This exploratory study investigated the effects of a structured writing strategy on the quality of expository compositions produced by 36 African-American college undergraduates with learning disabilities. The strategy was structured to assist students in developing a topic sentence and main ideas into body paragraphs, and in using transition…

This study looks at incarcerated youth in the public juvenile detention facilities of Wisconsin. State percentages of youth in Wisconsin public schools with Emotional, Learning, Cognitive, and/or Low Incidence Disabilities are compared to percentages reported from the state and county operated juvenile detention facilities. The study investigates…

The problem of overrepresentation of students of color within special education classrooms persists, maintaining levels of segregation based on disability and/or race within widespread schooling practices. The voices of such students and how they understand their position in the education system are noticeably absent from traditional scholarship.…

This article emphasizes the importance for parents and caregivers in recognizing and responding to a child's sounds and vocalizations as such are a child's initial attempts at speech and language production. The article presents important factors to consider in determining the presence of a child's speech, language, communication, and learning…

The purpose of this article is to present the use of repeated readings with word boxes instruction with a sample of high school students who were classified with severe reading delays. Repeated readings and word boxes are designed to help children increase fluency and acquire word identification skills, respectively. These approaches were also…

Regardless of prevalence, students who are gifted and learning disabled do exist in America's public schools, and they have unique needs that must be met through our education system (Bees, 1998). Special education teachers, regular education teachers, and teachers of the gifted should be aware of the unique characteristics of students who are…

This study was part of a larger research program designed to investigate how effort interacts with strategy use to mediate the academic performance of successful students with learning disabilities (LD) and how teachers' and students' perceptions influence these relationships. The sample consisted of 46 students with LD and 46 matched students…

This article briefly outlines key issues related to the neurological substrate of basic language and reading functions in native speakers of Indo-European and Oriental Languages, and in individuals who are competent in more than one language. Modern neuroimaging techniques have been used in order to address conflicting results produced by older,…

Challenging behaviour in children with learning disabilities seems to emerge as the result of an interaction between biological vulnerability and environmental risk, and studies indicate that the development of this behaviour to some extent may be prevented through adaptations of the social environment. Early intervention should have a pivotal…

Background: The specificity of impairments in specific reading disabilities (SRD) and specific language impairments (SLI) has recently been questioned, with many children recruited for studies of SRD and SLI demonstrating impairments in both reading and oral language development. This has implications for the results of SRD and SLI studies where…

Background: Knowledge of genetic influences, on developmental disorders such as autism spectrum, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities, has increased the opportunities for understanding the influences of the early environment. Methods: This paper provides a selective, narrative review for clinicians of the effects of…

The challenge of inclusion makes timely a review of the assumptions and precepts about teaching and learning that have dominated the discourse of special education. These have led to methodological and technical predilections which we argue have been damaging for pedagogy and for learners, often moving the focus away from the tacit knowledge and…

This article profiles a group of college students with learning disabilities, outlines strategies used to help those students in their 100-level expository-writing class, and illustrates persistent writing problems with three student writing samples. This study revealed that, even with explicit support, students whose learning disabilities had an…

Background: This study's aim was to begin the process of measuring the reading comprehension of adults with mild and borderline learning disabilities, in order to generate information to help clinicians and other professionals to make written material for adults with learning disabilities more comprehensible. Methods: The Test for the Reception of…

Knowledgeable persons within the field frequently criticize definitions of "learning disabilities" for the choice of vocabulary, phrasing and implied ideas. Although there may never be a universally accepted definition, a definition that reflects current research is used in this article to make evident some of the cognitive and…