This paper presents a screening tool for well-described responsiveness-to-intervention models and comparison models.

The IDEA reauthorization of 2004 highlights the application of responsiveness to intervention (RTI) to both early intervention (EI) service delivery and learning disabilities (LD) identification practices, creating the potential for wide-scale execution. Implementation of any educational reform necessitates more than simply changing practices: It…

This article reviews research examining the efficacy of early phonological interventions for young students identified with speech and language impairments. Eighteen studies are included, providing results for nearly 500 students in preschool through third grade. Although findings are generally positive, there are large individual differences in…

Background: For early detection of autism, it is difficult to maintain an efficient level of sensitivity and specificity based on observational data from a single screening. The Extraction and Refinement (E&R) Strategy utilizes a public children's health surveillance program to produce maximum efficacy in early detection of autism. In the…

Objective: To examine whether and to what extent specific chronic health conditions place young children at risk of maltreatment. Methods: The study used a sample of Illinois children (born between January 1990 and March 1996) who were through age 3 continuously enrolled in Medicaid, a public health insurance program for low-income families. The…

Malay is an alphabetic language with transparent orthography. A Malay reading-related assessment battery which was conceptualised based on the International Dyslexia Association definition of dyslexia was developed and validated for the purpose of dyslexia assessment. The battery consisted of ten tests: Letter Naming, Word Reading, Non-word…

This paper discusses various approaches to the phenomenon of disability in relation to special needs. Ever since disability researchers launched the social model of disability and criticised the field of special education for preserving an understanding of disability in accord with a medical model, the special education field has been in a state…

Batsche, Kavale, and Kovaleski (this issue) have done an outstanding job of summarizing arguments for and against the use of response-to-intervention (RTI) procedures for identifying learning disabilities. In this response, we raise issues relevant to the concept of learning disabilities, the nature of problems associated with standard…

A study involving 164 learning disabled students found that it was possible to use a discrepancy method (the most frequently used identification procedure for identifying LD children) that meets the requirements of the regression approach (the most desirable approach). (CL)

Sources of variability in identification of children for learning disabilities include teacher bias, peer tolerance, socioeconomic status, and assessment variability. Implications of these variables for research design and sampling are noted. (CL)

Based on approximately 1,600 referrals of disabled and regular students, 94 empirically derived formulas for assessment of learning disability were used. The most discriminating formula, which included Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wide Range Achievement Test and grade level variables, resulted in moderate coefficients. (Author/CL)

Thirty elementary school children in regular, gifted, and learning disabled-gifted programs were examined on three receptive language tests. Analysis of variance indicated that the "Token Test for Children" differentiated learning disabled-gifted, and the "Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude, Verbal Absurdities Subtest"…

Although indexes of scatter on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised computed for 100 learning disabled (LD) elementary children were significantly greater than values previously reported for the normal standardized sample, the substantial overlap suggests the inadvisability of continuing the search for a characteristic LD profile.…

The verbal performance IQ discrepancy and indexes of subtest scatter for 434 reading disabled children (7 to 10 years old) were significantly larger than values for the normal standardization sample, but the mean differences were not large enough to be meaningful in a practical sense. (CL)

The review cites methodological and statistical flaws in studies attempting to identify subtest patterns on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised indicative of learning disabilities (LD) and concludes that no LD pattern has been found and the search for such a pattern is not justified. (Author/CL)