The field of learning disabilities (LD) has a complex and complicated history. Tensions over definitions, eligibility criteria, service delivery models, and best practices, as well as epistemological debates, have been a part of that history from its inception. Given our collective struggles, as well as the current realities facing the field,…

This article expresses the position that the current legal commentary and cases do not sufficiently differentiate response to intervention (RTI) from the various forms of general education interventions that preceded it, thus compounding confusion in professional practice as to legally defensible procedures for identifying children as having a…

This article provides an introduction to theoretical ideas and practices from the so-called "philosophers of difference"--Foucault, Derrida, and Deleuze and Guattari--as an invitation to think differently about the construction of learning disability and to envision new forms of learning. Two key concepts, Foucault's transgression and…

Social inclusion and citizenship form the key objective of "Valuing People Now" (2009), but achieving this meaningfully with people whose behaviour can challenge services remains elusive for many services. This article describes the philosophy, development, operationalisation and evaluation of a person-centred day opportunities and supported…

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the state of knowledge of mental capacity issues among health and social services professionals working in community teams supporting people with learning disabilities. Methods A structured interview was constructed around three scenarios, based on actual cases, concerning a financial/legal issue,…

Irish educational psychologists frequently use the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth U.K. Edition (WISC-IV[superscript UK]) in clinical assessments of children with learning difficulties. Unfortunately, reliability and validity studies of the WISC-IV[superscript UK] have not yet been reported. This study examined the construct…

Background/Objective: Recent training and education changes have raised important issues in delivery of psychiatric education at all levels. In this article, the authors describe the current status of mental health education in the training of all doctors and postgraduate training and education in psychiatry in the U.K. Method: The authors explore…

Story mapping is an effective visual strategy to enhance comprehension of narrative text in students, with or without disabilities. This article demonstrates how instruction can be designed using principles of universal design for learning with the evidence-based story-mapping strategy to improve reading comprehension for elementary students with…

Increasing numbers of students with learning disability and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses are applying for accommodations in postsecondary education and employment settings. However, students' documentation of these conditions is often substandard. One possible reason for this is that clinicians have failed to apply…

Much has been written about gifted students with learning disabilities, but there have been few large-scale empirical investigations, and the concept has proven controversial. The authors reviewed the available empirical literature on these students, focusing on (a) the criteria by which the students were identified and (b) the students'…

This article reports on the results of a qualitative study (in-depth interviews) carried out in the United Kingdom as part of a larger (two-phased) study investigating the experiences, health and future perspectives of older parent carers (six mothers and two fathers) of offspring with learning disabilities over a prolonged period of time. The…

Many adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) experience difficulties reading. To improve reading outcomes for these students, research has demonstrated the importance of providing students with appropriate texts. Appropriate texts are those that match both the reading and interest levels of students and are often credited with reducing…

Children with communication disorders are often at risk of literacy difficulties, especially students that present with autism and/or speech sound disorders. This quasi-experimental study was designed to examine the effects of a 10-week "hybrid" intervention for preschool students with and without communication disorders in an integrated…

Research suggests that a child's earliest interactions with parents and guardians have a profound effect on later social and educational development. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore perceptions of parents of children with diagnosed reading disabilities to better understand how the early home literacy environment may…

This randomized controlled trial examined the impacts of "Same-Language-Subtitling" ("SLS"), a karaoke-style subtitling intervention, on the reading comprehension skills of secondary school students in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Researchers randomly assigned 198 secondary school students with learning disabilities (ages 14 to 19) to…