Despite historical emphasis on "specific" learning disabilities (SLDs), academic skills are strongly correlated across the curriculum. Thus, one can ask how specific SLDs truly are. To answer this question, we used bifactor models to identify variance shared across academic domains (academic "g"), as well as variance unique to…

Numbers may be manipulated and represented mentally over a compressible number line oriented from left to right. According to numerous studies, one of the primary reasons for dyscalculia is related to improper understanding of the mental number line. Children with dyscalculia usually show difficulty when they have to place Arabic numbers on a…

Research has suggested that different strategies used when solving fraction problems are highly correlated with students' problem-solving accuracy. This study (a) utilized latent profile modeling to classify students into three different strategic developmental levels in solving fraction comparison problems and (b) accordingly provided…

Time perception has not been comprehensively examined in mathematics difficulties (MD). Therefore, verbal time estimation, production, and reproduction were tested in 13 individuals with MD and 16 healthy controls, matched for age, sex, and intellectual skills. Individuals with MD performed comparably to controls in time reproduction, but showed a…

High comorbidity rates between reading disorder (RD) and mathematics disorder (MD) indicate that, although the cognitive core deficits underlying these disorders are distinct, additional domain-general risk factors might be shared between the disorders. Three domain-general cognitive abilities were investigated in children with RD and MD:…

This study examines visual and spatial working memory skills in 35 third to fifth graders with both mathematics learning disabilities (MLD) and poor problem-solving skills and 35 of their peers with typical development (TD) on tasks involving both low and high attentional control. Results revealed that children with MLD, relative to TD children,…

The investigators used data from the "Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort" (ECLS-K) to estimate whether and to what extent the timing and persistence of mathematics difficulties (MD) in kindergarten predicted children's first through fifth grade math growth trajectories. Results indicated that children persistently…

This article presents an overview of two studies that examined the relationship between metacognition and mathematical problem solving in 165 third-graders. Principle components analysis on metacognition revealed that three metacognitive components (global metacognition, off-line metacognition, and attribution to effort) explained 66-67 percent of…

A study investigated the relationship between working memory (WM), declarative strategy knowledge, and math achievement in 111 children with and without mathematical disabilities (MD). Results found verbal and visual-spatial WM, stable verbal strategy choices, and expert strategy choices related to visual-spatial processing all contributed…

This study assessed rates of learning disabilities (LD) by several psychometric definitions in children with epilepsy and identified risk factors. Participants (N = 173, ages 8-15 years) completed IQ screening, academic achievement testing, and structured interviews. Children with significant head injury, chronic physical conditions, or mental…

Fifteen nondisabled children were superior in performance to 15 learning disabled Ss on transformation that required reordering or abandoning previously learned strategies. For the majority of transformation tasks, significant ability group differences occurred on the encoding and retrieval stage of processing. Results suggest that learning…

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)

A procedure, employing a tachistoscope, is presented to enable teachers to identify the nature of arithmetic difficulties. (Author/SBH)

A new approach in teaching long division, based on a theoretical model of how the brain functions in problem solving, was presented to a group of five mentally ill adolescents who were previously unable to learn long division. (Author)

The author suggests that concerns over teacher shortages for science and math may damage special education through cutbacks in nonacademic subjects in which handicapped studens may be successful. He proposes that special educators may help think of better ways to promote math and science education than by eliminating other positions. (CL)