A diagnostic-prescriptive scheme is illustrated using subtests of the Slingerland Screening Tests for Identifying Children with Specific Language Disability and the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude. The scheme is intended to focus on the child's learning style by examining the task and the strategies employed. (CL)

The author cites the potential of computer assisted instruction (CAI) for handicapped students and reports on a study of a spelling CAI program for learning disabled (LD) college students. Among difficulties for the LD students were lack of student confidence in using the programs and difficulty in reading the instructions. (CL)

Six elementary level learning disabled students participated in the study which indicated that systematic prepractice procedures were related to higher performance levels than was baseline (no prepractice). Differential effects were noted: the listening procedure was related to higher rates of words read correctly than was the silent procedure.…

Varying the order of the language arts subtests in the Wide Range Achievement Test did not significantly affect performance of 54 learning disabled students in grades one - nine. (CL)

Results indicated that normally achieving children were more aware of passage organization than learning disabled elementary children. However, both groups focused on dimensions such as sentence length, decoding and vocabulary difficulty and informational load, rather than passage organization as determinants of task difficulty. (Author/CL)

Techniques for teaching spelling to learning disabled elementary students are described, including suggestions for reinforcing learning. (JW)

Four physiological conditions associated with later learning disabilities are noted: Turner Syndrome (a chromosomal abnormality), preterm children with intracranial hemorrhage, children with incompletely developed connecting fibers between the cerebral hemispheres, and children with acquired brain injury. (CL)

A teacher of secondary learning disabled students describes how she began to work on her students' writing skills by incorporating a five-minute writing exercise into the beginning of each class. In addition to increased interest in writing, the approach also improved classroom management by the comfortable routine. (CL)

An elementary school teacher relates a method of teaching handwriting through grouping letters into families. The Hanover method, said to be particularly appropriate for children with learning disabilities, is described and examples given. (CL)

Teachers can motivate secondary learning disabled students to improve their handwriting skills by allowing students to take examinations from their notes, providing address books in which students write their friends' phone numbers and addresses, and using cooking as a means to improve handwriting. (CL)

A spelling approach which incorporates music on a cassette with spelling, pronunciation, and definition of specific words was successful in improving junior high learning disabled students' spelling performance, self-esteem, and sequential memories. (CL)

The article describes the nature of learning disabilities, notes the characteristics that learning disabled clients may exhibit (including academic, perceptual, and motor problems), and considers the factors relevant to rehabilitation planning and counseling (including the importance of a holistic approach featuring remediation, compensation, and…

Learning disabled adolescents can be helped by teachers who incorporate intrinsic methods of motivation into instruction. The approach emphasizes choices, ownership, relevance, and feedback. Students profit academically as well as emotionally. (CL)

Teachers of learning disabled students can provide clear and convincing evidence of academic and behavior gains by charting performance daily and investigating fluctuations that do not appear to correspond to teacher-imposed interventions. Data collection can be a cooperative effort leading to improved communication among parents, school…

A math teacher recounts how six weeks of computer assisted instruction, about which she had been very skeptical at first, resulted in substantial gains for six learning disabled students in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. (CL)