Intended for use in college-level secondary-education methods courses, the module contains text, an annotated bibliography, and overhead masters. The first section explains the federal definition of learning disabilities (LD), noting the difficulty of measuring many of the characteristics identified in the definition and the resulting increasing…

The practicum attempted to decrease inappropriate referrals to special education from parents and elementary teachers at a Louisiana elementary school through inservice training for teachers (N=19) and parents (N=43). Training focused on: (1) improving teachers' recognition of characteristics of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and learning…

The resource guide identifies products which assist learning disabled and mentally retarded individuals in accessing IBM (International Business Machine) Personal Computers or the IBM Personal System/2 family of products. An introduction provides a general overview of ways computers can help learning disabled or retarded persons. The document then…

As part of the National Longitudinal Transition Study of Special Education Students (NLTS), this study examined characteristics of and educational programs and services provided to secondary students (N=589) classified as learning disabled (LD) in the 1985-86 school year. Difficulties in performing basic functional skills were identified in about…

In the 1988-89 school year, a teacher introduced whole language learning to teach reading and writing in her classroom while documenting and then evaluating its effect on a 12-year-old special needs student named Debbie. According to formal testing, Debbie was functioning in the moderately handicapped range of ability, and her speech and language…

A student researcher at a nonprofit, university-based family center for learning-disabled and underachieving students designed and implemented a 7-week practicum intervention meant to improve the ability of four first and second grade level students to use reasoning skills. Piagetian theory regarding expected levels of cognitive development was…

The paper presents a comprehensive approach to evaluation of programs for postsecondary students with learning disabilities. The evaluation design is suitable for programs in 2-year and 4-year settings, and incorporates both process and product evaluation methods. The approach was used to evaluate learning disability support services at Housatonic…

Learning Skills Services, a federally funded student support service program, is responsible for learning disability assessment and provision of a continuum of services at Sonoma State University in Northern California. In response to the perceived lack of assessment and procedures standards for identifying learning-disabled students at the state…

The first section of this guide about literacy programs in Texas features background information about literacy, including a definition of literacy; literacy statistics; a fact sheet about literacy in the United States; developmental stages of literacy; Kohl's four stages of literacy; characteristics of successful programs; barriers to and methods…

The study examined policies and practices related to the reevaluation of 36 limited English proficient (LEP) and 36 non-LEP Hispanic students in elementary learning disability (LD) programs in two Texas urban school districts and how these policies and practices impact continued special education eligibility. The following specific objectives were…

Designed to explore what is being done to help learning disabled (LD) readers develop comprehension skills, this paper reviews research in teaching reading comprehension to LD students and develops generalizations from the research to guide reading comprehension instruction for such students. The 10 generalizations presented and discussed in the…

A three-stage model transition program is proposed for the successful transition to higher education for learning disabled (LD) secondary students. Transition planning is defined as a process initiated by high school personnel to establish and implement a plan upon high school entry for LD students with college potential. Such planning should…

The monograph addresses the issue of research on learning disabilities (LD) and proposes directions for research in Iowa by means of four articles, a report of a survey of needed research, and six brief response papers. The first paper, "Issues on the Identification of Learning Disabled Children" (S.W. Ehly), discusses the problems of…

Test validity was studied in nine subtests of a kindergarten screening battery used to predict reading comprehension for children up to five years after entering kindergarten. The independent variables were kindergarteners' scores on the: (1) Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test; (2) Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test; (3) Detroit Tests of Learning…

The 2-part student workbook for mainstreamed learning and mentally disabled high school students contains 12 units intended to provide supplementary instruction in the Contemporary Parenting Choices Curriculum in the home economics class. This unit, the third in the Relationships part of the workbook, focuses on understanding sexuality with…