The author describes the use of the revised Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude and the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery for students with learning disabilities. He cautions about making a diagnosis on the basis of only one test. (CL)

Fundamental assumptions concerning the cause of learning disabilities are described and criticized. At a broader level, research and theory in three different paradigms are discussed: (1) neuropsychological; (2) information processing; and (3) applied behavior analysis. Four recommendations for future progress in the conceptualization and…

Addition of a word processing component to a study skills program for eight learning disabled freshman students in a community college resulted in higher term paper grades and positive student and faculty evaluations. (CL)

The interaction of 15 pupils from each diagnostic group and their peers, teachers, and classroom aides were observed. The results indicated that behavior disordered and learning disabled students emitted significantly more negative statements to teachers than did regular education students. BD teachers emitted significantly more neutral statements…

Eight students were observed during classroom instruction. Comparisons were made of how they spent their time in resource and regular classrooms. In general, opportunities for differentiated instruction were available in resource rooms. However, no practical differences were noted in the amount of time students were actively engaged in instruction…

The study examined whether learning disabled students differed in development of proportional reasoning and whether their disability was in the use of symbols and language rather than ability to solve proportional problems. Developmental scalograms supported the hypothesis that LD Ss' proportional reasoning abilities are developmental, not unlike…

The study examined 40 learning disabled fourth graders' spelling performance in response to strategy training and variations in study conditions. Students who were taught the five-step study strategy recalled correct spelling of more words than controls. However, spelling performance of students who received strategy training was not…

Contributions (such as stress on deficient phonemic awareness and reading efficiency in learning to read) and limitations (such as failure to include affective variables in intervention efforts) of metacognition theory and research to the study of learning disabilities and mild mental retardation are reviewed. (Author/DB)

Language performance at syntactic, semantic, orthographic, and discourse levels was measured for 12 learning disabled third graders, 15 normally achieving third graders, and 11 normally achieving first graders. Results indicated significant overall differences between learning disabled and normally achieving Ss, but not between the learning…

Response latencies of 27 learning disabled (LD) and 27 normal control boys (8-11 years old) were compared on a picture-word interference task. Both LD and control Ss exhibited greater interference effects (longer response latencies) when naming pictures (versus naming words) and when categorizing words (versus categorizing pictures). (Author/CL)

The author suggests that educators examine the field of learning disabilities from two dimensions--breadth (in the interdisciplinary cooperation and heterogeneity of children) and length (in which the student's lifetime development is stressed rather than only short-term goals). (CL)

The article presents informal assessment techniques for assessing classroom demands, written language, studying and test-taking skills, notetaking, and gaining information from text. The content of the assessment is conceptualized in terms of the University of Kansas learning strategies curriculum. A test down approach to assessment is suggested.…

Learning specialists and classroom teachers can help eliminate negative suggestions among students with learning problems and replace them with positive ones. Indirect suggestive techniques, such as visualization, are described. (CL)

Middle and secondary school students who continue to display reversal problems despite intervention should be taught to compensate. Compensation can be based on the student's common error problems. (CL)

Three books are listed that may promote the feeling of accomplishment and control in learning disabled children and adolescents. (CL)