Two major problems related to the identification of learning disabilities with individually administered achievement tests are discussed: (1) the appropriateness of standard versus developmental scores for determining the severity of discrepancy; and (2) the limitations of existing developmental score scales. Characteristics of the developmental…

Among conclusions of this review of findings regarding contemporary neuropsychology and cerebral hemisphere specialization as related to learning disabilities are: (1) differential specialization occurs very early; (2) anomalous hemispheric specialization is not necessarily associated with cognitive deficit; and (3) left- and right-hemisphere…

The problem solving performance of 24 learning disabled and 24 non-disabled second and fourth grade children was investigated using embedded irrelevant linguistic and numerical information within addition word problems. Irrelevant numerical information but not irrelevant linguistic information affected performance of all groups; however, LD…

The study examined the cartoon humor comprehension of 30 learning disabled and 30 non-handicapped boys in two age groups, eight- and twelve-year-olds. Significant main effects were found indicating a developmental lag in the cognitive structure necessary for understanding humor in the learning disabled subjects. (Author/DB)

Learning Preference Inventory scores of gifted children (N=400), learning-disabled (LD) children (N=55) with intelligence quotients of 90-114, and LD children (N=22) with an intelligence quotient above 115 indicated that intelligence level and learning styles should both be considered when planning a successful individualized approach for a LD…

Effects of having 32 learning disabled elementary grade students read passages orally one, three, or seven times with instructions to work for either fluency or comprehension were analyzed. Both fluency and comprehension improved with the number of readings with the greatest improvement being between one and three readings. Attentional cues…

Thirty-five preschoolers, assigned to otitis media (OM) or no OM groups, were administered the Southern California Postrotary Nystagmus Test and the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP). Children with a history of OM had significantly decreased scores on the Stepping and Vertical Writing MAP tests, indicating vestibulospinal dysfunction. (SK)

A reinterpretation of survey results concerning teacher-education programs in learning disabilities indicates that (1) most large programs advocate a reasonably consistent instructional approach and (2) despite the appearance of the same topics in textbooks for both special and regular education teachers, the same set of skills are not necessarily…

The author examines continuing questions that impede educators' understanding of learning disabilities and reviews concerns expressed by those involved with education of learning disabled adults. She touches on diagnosis of learning disabilities, vocational counseling, and strategies for intervention. (CH)

The effects of a peer previewing system on the oral reading skills of three learning-disabled students (ages 8 and 9) were examined. Results indicated that peer-previewing led to a marked decrease in the oral reading errors of all subjects. Reasons for the effectiveness of the procedure as well as its advantages are presented. (Author/DB)

Comparison of 38 learning disabled and 38 normally achieving eighth graders on a vocabulary learning task indicated that the two groups did not differ in observable learning strategies used during the study period and that strategy use did not account for vocabulary learning score. (Author/DB)

Learning disabled students frequently have difficulty with spelling. A process that develops the student's thinking so that he is able to discover spelling rules for himself encourages him to remember and use them. Rules governing when to double final consonants or drop silent e's illustrate the process. (VW)

This paper explicates the various elements of language context, discusses how readers and writers use context to transact meaning, and uses examples from two elementary learning disability resource rooms to demonstrate the importance of providing natural language contexts for language instruction. The role of the speech-language clinician is…

Thirty learning disabled high school students were presented comprehension-monitoring tasks under two conditions--verbalization and listening. Among results was that multimodal presentation of information does not assist and may interfere with comprehension monitoring and processing. (Author/DB)

The semantic usage of five learning disabled (LD) and five nonlearning disabled sixth-grade boys in conversational interaction with an adult and with peers was analyzed. Results indicated that, overall, LD and non-LD boys were highly similar in meaning usage and showed internal consistency of meaning usage across interaction types. (Author/DB)