The pilot study investigated receptive and expressive humor in students (total N=54) with learning disabilities, mild mental retardation, or no handicap. Among results were that older learning disabled students were more like mildly retarded students than normal peers; and that learning disabled students had more difficulty understanding…

Evaluation of reading-disabled children (N=57 and ages 6-11 years) found that socioeconomic status related significantly to achievement and intelligence but was not correlated with performance on neuropsychological tests. (DB)

Parents and teachers of 17 children (mean age 10.5 years) diagnosed as learning disabled were administered the Child Behavior Checklist. The results indicated that parents and teachers agreed with regard to externalizing type behavior. Parents' and teachers' disagreement was greatest for younger children when reporting internalizing type behavior.…

Spelling tricks for 35 sight words that can be used by learning disabled or regular classroom students are given. They include replacing silent or confusing letters with pictures to aid visual recall; locating a smaller, more familiar word in the longer word; and rhyming certain letter groups to related words. (VW)

A sample consisting of 216 high school special education students from 16 different Kentucky school systems who were either educable mentally retarded or learning disabled were administered a health knowledge test. Results are disclosed, and implications for health educators are discussed. (MT)

Learning disabled elementary school children can learn subtraction skills with the aid of "hide and seek" number concept cards and a five-step sequence: (1) find a way to work it out, (2) add to check, (3) look for subtraction "partners," (4) group facts into "families," and (5) practice. (CB)

The paper on learning disability (LD) definition and subtypes considers the nature of the definition and differentiation problems, the importance of placing and keeping LD in perspective vis a vis other learning problems, and future development of a LD classification schema using dimensions of cause, severity, pervasiveness, and chronicity.…

The tendency toward overly positive self-evaluative statements of students with learning and behavior problems was analyzed with 19 such students (aged 9.6 to 15.2 years). Findings supported an interpretation of such statements as a form of self-protective behavior, rather than the inability to make accurate self-evaluative judgments. (Author/DB

The paper identifies areas of agreement among leaders in learning disabilities (LD) including heterogeneity of the LD population; explores the classification problem as it relates to etiology and/or treatment, and proposes a five-step plan to influence public policy concerned with differentiation and treatment of different types of learning…

The investigation compared the sociometric status of 37 learning disabled (LD) elementary grade boys and girls and their non-learning disabled peers. Findings indicated that the lower sociometric status of LD children was attributable to same-sex rejections of girls. LD children tended to play alone more often than non-LD children. (Author/DB)

An examination of articles on learning disabilities published between 1963 and 1984 in popular periodicals revealed that learning disabilities are viewed as neurophysiological in origin and that remedial interventions should include multiple instructional methods and accommodate the individual aptitudes of the learner. (Author/DB)

Elementary and secondary education services available to learning disabled students in the Vancouver school system are described, including teaching and evaluation centers and an extended skills development center. (CL)

The history of the program in learning disabilities at Simon Fraser University is followed by a summary of currently available undergraduate and graduate courses. Three majority training needs are cited: consultation, skill application, and therapeutic instruction. (CL)

Results of recategorizing the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) subtest scores of 159 black learning disabled primary grade children into spatial, conceptual, and sequential scales as recommended by A. Bannatyne led to the conclusion that the diagnostic utility of the Bannatyne recategorization is questionable. (Author/DB)

Diagnostic procedures used to identify children (grades K-6) with learning disabilities in 14 school districts were studied and compared. Although some similarities existed between districts, uniformity was lacking in important areas such as test selection, extent of testing, and cutoff scores on intelligence and other tests. (Author/CL)