An audit of 200 students entering an inner city secondary school indicated that 75% had communication difficulties which hampered relationships, behaviour and learning. A course was designed for 35 teachers and support staff. The premise was that improving dialogue with students, and facilitating their narrative speaking and writing structures,…

Drawing on learners' course diaries, this paper explores Chinese EFL learners' perceptions of difficulties and constraints in EFL learning and their responses to the perceived difficulties and constraints. The diary data appear to indicate that the students' learning difficulties lay mainly with their linguistic competence, but a closer scrutiny…

In most cases therapy is addressed as an indoor verbal activity in which the relationship between therapist and client stands at its centre. This article proposes a different approach to therapy: conducting it creatively in nature, with the environment being used not only as a therapeutic setting but also as a medium and a partner in the process.…

Significant relations among language impairments, academic difficulties, and behavioral problems have been well established in previous research, primarily with impaired children or non-minority samples. However, how and why these three developmental domains tend to co-vary has received only limited attention. Preliminary research suggests that…

Our recent project has a comparative perspective: it compares selected good practices of integration of ethnic minority children among three European countries (Italy, Switzerland and Hungary). The project examines several key areas of integration: governmental policies, NGO practices and most importantly good practices that might be transferable,…

This authoritative, highly readable reference and text is grounded in the latest knowledge on how antisocial and criminal behavior develops in youth and how it can effectively be treated. Contributors describe proven ways to reduce juvenile delinquency by targeting specific risk factors and strengthening young people's personal, family, and…

This paper arises from research into inclusive literacy for pupils with severe learning difficulties who do not learn to read and write conventionally. The ultimate aim of the study was to seek out examples of good practice in teaching and learning literacy that includes students with severe learning difficulties and disseminate them as widely as…

The aim of this article is to promote discussion and professional development around the topic of learning difficulties in mathematics, particularly as these pertain to teaching and learning in the middle school years. The article has three sections. In the first section, a review of literature about learning difficulties (LD) in mathematics is…

Researchers have hypothesized four levels of instructional dialogue and claimed that teachers can improve children's language development by incorporating these dialogue levels in their classrooms. It has also been hypothesized that enhancing children's early language development enhances children's later reading development. This…

This review examined the extent to which commercially available social skills curricula designed for adolescent populations (including those with learning and behavior problems) accommodate cultural diversity. Introductory material discusses the need for culturally responsive teaching in social skills training. The study reviewed 11 curricula, and…

This study examined the efficacy beliefs of male and female college students in Southwestern Ontario (Canada) with and without scholastic deficits. A total of 20 men and 20 women without scholastic deficits and 51 men and 41 women with scholastic deficits (such as severe problems in reading, writing, or arithmetic) completed the Self-Estimate Test…

This paper reviews past research in adult learning, organizing it around cognitive and noncognitive factors in performance. The need for education and learning in the middle and older years is discussed within the context of developmental tasks. Finally, behaviors which apparently improve with age are related to prerequisites for learning. Paper…

This is the final report of a series of 19 experiments designed to study impasses in the learning of skills with a strong perceptual component. Several series of experiments were designed with the purpose of producing experimentally manipulable impasses or plateaus in the course of learning. Over 200 subjects (humans and animals) in learning…

Seventy-seven references from the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database and the Exceptional Child Education Resources database are presented, on the topic of prereferral interventions for students with learning and behavior problems. References are arranged by database and then alphabetically by author. Information for each…

This report summarizes returns from a 1986 mail survey of 304 Illinois school districts enrolling Indochinese refugee children. Two questionnaires were used, the first focusing on the cultural integration and the second on the academic success of Indochinese refugee children in Illinois schools. The three cultural differences (out of a possible…