Students with learning difficulties form the largest group of students with additional needs in Australian mainstream classrooms. However the terminology surrounding these students differs broadly across the country. A consistent and shared understanding of the term learning difficulties is vital, as this impacts the identification and equitable…

Traditionally, students with learning disabilities (LD) have been identified using an aptitude--achievement discrepancy or response to intervention approach. As profiles of the cognitive deficits of discrepancy-defined students with LD have already been developed using these approaches, these deficits can in turn be used to identify LD using the…

This study tests a proposed model of coping outcomes for 290 primary school students in Years 5 and 6 (mean age = 11.50 years) with and without learning disabilities (LDs) within a resource-based framework of coping. Group-administered educational and intelligence tests were used to screen students for LDs. Students also completed a questionnaire…

Despite being unable to dress himself, sit still on a chair, or write a legible sentence, Scott was, from a very early age, able to build whole cities from construction blocks, able to complete complex puzzles, and verbally precocious. Even with his disabilities and their contrast with his academic talent, he completed K-12 school and went on to…

This study examined the validity of using teacher-administered educational and intelligence tests to screen students for learning disabilities (LDs). Twenty-seven Technical and Further Education (TAFE) students from regional Victoria who were enrolled in a program that was designed to reconnect school dropouts with education via TAFE participated…

Athletes with learning disabilities have had a difficult time being included in the Paralympics. They have faced a lot of discrimination, including from other disabled athletes, and just when they were finally included (at the Sydney games in 2000), the Spanish Basketball team cheated by having players on their team who did not have learning…

Evaluation of the relationship between hyperactivity and learning difficulties in 1,593 Australian elementary students indicated twice as many males as females with learning difficulties; 11% of the sample were hyperactive; 41% of the subjects with learning difficulties were also hyperactive; and 3.2% of all subjects had both hyperactivity and…

This report discusses the outcomes of a project that examined the social and contextual factors that underpin the identification of elementary students as having learning disabilities. Data were collected in a primary education classroom in Queensland, Australia. Initially the teacher was interviewed on teaching practices, the literacy curriculum,…

This study interviewed six preservice teachers in early childhood education at an Australian university concerning their knowledge about and attitudes toward young gifted learning disabled children. Information was sought concerning the subjects' understanding of the term "gifted learning disabled" as well as their ability to identify…