This brief paper offers general guidelines for the documentation of a learning disability in students at the postsecondary level as required under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The guidelines are organized into four areas: (1) qualifications of the evaluator; (2) recent nature of the…

Considered in this article addressing the policy issues of educational services to bilingual exceptional children are: characteristics of Hispanic learning disabled students, special education policy and practice, program availability, personnel, identification and placement, programs, and professional development. (DB)

Demographic data, IQ, achievement, perceptual-motor, behavior ratings, and diagnostic classification (learning, mental, emotional disability or no handicap) were analyzed for all children (N=2002) referred for complete psychological evaluation during one school year in Iowa. Learning disabled children showed a distinct pattern different from…

A study reviewed recent trends, issues, and changes within the states related to the use of discrepancy formulas and other approaches for determining eligibility of students with learning disabilities (LD) for special education and related services. A survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia found they all have a statement in their…

This brochure, in a question-and-answer format, provides basic information about learning disabilities for faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The questions address such topics as the definition of a learning disability, diagnostic criteria, documentation criteria, verifying the legitimacy of a student's request for…

Aspects considered include cognitive and social development, the preschool prediction of learning disabilities, patterns of environmental processes in learning disabilities and mental retardation, environmental disadvantages, and biological determinants. (Author/DLS)

Discusses the use of a sociocultural perspective on learning and learning disabilities for understanding learning problems within culturally diverse groups. Reviews assumptions about ethnicity and culture (supposed homogeneity within cultures) and describes ways to distinguish ethnicity and culture. Discusses implications for assessment,…

Twenty-two children with mild mental retardation, 27 children with learning disabilities, and 49 nondisabled peers (ages 4-5) were presented with a battery of eight cognitive tasks being considered for inclusion in a new screening test. Results found the components measured different cognitive tasks and led to accurate individual classification…

Discusses the development of informal mathematics in young children, the problems with formal mathematics instruction, how the traditional approach fails to address mathematics learning disabilities, and how a developmental perspective can assist in the identification and treatment of students with mathematics learning disabilities. (CR)

Noting a high incidence of learning disabilities among students with visual impairments, this article compares definitions of the two conditions. Common assessment approaches are discussed and those inappropriate for students with low vision or blindness are identified. Suggested intervention approaches include adaptation of the environment,…

The use of the processing component for learning disabilities (LD) definitions is discussed by examining its theoretical basis, large-scale implementation, and researched classroom effectiveness. Results indicate the processing definition of LD does not differentiate students with LD from low achievers, is inconsistently implemented, and does not…

This paper describes the methodology of a study seeking to determine whether there is evidence that French immersion children with specific reading disability in one language also have the disability in the other language, and learning-disabled readers belong to the same subtype in both languages. (Author/JDD)

Issues regarding the identification of students who are both gifted and learning disabled are considered, along with some teaching suggestions. The identification process often begins with the regular classroom teacher. Included is an observational checklist for teachers to use in referring a child for further evaluation. (SW)

This comparison of regression discrepancy model results for learning disability identification used published IQ-achievement and reliability coefficients and generic, mean values. Use of mean IQ-achievement values resulted in higher discrepancy rates for a clinical sample. Use of both mean IQ-achievement and reliability values resulted in higher…

Past, present, and future concerns regarding the definition of learning disabilities (LD) are documented. Research on efforts to clarify the LD label is discussed, including the questionable utility of the discrepancy model. An approach is presented for operationalizing the definition of LD of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities.…