from tactile and auditory sensory modalities does not improve learning performance and, in certain combinations, actually interferes with such performance. (Author/SBH)

In this article, we examine the extent to which children with autism and children with learning difficulties can be discriminated from their responses to different patterns of sensory stimuli. Using an adapted version of the Short Sensory Profile (SSP), sensory processing was compared in 34 children with autism to 33 children with typical…

The study involving 33 children referred to school psychologists compared the Bender Gestalt and the Minnesota Perceptual Diagnostic Test-Revised (MPDT-R) in ability to predict intellectual and academic performance as measured by standardized tests. Factor analysis suggested that the MPDT-R provides unique information concerning…

Although research results generally fail to confirm a consistent relationship between reading performance and visual perception, auditory perception, or modality preference, clinical observations and teachers' opinions suggest the presence of such a relationship. The article reviews the research and suggests factors, including asking the wrong…

To determine the intertest reliability of the Beery Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (BGT), 64 six to nine year olds were administered both tests.

The effects of remediation of hypothesized component deficits prior to remediation of known academic deficiencies were compared with remediation of academic (reading) deficiencies alone among 76 elementary grade learning disabled students. Results indicated better achievement for students receiving both remedial treatments. (Author/DB)

The position statement of the Council for Learning Disabilities' Board of Trustees opposes the measurement and training of perceptual and perceptual-motor functions as a part of learning disability services and recommends instead that assessment and remediation focus on the primary disorders of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, and…

The EEG biofeedback training produced baseline effects in the presumably dysfunctional left hemisphere and had an impact on arousal in task, suggesting remedial potential for the possible hemispheric arousal deficts in learning disabilities. Training the right hemisphere toward higher arousal and the left hemisphere toward lower arousal resulted…

Reports a study designed to determine whether students with learning problems could increase their own reading efficiency by learning through resources that complemented their perceptual strengths. Subjects were 16 children in a second grade learning disabilities class. Their reading vocabularies were improved during the perceptual program.…

Research is reviewed regarding cluttering (a speech language disorder typified by problems of fluency, articulation, receptive and expressive language, and perceptual motor skills), and the concept is advanced that cluttering is a syndrome of learning disability symptoms. (CL)

The magnitude of the dichotic right-ear advantage was assessed in 48 normal and 48 learning-disabled children representing an age range of approximately five years. (MP)