Middletown High School is a comprehensive high school with 1,970 students, located in the environs of Washington, DC. It is distinguished by an open enrollment policy for all courses; a strong emphasis on inclusion of students with learning disabilities (LD) in general education classrooms; block scheduling that allows for more in-depth and…

While the definition of learning disabilities has been the subject of controversy for decades, the current federal classification system identifies three specific areas of deficit: reading, written language, and mathematics and maintains the presumption that the disabilities are a result of a central nervous system dysfunction. In contrast to the…

This article presents essential principles for mathematics instruction for students with disabilities and those who are at risk for school failure. These students have great difficulty in applying algorithmic knowledge to solve problems and even greater difficulty with abstract problem solving associated with higher level mathematics. A procedural…

The following study explores faculty attitudes toward students with disabilities at a large research university. In the first phase of a three-year demonstration project, 14 instructional staff, including teaching assistants, faculty, and faculty serving as administrators, were interviewed to determine their informational needs and attitudes…

Most adolescents with learning disabilities spend the majority of their school day in general education classes and are expected to meet most, if not all, of the academic requirements of these classes. This review of the literature describes interventions shown to positively impact academic performance of students with learning disabilities in…

This study investigated the perceptions of learning disabilities (LD) by 65 general and 52 special educators in Korea and their opinions about including students with LD in general education classrooms. Results indicated that general educators were aware of the characteristics of LD but not enough to identify them in individual students. In…

In recent years a growing body of evidence has implicated deficits in the automaticity of fundamental facts such as word and number recognition in a range of disorders: including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, apraxia and autism. Variously described as habits, fluency, chunking and over learning, automatic processes are best…

This article describes efforts to examine the validity of a screening process that provides objective data for multidisciplinary team meetings where consideration is being given to teacher referral of a student for assessment and possible placement in special education. In this study, the accuracy with which this process, called Problem Validation…

This study examined the self-determination of adolescents with emotional disturbance (ED) and learning disabilities (LD) from the perspectives of special educators, parents, and the students themselves. Differences in self-determination ratings were associated with both disability group and respondent. Specifically, adolescents with ED were found…

In this article, the authors share the story of Stephanie, a dyslexic student who experiences problems reading music. The authors recommend for music teachers to share the list of students wanting to play an instrument with special educators to find out if there are students who are receiving special education services, what their strengths and…

Nine 16-17-year-old adjudicated males below grade level in reading participated in this data-based case study. Weekly, 5 students received instruction from "Corrective Reading Decoding" Level B2 (Engelmann et al., 1998) for 180 min, and 4 students received instruction designed by a reading specialist (RS group) for 345 min. After 19…

From a disability studies (DS) perspective, the authors analyze how the historical conflation of disability with other identity factors and the ideology of normalcy contribute to the disproportionality problem in K-12 special education. They argue that this conflation and ideology make labeling and segregated education seem natural and legitimate…

In this article, we summarize the findings from eight separate focus group studies, conducted with various stakeholders--special education teachers, general education teachers, administrators, school psychologists, students with learning disabilities, parents of students with learning disabilities, teacher educators, and higher education faculty…

Answering the call for a comprehensive textbook on what reading teachers really need to know, this is the book that arms educators with not just the what and the how, but also the why that other texts don't cover. Two prominent literacy experts team with an elementary school specialist to give preservice teachers an easy-to-understand textbook…

The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) is the nation's oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization committed to engaging people everywhere in promoting the well-being of children, youth, and their families and protecting every child from harm. By publishing a diverse range of views on a wide array of topics, "Children's…