The benefits of a self-regulated strategy development approach for teaching elementary school students with learning disabilities how to write opinion essays are discussed, and the steps of the POW plus TREE strategy of instruction are outlined: develop background knowledge, discuss, model, memorize, support it, and perform independently.…

Presents a case that demonstrates why general educators must be knowledgeable about and involved in the individual education plan for a student with a disability. Describes new regulations in individual education plan processes. Concludes that the overall intent of the changes is to bring special educators and regular educators together for the…

Poor readers who met low achievement and IQ-discrepancy definitions of reading disability (n=54) were compared with non-impaired readers (n=325) on development of eight precursor and reading-related skills. Results indicate no evidence for differences between the two groups of poor readers in the development on the eight skills, with three…

Discusses the difficulty in validating central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) as a diagnostic label in school-aged children, and examines the extent to which reading, language, and attention disorders in school-aged children involve perceptual dysfunctions limited to a single sensory modality. Multimodal perceptual testing for diagnosis is…

A study compared three procedures for teaching social skills with 13 intermediate-age students with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, or visual impairments who also participated in cooperative-learning groups. Students who received teacher-directed instruction improved in listening, problem solving, and negotiating skills during…

Reviews specific ways in which computers can support the basic transcription processes involved in writing, focusing on computer applications that go beyond word processing, including spelling and grammar checkers, speech synthesis, word prediction, and speech recognition. Focuses only on writing mechanics, and clarifies the extent to which…

A survey of 266 juvenile offenders found 37.1 percent had been in special education, with most classified as having behavioral disorders or learning disabilities. Juveniles with special education experience were more likely to need corrective lenses, to have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and to have taken medication for emotional…

A study of 86 college students with learning disabilities (LD) that received permission to substitute courses for a foreign language (FL) requirement found that there were no differences in cognitive and academic achievement among students with different levels of discrepancy, graduating grade point average (GPA), or college FL GPA. (Author/CR)

This article presents the techniques of a special education teacher who practiced effective scaffolded instruction. A case study illustrates use of scaffolded instruction to break the failure cycle and such techniques as establishing a shared goal, actively diagnosing the learner's understandings and needs, providing tailored assistance, giving…

Ninety-one Finnish preschoolers were assessed prior to receiving formal reading instruction. Verbal and nonverbal measures were used as predictors for the time of instruction required to accurately decode pseudowords. Phonological awareness differentiated precocious decoders from early decoders and ordinary decoders. Late decoders differed from…

States that many of the accommodations typically made for students with disabilities can benefit all students--most, for example, can benefit from extended time or alternative test formats. Asserts that Universal Instructional Design (UID) can be applied to all students, as it takes into consideration the differences in learning styles of both…

Describes an integrative, multisystem clinical approach to the psychological and relational problems that develop around learning disabilities. The therapist uses expert knowledge to help members of the treatment system transform blaming, helpless, or hopeless interpretations of the problem into more helpful constructions, which support healthy…

This paper reports on a meta-analysis of the research literature on effective teaching models for students with learning disabilities. It concludes: that the most effective models combined components of direct and strategy instruction; that eight major instructional factors captured most intervention programs; and that the explicit strategy…

This article presents the interactive, collaborative teaching and learning model developed to teach content area reading to students with learning disabilities or other learning problems. It identifies interactive and collaborative aspects of the model and explains its theoretical underpinnings, instructional decisions, the role of the teacher,…

Students with Learning Disabilities (LD) often experience significant difficulty with academic content at the secondary level due to weaknesses in reading comprehension, written expression, math skills, and vocabulary learning skills. This article will highlight the usefulness of learning strategies for ensuring success of students with LD in the…