Discusses the cognitive characteristics, neurobiological bases, and language and reading abilities of individuals with hyperlexia. A study of 12 children (ages 7-13) with hyperlexia is summarized that illustrates the dissociation between decoding and comprehension and the limited use of meaningful context to aid decoding. (Author/CR)

Evaluation of a metacognitive reading program with 13 learning-disabled children in grades 3 and 4 found that students increased in performance and awareness of strategies from pre- to posttesting. Differences were also observed between different clusters of students with defensive, pessimistic, or realistic self-concepts. (DB)

Three reading comprehension strategies are presented to assist learning-disabled students: an advance organizer technique called "TELLS Fact or Fiction" used before reading a passage, a schema-based technique called "Story Mapping" used while reading, and a postreading method of categorizing questions called…

When children with learning disabilities fail to learn effective reading strategies, they lose enthusiasm and develop negative self-perceptions and attitudes, jeopardizing future achievement. In response, instructional approaches emphasizing clear explanation of reading strategies and discussion of processes for constructing meaning have been…

Thirty learning-disabled students in grades five-eight read several passages and attempted to identify and remember main ideas. Students were assigned to one to three conditions: control, monitoring and self-questioning, or mnemonic. The monitoring strategy was most effective for main-idea finding, whereas the mnemonic strategy was most effective…

The study found that college students with learning disabilities (LD) were as able as nondisabled students to use story grammar and comparison text structure to aid recall of social studies text passages. However, LD students scored significantly lower on use of causation text structure. Results suggest that use of comparison structures precede…

This article presents strategies, including communicative reading strategies, to facilitate holistic language learning in young children with language and learning disorders. Strategies include pairing oral and written language and using preparatory sets, semantic maps, flowcharts, and theme building. An example of narrative discourse demonstrates…

This study, with 30 students with learning disabilities (grades 6-9) and 15 nondisabled students, found that instruction in a 5-rule summarization strategy significantly increased reading comprehension of expository prose. Strategy use was maintained over time, and students were reported to generalize its use. (Author/DB)

Three experiments involving 85 learning-disabled (LD) children and 101 non-LD children investigated whether memory difficulties of LD children may be attributable in part to executive processing. Results suggest that LD readers may suffer from executive processing deficiencies, although they do not rule out effects of language-specific processes.…

This study, involving 16 intermediate-grade children with mild mental retardation, 29 children with learning disabilities, and 37 children without disabilities, found that all groups recalled cohesive story versions better than noncohesive versions. Statements in the stories' causal chain were better recalled than statements not in the causal…

This article compared two speech recognition systems, discrete speech and continuous speech, for remedial reading and spelling with 52 students (ages 9-18) with learning disabilities. Both discrete and continuous speech groups showed significant improvement in word recognition and reading comprehension over the control group and the discrete…

Describes collaborative strategic reading (CSR), a technique for teaching students, such as those with learning disabilities, reading comprehension and vocabulary skills in a cooperative setting. Covers teaching the four strategies of CSR (preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap up), as well as teaching students cooperative learning group…

Investigates effects of a direct instruction main idea summarization program and a self-monitoring technique on the reading comprehension of 4 sixth-grade students with learning disabilities. Student performance was assessed after the main idea instruction and self-monitoring training. Finds the program produced increases in identifying and…

Supports a differential development model of reading disability that argues deficits in rapid auditory ability in children are primarily associated with problems in phonological processing, whereas deficits in rapid visual ability in children are primarily associated with problems in orthographic processing; and, for adults, continued deficits in…

The purpose of this article is to present the use of repeated readings with word boxes instruction with a sample of high school students who were classified with severe reading delays. Repeated readings and word boxes are designed to help children increase fluency and acquire word identification skills, respectively. These approaches were also…