Analyzes the public and professional discourse of learning disability, arguing that medical models of literacy misdirect teaching by narrowing its focus to remediation. Considers how resurgent demands for behaviorist pedagogies make understanding their continuing appeal important to composition studies. Discusses implications for the college…

This article offers a guide to teaching the history of science to students with learning disabilities and provides a lesson template designed to engage students in a specific science event from the past. Activities including hypothesis testing and an historical role-play teach the vocabulary of natural selection and evolution using the landmarked…

This study compared students diagnosed with learning disabilities (n=2,053) and students without learning disabilities (n=2,200) on the Learning Disability Index (LDI). Subsamples of specific reading and math disabilities permitted further assessment. Analysis indicated the LDI resulted in a correct diagnostic decision only 55 to 64 percent of the…

Fifty-two students with learning disabilities (LD), half of whom were in self-contained classrooms and half of whom were in general education classrooms with resource room support, self-rated their depressive symptoms. Self-ratings did not differ depending on classroom placement. However, guidance counselors rated students with LD in general…

Suggestions for parents about talking to a child with a learning disability about the World Trade Center tragedy stress assuring the child of his/her safety and helping the child formulate questions and concerns. (DB)

In a survey of 123 students with learning disabilities, 21% aspired to professional/technical and 10-15% trade/service occupations; many had unrealistic ambitions. Those with ambitions seldom thought of dropping out and felt confident in their ability to find a job. Many are not taking courses related to their ambitions and have limited job search…

The stability of peer status of children (ages 9 to 12) with (N=38) and without learning disabilities (LD) was examined through sociometric measures twice in the same school year. Although test-retest reliability was good, children with LD were likely to lose peer status and be seen by peers in less favorable terms at Time 2 than Time 1. (Contains…

The special needs education and peer tutoring programs developed by the Maryland Department of Education reach the large numbers of inmates with low literacy levels or learning disabilities. They have been instrumental in making instruction more effective for all students. (JOW)

Argues that to understand schooling effects on students with learning problems, researchers and educators must consider both student characteristics and the characteristics of their schools and classrooms, including structural characteristics of classrooms, the affective climate of classrooms, and the risky business of school as seen by the public…

In response to Kavale and Forness (EC 630 380), this article presents a differing view of science and politics in learning disabilities in which the importance of practical knowledge is stressed and the importance of scientific knowledge or "scientism" is diminished. Recommendations stress the need to hold practitioners accountable and to provide…

In response to Kavale and Forness (EC 630 380), this article suggests that doing "science" is not without philosophical and ideological values. Sections address the different worlds of scientific communities and critically analyze the political side of learning disabilities from the scientific side. The article concludes with a call for diverse…

This final paper in the journal's special issue on educational intervention research for students with learning disabilities stresses the importance of cohesion and coherence in instruction across the curriculum. Emphasis is on the task of intervention teams to consider when, and for whom the various teaching models are appropriate. (Contains…

This study examined whether indicators of math learning disability were observed in 35 5- and 6-year-olds with either neurofibromatosis, Turner Syndrome, or fragile X syndrome and compared to controls. Findings indicate that girls with fragile X or Turner syndrome but not neurofibromatosis are significantly more likely to have specific math…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' understanding of and ability to interpret line graphs, using four tasks: two where students constructed a graph and two where students interpreted a given graph. The tasks were unique in that they did not simply involve the explanation of given data but included a language component that looked at…

This study investigated the differential effects of two problem-solving instructional approaches--schema-based instruction (SBI) and general strategy instruction (GSI)--on the mathematical word problem-solving performance of 22 middle school students who had learning disabilities or were at risk for mathematics failure. Results indicated that the…