The study was designed to provide policymakers, administrators, and practitioners with reliable prevalence estimates of mental retardation, learning disabilities, and other handicapping conditions exhibited by juvenile offenders in order to guide fiscal and programmatic decision making. The research included five steps: (1) a literature search…

The article looks at the role of play and recreation in the lives of children with learning disabilities and suggests ways parents can help integrate such children into recreation and sports programs. The importance of three systems of support--the family, the school, and the peer group--is stressed. Parents are urged to work toward providing the…

Learned helplessness is an insidious condition involving undeveloped executive functioning, lack of persistence, and an undeveloped sense of connecting new words or concepts into a web of meanings. Remedial teaching in most small-group, diagnostic/prescriptive settings encourages continued learned helplessness because students are dependent on the…

This article examines the conditions that will help teachers improve the reading comprehension of learning disabled students: (1) allow more time; (2) build a framework for comprehension; (3) intervene in the process; (4) engage the learner; (5) match student and material; and (6) expect students to succeed. Two figures are included. (RS)

This paper focuses on the joint partnership between the rehabilitation professional and postsecondary academic institutions when serving clients with learning disabilities. Definitions of learning disability are explored as well as the types of evaluations used to determine if a learning disability exists. Assessment techniques are discussed. The…

The number of adults with learning disabilities (LD) is difficult to estimate. They may comprise as many as 80% of adult basic education students, but a smaller proportion of students in other adult education settings. Many adults with LD exhibit strengths that enable them to compensate for their disabilities and perform successfully without…

The study examined the electrophysiologic organization of cognitive function in 12 normally achieving righthanded boys and 12 reading disabled third and sixth grade boys. Ss were administered reading comprehension and spelling recognition subtests from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. Electroencephalography (EEG) scores were recorded for…

The paper focuses on reading-disabled students with emphasis on the need for theory-driven research and improvements in the training of teachers in reading instruction. Among abilities that should be tested in research on causes of reading disability are the child's understanding of the phonological structure of written language, a specifically…

The paper investigates specific "gifted" qualities of some learning disabled students within the context of assessment and individualized programming. It is suggested that learning disabled children who have definite areas of strength receive "selectively enriched" programming in these areas. An educational model is proposed…

The six 1986 issues of this newsletter for parents of handicapped children contain lead articles with the following titles: "Understanding Psychological Tests" (includes intelligence tests, achievement tests, personality tests and parental do's and don'ts); "Sex Education for the Special Person" (e.g., purpose of sex education, parental do's and…

Four issues of the 1983/84 newsletter from a preparatory school for learning disabled (LD) students address issues on the education of LD students. Included are examinations of the following topics: therapeutic interventions and educational strategies, cognitive development in LD and non-LD adolescents, computers used to strengthen metacognitive…

The practicum report describes the development of a communication network designed to enhance cooperation among parents and staff of a private learning disabilities clinic in Miami, Florida. The program featured a variety of contact follow-up forms, a series of workshops, and periodic student progress reports and follow-up conferences with both…

The practicum designed a perceptual activities program for learning disabled second graders using computer-assisted instruction. The program develops skills involving visual motor coordination, figure-ground differentiation, form constancy, position in space, and spatial relationships. Five behavioral objectives for each developmental area were…

The study evaluated the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery (WJPEB) with 71 elementary grade learning disabled (LD) students. The following questions were addressed: (1) Are there significant discrepancies between ability and achievement, as measured by the WJPEB, for LD children, and if so, in what academic areas? (2) Are there patterns…

A study examined the efficacy of the repeated readings method in improving the oral reading rate, decreasing the number of oral reading errors, and improving the oral reading comprehension accuracy of educationally handicapped students. The oral reading skills of eight students from an urban northeastern United States community identified as…