Despite the existence of the "Newspaper in Education" program in many elementary and secondary schools, this Digest suggests newspapers remain an often overlooked resource which can be incorporated into almost any teaching curriculum, and which is particularly useful for teaching older remedial students and adults. It discusses some ways…

The effect of the Read Aloud accommodation on the performances of learning disabled in reading (LD-R) and non-learning disabled (non LD) middle school students was studied using selected texts from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) achievement battery. Science, Usage and Expression, Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation, and Reading…

This brief paper summarizes research on effective instruction in writing for students with learning disabilities. It finds that three components stand out as methods that reliably and consistently lead to improved outcomes in teaching expressive writing to these students. These components are: (1) adhering to a basic framework of planning,…

Testing organizations have recently been scrutinized because of the perception that affluent, white male students from the northeast are falsely claiming disabilities to gain extended time on standardized tests for college admission. In response to these assertions, the percentage of learning disabled test takers on the SAT I: Reasoning Test is…

This digest discusses what research says about learning strategies and how teachers can teach learning strategies. A learning strategy is defined as an individual's way of reorganizing and using a particular set of skills in order to learn content or accomplish other tasks more effectively and efficiently in school and nonacademic settings.…

Nonverbal learning disorders are less common than the typical language-based learning disabilities identified by school staff. Appropriate intervention is highly dependent on the accurate diagnosis of this disorder. Emphasis on performance and behavior management often obscures the etiology of a child's difficulties and leads to ineffective…

The number of students requesting accommodations has increased in recent years, and the effects of extended time have become increasingly important as this is the only accommodation for 7 of 10 of these students completing the SAT I. Allowing learning disabled students to retest with extended time clearly enables them to improve their SAT I…

Equal numbers of reading disabled children from each of three schools were assigned to treatment or control conditions. After ten group counseling sessions students in the treated groups showed significant increases in oral and reading vocabulary skills. Sentence comprehension was not improved by counseling. (Author)

Twenty-five studies were reviewed which reported scores of 883 disabled readers, 7 to 18 years of age on subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. (Author/MC)

Subjects were three nine-year old boys with varying degrees of learning disabilities who tended to be hyperactive and disruptive. When given positive reinforcement for periods of on task behavior,'' their undesired behavior disappeared. As a result, the degree of disruptive behavior for the whole class was decreased during reinforcement periods.…

Focuses attention on social disability'' as a unitary disorder; provides a rationale for an environmental view of it; suggests a theoretical framework within which etiological hypotheses can be tested; and relates the concept to conventional psychiatric classification. (Author/JM)

Fifty-seven learning disabled or emotionally disturbed students, 8- to 12-years-old, IQ, 80-129, were given a visual and an auditory memory test to obtain reliability data on the two tests, and to determine the relationship of the tests to the children's reading and listening behavior. (MC)

In the rebuttal to charges made by Nathan Flax, an optometrist, regarding the joint organizational statement of three medical associations concerning treatment of dyslexia and related learning disabilities, the author discusses the five controversial points and largely reaffirms the statement's conclusions. (MC)