Specific learning disabilities (SLD) identification has consistently been shown to be problematic; however, research has largely focused on SLD identification using test scores only. The present study, therefore, examined SLD identification decisions across identification methods and student evaluation data levels, including test scores,…

The purpose of this article is to understand the decision-making processes by assessment personnel when choosing instruments to evaluate students with learning disabilities. Eight school personnel responsible for the evaluation of students in Texas participated in face-to-face, semistructured interviews. The instruments chosen were based on a…

Dyslexia and other learning disabilities are not being properly recognized and treated in our educational system or society at large. Unrecognized and untreated learning disabilities represent a serious social and economic problem, not only to the individual but to society as a whole. For example, antisocial behavior, as seen in prison populations…

This article reports an investigation of the views and practices of 203 Australian psychologists and guidance counsellors with respect to psycho-educational assessment of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs). Results from an online survey indicated that practitioners draw upon a wide range of theoretical perspectives when…

This article demonstrates how the broad and narrow abilities and processes that comprise Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory and their relations to specific academic outcomes have begun to transform our current understanding of the definition of and methods for identifying specific learning disability (SLD), particularly in the school setting. The…

Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is being proposed as an alternative model for making decisions about the presence or absence of specific learning disability. We argue that many questions about RTI remain unanswered, and that radical changes in the proposed regulations are not warranted at this time. Since many fundamental issues related to…

The final report describes a project investigating the utility of dynamic assessment in measuring the cognitive functioning and learning characteristics of children with specific learning disabilities. Subjects were 229 fourth and fifth grade children with 75 of these diagnosed as children with specific learning disabilities. Measures of cognitive…

The Iowa Learning Disabilities Evaluation Project studied the nature and characteristics of 917 students with learning disabilities (LD), focusing on gender, grade level, intellectual level, referral and evaluation, discrepancy between expected and actual achievement levels, placement, service delivery, and academic performance. Characteristics…

Assessment of 15 students with learning disabilities (ages 9-13) found that their ability to answer comprehension and synthesis questions was poorer than that of their peers, but their ability to answer knowledge, analysis, and application questions was commensurate with age peers. Findings suggest that individual assessment of levels of…

With its roots in clinical and educational psychology, school psychology is an ever-changing field that encompasses a diversity of topics. "The Oxford Handbook of School Psychology" synthesizes the most vital and relevant literature in all of these areas, producing a state-of-the-art, authoritative resource for practitioners,…

Recent research on the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery (WJPEB) is reviewed as it related to three issues: the mean score discrepancy issue, the verbal/nonverbal composition of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability (WJTCA), and the WJTCA overlap with achievement and abundance of scores generated by the WJPEB. (DWH)

Sixty-two children (ages four and five) with mild mental retardation or learning disabilities were presented six cognitive tasks including two memory, three oddity, and a word definition task. Discriminant function analyses resulted in classification accuracy levels of 97% for children with mild mental retardation, 84% for children with learning…

This study examined the use of psychoeducational evaluations by surveying 91 service providers to college students with learning disabilities. Findings indicated that data from psychoeducational evaluations serve as the primary basis for both eligibility and specific accommodation determinations. Respondents reported the most useful information…

A comparison of cognitive, academic, and linguistic profiles for 74 learning-disabled students and 37 nondisabled college students found significant differences in reading, writing, listening, and speaking achievement. No significant differences were found for gender or Verbal-Performance split in cognitive ability. Instruments used showed similar…

This study compared parent and teacher perceptions of academic performance and cognitive deficits with the standardized test performance of 19 students (ages 7-13) with hearing impairments. Results indicate that parents and educators were equally skilled in predicting academic performance, but had greater difficulty predicting specific cognitive…