With its roots in clinical and educational psychology, school psychology is an ever-changing field that encompasses a diversity of topics. "The Oxford Handbook of School Psychology" synthesizes the most vital and relevant literature in all of these areas, producing a state-of-the-art, authoritative resource for practitioners,…

This article assimilates and critically reviews 10 reports between 1960 and 1980 in which hypnosis was used with non-retarded children, aged 6 to 17, who had learning problems. Studies are reviewed in terms of the major deficit focused on by the researchers, i.e., reading deficits, self-concept and academic achievement, academic behavior problems,…

Considers three issues related to the conduct of research into reading problems of the elderly: (1) the lack of federal funding of literacy research concerning the elderly, (2) differences between conducting research with school-aged populations and with the elderly, and (3) problems encountered in testing elderly individuals. (GT)

The article reviews and interprets some of the literature that has investigated the relationships between refractive status and reading and between binocular status and reading. The characterization of the visual process is pointed out as a major research problem. (Author)

The many studies comparing good and poor readers have yielded few conclusive findings as a result of a number of problems. The first set of problems has to do with the choice of tests or tasks. There are many differences in the cognitive demands of reading and listening tasks children encounter in school. In listening, prosodic cues facilitate…

States that based on a study of reading skills of 56 developmental dyslexics, A. Castles and M. Coltheart have proposed that there are at least two varieties of childhood dyslexia--impairment of lexical reading and in the operation of the sublexical procedure. Takes issue with their proposal on theoretical grounds. Argues that their study's…

Discussion of conceptual and methodological aspects of reading intervention research focuses on nine specific design limitations of previous intervention research; ways to measure and analyze change as a function of development, treatment intervention and ecological influences; assumptions of individual growth models; and advantages, conditions,…

The paper reviews the recent research bearing on the single cause/multiple cause controversy in regard to reading disabilities. The inadequacy of the common practice of comparing a group of disabled readers with a control group is noted. (Author/SW)

This study tested poor readers' facilities at detecting informational inconsistency in a text given at three levels of explicitness in prereading direction. Experimental materials presented a generalizability dilemma, which is discussed in detail. (Author/GK)

Reviews some findings obtained through comparisons of dyslexic readers with nondyslexic readers matched by chronological or reading age. Notes some of the problems and pitfalls associated with this approach. Explores the potential of other group comparisons when examining sources of reading difficulty, and discusses individual differences within…

The author considers the dominant paradigm in reading comprehension research inadequate, because the skills measured by comprehension tests are unlikely to represent the full range of typical reading behaviors. He describes a preliminary study using an alternative, qualitative interview methodology to analyze the reading difficulties of eight…

Argues that only positive results in a reading-level (RL) match and negative results in a chronological-age (CA) match are interpretable; negative results in a CA match and positive results in a RL match are not. Argues that using the RL control is only a first step in research into reading disability. (RS)

Since the end of the last century there have been studies of reading and learning problems which have concluded that a considerable proportion of these difficulties are inherited. An examination of these studies, however, demonstrates that although they appear to use the "scientific method" and are replete with quantified analysis, in fact they…

Presents a criticism of C. Hicks's references as being out of date or of inadequate methodology. Includes a defense from Hicks and a third-party adjudication suggesting that while the criticisms are well taken, the proposed solutions are not practical and the reader must beware. (HTH)

Discusses conflicting interpretations of results from contrasts of poor and normal readers matched either for chronological age (CA) or reading level (RL). Argues that the outcomes from RL-matched designs or from RL- and CA-matched designs in combination should be interpreted within a broad theoretical and empirical context. (RS)