One way of helping students with learning disabilities and other struggling learners become independent life-long learners is to teach them how to use learning strategies in effective and efficient ways. Learning strategy instruction is instruction in how to learn and perform in academic environments such that positive outcomes result. Teachers…

We sought to determine the extent to which children's behavior problems would mediate the relationship between children's learning disorders and adoption satisfaction using nationally representative data from 1,865 adoptive parents. We found that high levels of behavior problems, operationalized as internalizing and externalizing behaviors,…

Two experiments investigated the ability of adults with a history of language-based learning disability (hLLD) and their normal language (NL) peers to learn prosodic patterns of a novel language. Participants were exposed to stimuli from an artificial language and tested on items that required generalization of the stress patterns and the…

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by Marsh ("Am Educ Res J" 23:129-149, 1986) assumes that, besides social comparisons with their classmates, students engage in intraindividual, dimensional comparisons, comparing their own achievement in one subject with their achievement in other subjects. These dimensional comparison processes…

Academic success has become increasingly important in determining future quality of life. Many educational programs and institutions at various levels stress the need for students to score well on standardized tests and other methods of evaluation, in order to demonstrate their knowledge of various concepts and skills. The relationship between…

Two recent changes in federal law have made an impact on reading instruction in the United States, particularly for students for whom learning to read is difficult. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), signed into law in 2002, requires that all students meet an achievement standard in reading by the year 2014. NCLB also recognizes that reading…

The disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs has been a problem for over forty years. Factors contributing to minority overrepresentation include the lack of primary prevention, inappropriate language and educational assessment, over-referral of minority students for suspected learning difficulties,…

This book is a scholarly overview of the modern concepts, definitions, and theories of intellectual giftedness, and of past and current developments in the field of gifted education. The authors consider, in some detail, the roles of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom in giftedness and the interaction between culture and giftedness, as well as…

Few studies have explored the effects of fixed-time (FT) reinforcement on escape-maintained behavior of students in a classroom setting. We measured the effects of an FT schedule on the disruptive and appropriate academic behaviors of 2 junior high students in a public school setting. Results demonstrated that FT escape from tasks resulted in a…

Background: Executive functioning (EF) is an important concept in cognitive psychology that has rarely been studied in people with intellectual disabilities (IDs). The aim of this study was to examine the validity of two test batteries and the structure of EF in this client group. Methods: We administered the children's version of the Behavioural…

Advancements in technology-based solutions for students with learning disabilities (LD) offer tremendous opportunities to enhance learning as well as meaningful access to the general education curriculum for this group of students. This article examines technology integration within the context of response to intervention (RTI). At the forefront…

What this author admired most about Sally Smith was the fact that she was a visionary about people and what they could accomplish. She saw more potential in a person--young or old--than anybody or even they themselves, frankly, had ever even considered possible. She was a genius at seeing the potential in people, expecting them to find it in…

To most people in the author's profession of Special Education, the "D" means "disabilities." At The Lab School of Washington, the "D" means "different"--learning "differently" and teaching "differently." Sally Smith, the founder of the school, had this uncanny ability to see things in her staff that they could not. The year the author graduated…

The possible causes of learning difficulties in children with epilepsy are long and complex. In order to see that a child is given an adequate evaluation, an understanding of what these many causes are and how those causes may be interrelated is necessary. This article discusses the first three of the six categories of the causes: (1) Organic; (2)…

Background: In order to fully specify the profiles of risk and protective factors of developmental disorders, a better understanding of the conditions under which they co-occur is required. So far, empirical evidence on comorbidities of specific learning disorders in arithmetic, reading and spelling is scarce. Methods: Prevalence and gender ratios…