The definition of learning disabilities (LD) by the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities emphasizes severity and heterogeneity; focuses attention on the internal nature; eliminates exclusive focus on psychological processing disorders; stresses the cognitive, linguistic, and academic nature of LD; and denies direct causation to other…

The definition of learning disabilities is viewed as ambiguous, confusing, imprecise, and a waste of time. The author cites the possibility of backlash from regular education. (CL)

A five session program that involved empathy, sensitivity exercises, and a visit to a resource room reduced the ostracizing by fifth graders of their learning disabled peers. The program was designed to deal with the students' values to excel and their typical preadolescent fear of being different from peers. (CL)

Activities to help children develop the concept of right-left awareness are presented. Activities touch on lateral awareness (distinguishing between their right and left sides and labeling them) and directionality (using the language of left and right according to someone else's orientation). (CL)

Spinoffs of the traditional peer tutoring approach have been successful in individualizing classroom instruction of learning disabled (LD) elementary students. In the peer trio technique, groups of three LD or slow learning students work together on tasks and on making their own games. The approach teaches cooperation and increases motivation. (CL)

Preliminary results involving two classes of 24 learning disabled (LD) students (9- to 11-years-old) revealed that both teacher modeling and participant modeling were effective in increasing student performance on syllabication problems. Participant modeling, especially, appeared to be a promising method for helping LD students in the classroom.…

Measures designed to explore word-finding ability were administered to 60 8- to 11-year-old learning-disabled and normal-learning children. Three stimulus contexts and high- and low-frequency words were used. Certain substitution types and secondary characteristics emerged as specific to learning-disabled children. (Author/SW)

The performance of 18 neurocognitively impaired learning disabled children (6 to 10 years old) on visual abstraction was compared to that of 20 intact learning disabled (LD) and 20 normal children. The Abstraction Test for Children was specifically developed and standardized as the measure of abstraction. (Author)

The learning disabled children did not differ from their reading level controls on any of 10 measures but showed a pattern of eye movements that was generally slower and less smooth than their grade placement controls. (Author)

Defines learning disabilities as disorders in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language (listening, thinking, reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic). Presents guidelines which assist parents and teachers in early detection of learning disabilities. (AH)

Cumulative teaching, in which it is made certain that a child acquires one competency before proceeding to another of the same type, is described in terms of assumptions, main ideas, and its application to phonics, vocabulary, and basic addition for learning disabled students. (CL)

Evaluation data is presented to document the effectiveness of the Traub Tutorial Program with learning disabled students. The method uses a diagnostic approach with sequential learning tasks and stresses the development of ability as well as actual achievement in the basic skills of reading, spelling, and handwriting. (CL)

A survey of 307 research studies in learning disabilities (LD) was conducted to determine the nature and characteristics of the LD identification criteria used. It was concluded that LD research presents a divergent picture of the nature and characteristics of LD and reflects little consensus regarding identification criteria. (Author)

The study reports the reading progress of a learning disabled 14 year old over a four-year period. The reading instruction program, initially a skills approach, was later changed to a modified holistic approach. Differences in outcomes of the two approaches are reported along with implications for reading instruction. (Author)

Discrimination analyses indicated that the subtests chosen for hypothesized age-related deficits classified from 77 percent to 89 percent of the cases as compared with the school district's selection. (Author)