This book is a compendium of papers presented March 18-20, 1996, at the eighteenth annual Spectrum of Developmental Disabilities course. Research findings are presented that address identification, diagnosis, management, and prognosis of specific reading disability. Individual chapters include: (1) "Dyslexia: The Evolution of a Concept" (John…

Explores current policies and practices concerning the definition, identification, and educational needs of students who are both gifted and learning disabled. Recommendations stress the need for less rigid definitions and cutoff scores for program eligibility and the provision of a wide variety of settings (resource rooms, special classes) and…

The disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education has been a persistent problem in education for more than four decades. The core issue concerns the possibility that some students may be misidentified, thereby receiving inappropriate educational services and being unnecessarily placed…

The most salient difficulty in assessing English language learner (ELL) students who exhibit academic difficulties is identifying whether the problem is one of English proficiency or of a learning disability. In many cases, the symptoms are shared and difficult to disentangle, but obtaining a comprehensive picture of the child is vital for…

The new IDEIA (2004) mandates regarding the implementation of Response-to-Intervention (RtI) present challenges for general education teachers. The law dictates the implementation of Response-to-Intervention, which requires the application of a pyramid of interventions for students failing to make adequate yearly progress in response to general…

This uniquely integrative book brings together leading researchers and practitioners from education, neuroscience, and psychology. It presents a theoretical framework for understanding executive function difficulties together with a range of effective approaches to assessment and instruction. Coverage includes executive function processes in…

The reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (P.L.108-446) (IDEA 2004) was signed into law on December 3, 2004, by President George W. Bush. IDEA 2004 includes provisions that could lead to significant changes in the way in which students with SLD are identified. In principle, responsiveness to intervention…

Academic participation based on merit can oftentimes frustrate a young person when his/her condition hampers full participation in the process of learning. This study provides detailed sociological description of Hawaii's youth offenders with learning disabilities and the various ways they get involved with the juvenile justice system. This study…

This article reviews the identification of students with learning disabilities, gifted children, and problems facing the remediation of their difficulties. An outline is given of an approach that applies neuroscience to understanding and treating the root cause of learning disabilities. A case study of a child labeled dyslexic is presented.…

Discussion of the educational needs of students who are both gifted and learning disabled focuses on terminology, definitions, characteristics, identification, and instructional programming. A study showing the effectiveness of systematic direct instruction in small groups for this population is summarized. (DB)

The Differential Ability Scales (DAS) was created to provide practitioners with an alternative instrument that may be as effective as WISC-III in picking up specific patterns of learning difficulties. Useful features and differences in the administration strategy of DAS are reviewed. DAS provides extended age ranges and out-of-level testing,…

Research is showing that the incidence of minor physical abnormalities correlates with learning and behavioral problems in children. J. Rappoport and associates at Georgetown University have developed a scale to count such physical abnormalitites as the epicanthus fold, placement of ears, curve of little finger, length of toes, or lack of…

The paper summarizes several approaches to the identification of learning disability and then discusses the nature of learning disability in the context of competing hypotheses as possible explanations of insufficient or unsatisfactory achievement. Because learning disability may only be inferred as a cause of unsatisfactory learning, the…

The final report of Project OPEN Child Service Demonstration Center, a program designed for identification and instruction of junior high learning disabled students, summarizes project goals and achievements in screening methods, staff training, educational planning, and pupil performance. (CL)

Several definitions of learning disabilities are reviewed, and the problem of identifying learning disabilities in a Catholic Elementary School is examined. Described are identification instruments, methods of reporting pupil progress, and followup procedures used in the project. (CL)