Research from 1970 to 1976 is reviewed to determine the present status of diagnostic prescriptive instruction for learning disabled children. It is noted that findings of previous research have failed to conclusively demonstrate the effectiveness of specific ability training; that the legitimacy of the nonsupportive conclusions have been…

Pointed out are issues seen as unresolved in the implementation of diagnostic prescriptive teaching methods with learning disabled children. Questioned are the cost effectiveness of the clinical diagnostic process, practical limits of task analysis, and the failure to consider the child's total ecology or life space as a possible cause of the…

Over the past decade, increasing numbers of educators have used diagnostic/prescriptive instruction as a remedial system when working with problem learners. A basic philosophical controversy exists regarding two fundamentally different models--task analysis and ability training--which popularly serve to undergird diagnostic/prescriptive…