The Hart Act, recently adopted by the state of California, mandates that school districts establish mechanisms of assessing minimal competencies in secondary education before students may receive a diploma. In this report, assemblyman Gary Hart, the bill's author, and Don McKinley, chief deputy to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, discuss…

Presented is a report on a cross-sectional and longitudinal study concerned with the course of intellectual development in 210 children (6-12 years old) educationally designated as brain damaged (learning disabled and/or behavior problems) and assigned to special school placement. The report is divided into four sections which focus on…

The article presents the rationale behind development by the Council for Learning Disabilities of a set of competencies for teachers of learning disabled children. Competencies cover the areas of oral language, reading, written expression, spelling, mathematics, cognition, behavioral management, counseling/consulting, career/vocational education,…

Appropriate instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse children requires distinguishing among individual needs related to culture, language, poverty, mobility, and exceptionalities. Presented are suggestions regarding prereferral, assessment, curriculum, parental involvement, and program coordination for Black, Hispanic, Asian, and…

The current service delivery structure of vocational education does not hold at-risk learning-disabled (LD) students in school. LD graduates who complete skill-centered vocational courses are still vocationally disadvantaged when compared to nonhandicapped peers. Vocational education is not related to LD postschool success. (BJV)

A needs assessment survey of 381 learning disabled young adults, 948 service providers, and 212 advocates identified and ranked perceived problems in six areas: academic, health, vocational, daily living skills, social skills, personal adjustment. Detailed results are reported, including identification of vocational needs by service providers and…

Describes two microcomputer-assisted adaptations of traditional methods of teaching word recognition (alphabet-spelling method) and phonics (sound-symbol method) which are designed for use with students who have severe physical and communication handicaps, language disabilities, or fine motor problems. A clinical protocol is outlined for…

In this issue of "NetNews," the focus is on dysgraphia, a form of writing disability. Both dyslexia and dysgraphia fall under the category of specific learning disability. They may be related because significant language processing problems can impact both reading and spelling--although there is less incidence of dysgraphia. Dysgraphia…

This document contains materials from a seminar on preparing youth with disabilities for postsecondary education and quality employment held at the National Capacity Building Institute in the summer of 2001. The agenda for the Institute is provided along with the following papers: (1) "Postsecondary Education Supports for Students with…

This book provides classroom-proven strategies designed to empower the teacher to target instructional modifications to the content, process, and products for students with learning disabilities in the general and special education classrooms. Chapter 1 presents the concept of differentiated instruction and how that concept translates into…

This resource guide provides information on teaching students with learning and behavioral difficulties. The introduction features information on identifying students with learning and behavioral differences, in-class intervention, referrals, and communication with parents. This part is followed by three sections on strategy development: (1)…

This book addresses teaching mathematics to students with learning disabilities, including characteristics and assessment of mathematics learning disabilities, mathematics programming and interventions, and teacher preparation. Chapters include: (1) "Mathematics Education and Students with Learning Disabilities: Instruction" (Diane Pedrotty…

The result of a school-university partnership to prepare future special educators, this collection of lesson plans is designed to teach self-determination across the K-12 curriculum to empower students with disabilities. All of the lessons have been implemented within a micro-teaching demonstration with special education interns. Lesson plans are…

This book tells the stories of eight people with above average to highly gifted levels of intellect, who also have significant, previously unrecognized and undiagnosed, learning disabilities. Their discovery of their true abilities and gifts after years of humiliation within the educational system and the trials of daily life is detailed. The…

An action research project developed and implemented a program for increasing global skills and awareness of ethnic diversity in the classroom so that students could better understand others. The targeted population at two midwestern sites consisted of middle school sixth graders and high school learning disabled students in social studies…