Twenty ways are presented to help students with special needs gain and apply learning strategies more efficiently, including helping students discriminate whether information is useful or irrelevant, focusing on metacognitive development, encouraging self-sufficiency, helping students organize material into meaningful units, and having student…

This book describes the nurturing of a variety of learning styles through the use of the Logo programming approach, especially for persons with special needs. The book interweaves case descriptions of microcomputer uses with theoretical analysis, to provide educators with a framework for thinking about their students' thinking. Descriptions of the…

The purpose of this booklet is to introduce parents of students with disabilities to the "big ideas" contained in school improvement efforts under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and to provide them with the information they need to help ensure that their children…

The article discusses ways that cognitive behavioral training (CBT) methods might facilitate acquisitions of basic skills in mildly handicapped students. Elements of the CBT approach are described and studies are reviewed regarding effective teaching, time, and technology. (CL)

The author's findings about the effects of learning disabilities on adolescents are detailed according to four major areas (sample subtopics in parentheses): academic achievement and ability (low achievement and underachievement); cognitive processing (relationship between motivation and strategy use); setting demands (independent functioning);…

The role of visual imagery is explored as an information processing strategy, and its relationship is counterpointed to the linguistic system. The importance of visual imagery as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool to aid both visual and nonvisual performance and learning problems is discussed. (Author)

The cognitive approach to education is briefly summarized, and its implications for learning disabilities considered. The approach, which includes the genetic epistemology espoused by J. Piaget and information processing theory, proposes the importance of active involvement and control processes. (CL)

Focus is on an assessment model that integrates process-oriented and eclectic approaches to cognitive, linguistic, motoric, and social assessment of this population. (Author/DLS)

Learning disabled students need systematic instruction in thinking skills. Both individual clinical studies and group programs have proven such training effective. Some important thinking strategies include goal clarification, previewing, organization, questioning, imagining, predicting, checking results, humor, and self-monitoring techniques. (DB)

The paper discusses issues related to concepts of preferences and choice-making among persons with severe disabilities. Included are suggestions for acknowledging preferences, teaching choice as a decision-making process, and the broader implications of choice-making among persons with severe handicaps as an expression of personal autonomy and…

This book offers educators, parents, administrators, and other school personnel in the elementary and lower middle-school grades a basic understanding of what is involved in making inclusion work. In chapter 1, there is an explanation of the types of disabilities and other factors determining achievement, reasons for trying inclusion, and factors…

The 13 chapters of this text focus on the complex development issues and interdisciplinary service needs of infants and young children at risk and their families. The text is organized into four sections on: developmental and intervention principles, identification and assessment, developmental issues, and early intervention. Chapter titles and…

The paper reviews cognitive development during the sensorimotor period (approximately the first two years of life) and considers approaches to assessing multihandicapped, deaf-blind, or severely/profoundly retarded students functioning at this level. Evaluation and training of basic sensorimotor schemes (visual fixation and tracking, sucking, and…

Intended to assist teachers in evaluation of specific learning strategies for learning disabled students, the article summarizes 14 metacognitive strategies (sets of steps used by the student to talk his or her way through a problem) based on principles of rehearsal, transformation, organization, mnemonics, monitoring, motivation, and…

This manual, together with the continuing education or inservice teacher workshops for learning the Systematic Integrated Teaching/Learning Approach (SITLA), can help teachers use different approaches to work effectively with a population of adults 18 years and older who are enrolled in special education classes, college-based developmental skills…