This article provides an extensive review of the literature on the use of repeated reading to improve the reading fluency and comprehension skills of elementary-age students with learning disabilities. A systematic review of the published literature from 2001 to 2011 was conducted and nineteen (N = 19) research-based repeated reading studies were…

Compares elementary cognitive processes (memory access, memory span, simultaneous and successive processing, and word reading) to spelling performance in average and reading-disabled children. Finds no classroom ability group differences in cognitive processing. Notes consistent differences in letter memory access and word reading by poorer…

Examines the effectiveness of two intervention paradigms that treat phonological awareness and grapheme-phoneme conversion in severely learning disabled third- to fifth-grade students. Finds that an implicit learning paradigm as practiced in the Stabilized Learning System is more effective than an explicit methodological approach as practiced in…

Compares responses of two highly reluctant learning-disabled readers before and after they were helped to visualize story situations through visual art. Shows that visual art helped the readers to begin enjoying reading, and to begin evoking and manipulating story worlds in their minds. Notes that the students began to participate in the classroom…

A review of the relevant literature reveals that reading reversals, whether in sequence or orientation, comprise a very small proportion of the total errors made by even poor readers. Young children tend to make more reversals, yet this tendency generally disappears with age. Top-down theorists feel that the reversal tendency of young children is…

A study compared the word recognition errors of learning disabled readers using reading instructional level materials (word recognition rates between 3% and 9% and frustration level materials (word recognition rates greater than 9%). Subjects, eight learning disabled students chosen randomly from second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh grade levels,…

A study investigated both quantitative and qualitative differences between learning disabled (LD) and nonlearning disabled (NLD) subjects across three grade levels on two tasks requiring active processing of story grammar. Twelve LD and 12 NLD subjects were randomly selected from grades 4-5, 7-8, and 10-11 in a southwestern Florida school…

Discusses a series of six studies that investigated the performance of 66 reading and learning disabilities specialists and classroom teachers who diagnosed simulated reading or learning disability cases and suggested remediation plans. Results indicate that both commonality and individual agreement among participants was very low. (AEA)

Content analysis of two reading series intended for remedial students indicates that (1) neither provides a balance of types of literature; (2) both claim to be interested in the attitudes and interests of readers, but that's not evident in text selections; and (3) both portrayed the usefulness of reading most often as a reading-related theme. (FL)

A study determined if there would be any significant difference in comprehension test scores when learning disabled students were instructed with and without graphic organizers while reading novels. Subjects were five male fifth-grade learning disabled students reading on the fourth-grade level, who came from the same middle-class suburban school…

LD and normal students were compared across the three grade levels on reading flexibility (i.e., the ability to vary reading speed according to their purposes for reading). LD students tended to become less flexible with additional years in school but did achieve better comprehension in grade 10. (SEW)

A study examined the effects of commercially produced phonics software upon the phonemic awareness of students studying reading with the Herman Method for teaching reading. Participants were 13 middle school students in a self-contained or comprehensive developmental special education classroom. The control group of six students did not use the…

Compares seven reading expectancy formulae after converting each to stanines to determine whether the more stabilized formulae would produce similar decisions as to whether a student should be referred for further diagnosis. (FL)

The revised version of this monograph serves two purposes: (1) to describe what the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) measures with regard to reading/learning disability in the light of current findings, and (2) to summarize research with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and WISC-R as related to…