Presenting major advances in understanding learning disabilities (LDs) and describing effective educational practices, this authoritative volume has been significantly revised and expanded with more than 70% new material. Foremost LD experts identify effective principles of assessment and instruction within the framework of multi-tiered systems of…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether English language learners (ELLs) would increase their vocabulary scores in the areas of word recognition, word meaning, and word application when iPads were used during vocabulary instruction. Five third-grade ELLs, at risk of being diagnosed as having learning disabilities, participated in the…

The body of peer-tutoring intervention research targeting higher order learning (HOL) objectives for middle and high school students with disabilities is reviewed. Peer-tutoring outcomes are synthesized and studies are analyzed to examine the influence of tutoring procedures and study design features on intervention efficacy. Findings show that…

A concrete-semiconcrete-abstract (CSA) instructional approach derived from discovery learning (DIS) was embedded in a direct instruction (DI) methodology to teach eight elementary students with math disabilities. One-minute abstract-level probes were the primary metric used to assess student performance on subtraction problems (minuends 0-9). A…

Using longitudinal data from the first 6 waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), the authors examined mathematics achievement and growth trajectories by learning disability (LD) subgroups. The 2-level (time-student) growth curve model showed that lower levels of mathematics achievement were already evident at…

The purpose of this case study is to highlight the integral role that progress monitoring (PM) plays throughout any response to intervention (RTI) process. This example uses a three-level, responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) method for identifying students with learning difficulties. Using a fictional third-grade classroom as the setting for…

The purpose of this study was to apply two techniques, drill activities and fine motor activities, to find whether they help improve the handwriting of a student with dysgraphia. This action research used an ABAB single subject design to find which technique worked better over an eight-week period. The results were inconclusive on which technique…

Students with disabilities must meet many testing demands, given the current emphasis on accountability and state competency testing. The purpose of this project was to develop and field test a computerized program to teach the Test-Taking Strategy (Hughes, Schumaker, Deshler, & Mercer, 1988) to secondary-level students with disabilities. The…

Criticisms of traditional approaches to the assessment of student abilities and instructional program design are reviewed and alternative, dynamic approaches are suggested. A major feature of the suggested approaches is assistance to influence student performance and thus reveal the potential for change. The approaches are categorized and examined…

The article details a rationale and procedures for assessing the mathematics learning environment of learning disabled students. Such assessment can include measures of the student's exposure to instruction, quality of curriculum and instruction, and the student's responses. Examples demonstrate assessment procedures and resulting instructional…

This monograph brings together 16 one- to two-page abstracts from research poster sessions held at the March 1996 international conference of the Learning Disabilities Association of America. The first section, addressing research on assessment and characteristics of students with learning disabilities, includes abstracts on the Woodcock-Johnson…

The development and implementation of portfolio assessment is presented, with considerations for the use of this approach with learning-disabled (LD) students. Research on the usefulness of portfolio assessment with students with LD is needed, as is teacher training. Also considered is the issue of technical adequacy whereby portfolio assessment…

Thirty special educators were randomly assigned to treatment groups, including a control condition and different levels of curriculum-based management analysis, one of which included graphed performance indicators with skills analysis; one, graphed performance indicators only, and another, graphed performance indicators with ordered lists of…

The study investigated the degree to which a highly motivating computer game learning task could improve the differential diagnosis of adolescent students (N=23) with learning disabilities. Results suggest that a large proportion of students diagnosed as learning disabled are able to learn effectively when highly motivated. (Author/DB)

This study, involving 40 students (grades 2-8) with learning disabilities, found that students who participated in curriculum-based measurement test-taking strategy training scored higher on a posttreatment computation test than students without the strategy training. Use of a goal strategy did not result in any achievement differences.…