Writing strategies encourage beginning writers to collect, explore, and focus ideas. This paper presents a rationale for fusing the word processor with the writing process and offers a series of pre-writing strategies, such as brainstorming, clustering and chunk writing, to help learning-disabled writers begin writing. (Author/PB)

Suggests ways to use microcomputers to teach reading skills to students with learning disabilities. Discusses the operation of microcomputers, learner-centered software, and current research. Concludes that using microcomputers to remediate reading difficulties has great potential, provided the needs of the individual student are met. (RS)

The article reports research supporting a view which sees learning disabilities as resulting from the interplay between a poorly elaborated knowledge base (especially in language related domains), the biologically determined efficiencies of such processes as encoding, and the physical and social meaning attached to performance (i.e. the context).…

An individual instruction intervention with 13 high school students with learning disabilities improved: (1) metacognitive knowledge related to generating or adapting task-specific strategies, (2) ability to generate problem-solving strategies for novel problems, and (3) students' regular classroom grades. (DB)

A computer analysis of the compositions written by university students with (N=30) and without (N-60) learning disabilities (LD) found LD students were not as fluent in word production and in the number of different words used but did produce longer sentences and T-units than nondisabled peers. (DB)

Eleven tests of reading comprehension, language skills, and cognitive processes were administered to 20 high school readers with learning disabilities and 20 controls. The variance on nonverbal tests was greater for the group with LD than for the controls; some individuals with learning disabilities performed as well as the controls. (Author/DB)

The importance of involving the parents of handicapped children in mathematics instruction is discussed, and some tips for parents are included. (MNS)

Administered Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised to 45 learning-disabled and 41 gifted Navajo elementary students. Interpreted performance according to Luria-Das Model of Simultaneous and Successive cognitive processes. Gifted and learning disabled students had disparate loadings for some subtests expected to involve Successive and…

In response to Coles (EC 220 146), the article examines evidence of the roles of intrinsic biological characteristics and the environment in learning disability and suggests that learning disability is a biological susceptibility manifested in an environment promoting its expression. (DB)

In response to Coles (EC 220 146) the author outlines points of agreement and identifies points of divergence including Coles' confusion of ordinary poor reading with true dyslexia, the role of phonological processes, and philosophy of science issues concerning Coles' alternative interactivity theory. (DB)

Two studies on the effectiveness of supplemental homework assignments on the acquisition of basic skills (math facts and spelling) with elementary school-aged learning-disabled students found three factors which maximized homework effectiveness: rate of homework completion, percentage correct of the homework, and rate of acquisition of the content…

Kinnealey reports on a study comparing tactile functions of 30 learning-disabled and 30 normal eight-year-olds as measured by the Southern California Sensory Integration Tests and the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery. Reliability and validity of the two measures were examined. Results showed a significant difference between the tactile…

Examined whether Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) could discriminate between learning disabled and normal preadolescents. Tested 43 learning disabled (LD) students and 20 students without learning disabilities. Results indicated that the Achievement score relative to the Mental Processing Composite score was the only measure to…

Examines opinions of 189 innovative elementary teachers near Ottawa regarding mainstreaming handicapped and behaviorally disordered students. Suggests schools are now better prepared to implement mainstreaming but less capable of dealing with its substance. Teachers recognized importance of integration but were not convinced of its educational…

Cooperative learning arrangements for students with learning disabilities are discussed. Cooperative learning appears to be as effective as teacher-led instruction because it replicates natural learning contexts, enhances self-efficacy, provides level-appropriate information processing models, and addresses the specific needs of such students.…