Special education occupies a large part of the mission--and budget--of many school districts. With learning disabilities such as ADHD and dyslexia each estimated to affect more than 10 percent of the school-age population, special education teachers have their hands full helping those students navigate increasingly rigorous, state-mandated…

Transition to post-statutory education and employment for young people with learning disabilities has become a hotly debated issue among professionals in education and support services in the UK. Partnerships between educational institutions and voluntary sector providers are supposed to be ideal vehicles for delivering transition services and…

A main aim of this study was to test the claim that individuals with Williams syndrome have selectively impaired memory for spatial as opposed to visual information. The performance of 16 individuals with Williams syndrome (six males, 10 females; mean age 18y 7mo [SD 7y 6mo], range 9y 1mo-30y 7mo) on tests of short-term memory for item and…

The prevalence of offenders with learning difficulties and learning disabilities is not agreed upon. What is clear, however, is that, regardless of actual numbers, many offenders have learning difficulties that reduce their ability to cope within the criminal justice system, for example, not understanding fully what is happening to them in court…

In 2005, the Royal College of Psychiatry Faculty of Learning Disability's three judges unanimously awarded the inaugural Medical Student Essay Prize to Ian Harwood, a mature medical student at Barts & The London School of Medicine. This reflective piece records an undergraduate's contact with an adolescent suffering from advanced Sanfillipo…

Focuses on how learning works. Discusses three major components related to processing information--sensory and perceptual systems, integration of information, and output of information--and developmental and environmental factors affecting brain information in each of these areas. Concludes with discussion of biological bases for cognitive and…

Beliefs about learning and physical difficulties were explored in 50 younger children (M = 5.6, SD = 1.0 years) and 50 older children (M = 9.5, SD = 1.1 years). Participants were asked why they thought some children had learning or physical difficulties and whether children with these difficulties would always have them. The majority of older…

The purpose of this paper was to track the history of learning disabilities and collect intervention theories which might be helpful for adult college students suffering from any number of learning disabilities (LD). There is a vast difference between a learning difficulty and a learning disability; an individual with learning difficulty can learn…

Effects of Public Law 94-142 on school media centers and ideas/materials that could be used with hearing impaired/deaf, blind, and physically handicapped students were discussed in part one (February 1982 issue of this journal). This part focuses on materials/ideas and programs to help mentally handicapped students in the school media center.…

The Learning Problem Indication Index an instrument intended to help identify the preschool child with potential learning problems, was evaluated with 432 children (ages 4 to 19 years) from varying backgrounds referred to the Pupil Appraisal Center at North Texas State University. (DB)

This paper is a progress report on a series of experiments which have sought to probe the cognitive development of mildly mentally retarded and normal children, using conservation training as the principal research tool. Three- and 4-year-old children were given Verbal Rule instruction in a 2 x 2 x 2 design intended to probe the importance of…

The impetus for this study developed from a search for intervention procedures applicable to children with learning difficulties in the regular grades. It was noted that, when certain aspects of the curriculum which involved extensive repetition were being taught to pupils, approximately 90 percent of the interactions between teachers and pupils…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the presence of helplessness in students with learning difficulties (LD), and evaluate the role of goal orientations as antecedents of helplessness, negative affect, and psychopathology. Following induction of failure, results suggested that students with LD displayed increased negative affectivity,…

Discusses the Tomlinson Report, a national review of further education (FE) for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in the United Kingdom, which advocated an inclusive approach. Considers the rationale for a philosophy of inclusive learning, improving access to FE, and quality of FE. Principles and recommendations of the…

This article describes a multimedia approach to educating students with serious learning problems concerning Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The approach, called SAFE: Stopping AIDS through Functional Education, offers an array of lessons, videotape recordings, take-home brochures, slides, and illustrations from which instructors may…