This editorial outlines how developments in our understanding of genetic information may raise new challenges for people with learning disabilities, their parents, and professionals working in learning disability services. It concludes by highlighting some key aspects professionals need to consider if they are to support effectively people who…

Presents a case history of a student with a number of disabilities, one of which was severe dyslexia. Illustrates that it is possible for students with disabilities to gain a place in and succeed at courses for professions that also have a high practical content. (Author/CCM)

Introduces this special issue on electronic literacy, which refers to literacy activities (e.g., in reading, writing, spelling) that are delivered, supported, accessed, or assessed digitally through computers or other electronic means rather than on paper. Suggests electronic literacy is not just an additional component to the existing definition…

Twenty-one middle school boys who were both gifted and learning disabled were interviewed to learn how they would handle hypothetical difficult school situations. Results are summarized in four tables that list: (1) how other people can help; (2) strategies for coping with academic content; (3) strategies for test taking; and (4) general…

Describes characteristics of students with nonverbal learning disorders and offers teachers suggestions for helping them work with students with these disabilities. Includes story of one nonverbal learning-disabled student's school experience. (PKP)

To test the relation between sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and DSM-IV ADHD symptoms, parent and teacher ratings of the 18 DSM-IV ADHD items and five potential SCT items were obtained in a community sample of 8-18 year-old twins that was overselected for ADHD and learning disabilities (n = 296). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a…

People with learning disability (LD) experience a range of mental health problems. They are a complex population, whose needs are not well understood. This study focuses on the development of a systematic process of needs assessment for this population. The Cardinal Needs Schedule used in general psychiatry was adapted for people with learning…

Historically, people with learning disabilities have had little or no access to psychotherapeutic interventions, although there are signs that, over the past decade, this situation has seen some gradual improvement. This paper provides an overview of the evidence for the effectiveness of psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioural and cognitive therapies…

A dialogue about responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is being conducted by experts in the field of special education and more particularly in learning disabilities (IIX). RTI is proposed at once as a method of prevention and as an alternative to IQ-achievement discrepancy for diagnosing LD, depending on the author's perspective or the vintage of…

In the fourth session of the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities Responsiveness-to-Intervention Symposium in 2003, Good, Vellutino, and Torgesen presented papers that addressed the question, "How should unresponsiveness to secondary intervention be operationalized in an RTI approach to LD identification?" In this commentary, I…

The main federal special education law's promotion of a practice that can identify children with learning disabilities and give them early help has brought new attention to the method. Known as response to intervention, or RTI method aims to catch specific learning disabilities before the students fall far behind their classmates. In the best…

This article makes the case that it no longer makes sense to delay the process of identifying children with disabilities until after kindergarten. The purposes, expectations, and day-to-day realities of kindergarten have changed, and children who eventually will be identified for special education are put at a considerable disadvantage when their…

The phrase highly qualified teacher does not mean what it used to, because its meaning is now completely associated with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. This seems to imply that experienced and effective special educators are now unqualified (or merely qualified) to teach students with learning disabilities. The author believes that the…

There have been many changes in social skill instruction over the past three decades. Many of them are good, some continue to challenge. The author is just as convinced today as she was at the beginning of her career that children can be taught to be more adaptive. She does not believe that educators cannot afford to fail, because this is germane…

Various kinds of learning disabilities confronted by Andrea Loewenstein in her school days are mentioned. These days there are learning disabilities of various kinds, though they are reserved for middle-class children, special provisions involving extra time and help are mandated.