Since the reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, standards-based individualized education plans (IEPs) have been an expectation for serving students with disabilities in the K-12 public school setting. Nearly a decade after the mandates calling for standards-based IEPs, special educators still struggle…

This study examined the reading and math achievement profiles and longitudinal growth trajectories of a nationally representative sample of children ages 6 through 9 with an ASD. Four distinct achievement profiles were identified: higher-achieving (39%), hyperlexia (9%), hypercalculia (20%), and lower-achieving (32%). Children with hypercalculia…

Decades before educators began to draw teaching and learning implications from neuroscientists' groundbreaking findings on brain plasticity, Reuven Feuerstein had already theorized it and developed practices for teaching and developing higher-level cognition and learning for all students, including those with Down syndrome and other learning…

This paper examines current practices in implementing a Response to Intervention (RtI) in diagnosing specific learning disabilities. The use of the aptitude achievement discrepancy model, RtI model or a combination is reviewed. A survey of special education administrators in New Jersey compares methods of identification and consistency of…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of cover, copy, and compare (CCC) on the spelling performance of three male middle school students. Two of the participants had learning disabilities and the third was health impaired. The study was conducted in a public school resource room in the Pacific Northwest. A multiple-baseline across…

Many students struggle with writing skills. This study focuses on three students (second and fourth grades) who were classified with a learning disability by their school. These children had writing goals and objectives (i.e., characteristics of having dysgraphia) included in their Individual Education Plan. In a single case design format, each…

A new risk assessment tool, "Assessment of Interpersonal Risk" (AIR), was piloted and evaluated to measure risk factors and compatibility between individuals living in an assessment and treatment unit in one NHS area. The adults with learning disabilities in this unit had severe and enduring mental health problems and/or behaviour that is severely…

Recent years have brought many changes to the ways in which schools in the United States address learning disabilities in their students. In an attempt to provide all students with appropriate reading instruction and to identify struggling students in a more timely manner, the 2004 revision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act…

In recent years, inclusive practices have been widely promoted in educational settings, and as a result of this movement, a growing number of students with disabilities, particularly those with learning disabilities, are now served in general education classrooms. Yet while inclusion can be extremely beneficial, many students are placed with…

Disproportionate representation occurs when the percentage of an identified group enrolled in special education varies significantly from that group's overall percentage of the school population (Harry, 1994). Response to Intervention (RTI), a paradigm for educational intervention, is designed to minimize many factors contributing to…

Research to identify validated instructional approaches to teach math to students with LD and those at-risk for failure in both core and supplemental instructional settings is necessary to assist teachers in closing the achievement gaps that exist across the country. The concrete-to-representational-to-abstract instructional sequence (CRA) has…

The provision of a well-planned, modified, and articulated curriculum that would provide students with disabilities appropriate access to the general curriculum and effective instructional support is the thrust of this paper. The paper examined the various issues on the concept and objectives of special education and the role of a well-designed…

Much of learning disabilities research relies on categorical classification frameworks that use psychometric tests and cut points to identify children with reading or math difficulties. However, there is increasing evidence that the attributes of reading and math learning disabilities are dimensional, representing correlated continua of severity.…

The primary goal of this review is to highlight current research and theories describing the neurobiological basis of math (MD), reading (RD), and comorbid math and reading disability (MD+RD). We first describe the unique brain and cognitive processes involved in acquisition of math and reading skills, emphasizing similarities and differences in…

This study sought to investigate self-reported bullying and victimization experiences among students nominated by their teachers as meeting the criteria for Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). A total of 346 students attending the upper three grade-levels of Greek primary schools participated in the study. Fifty of them were identified by their…