This report discusses the outcomes of a study of 147 children (ages 7-10) with learning disabilities that investigated the extent to which students legally classified with learning disabilities concurrently manifested mixed lateral dominance (MLD). The study was conducted to determine if MLD was a possible predictive factor for early…

Begun as a study of the impact of participation on the abilities and practices in Literacy Volunteers of New York City (LVNYC), this book is a snapshot in time of the lives of five adults. It describes their participation in a literacy program and contains their tales of change, courage, shame, struggle, and triumph. Section I presents profiles of…

This guide from Iowa is intended to: clarify changes in the state's new rules on special education; make the state's definition of mental disability operational; provide practical guidelines on preferred practices for determination of mental disability and the need for special education services; and highlight prescriptive assessment practices…

This paper examines statistics that appear to show a 20 percent decline in the number of students identified as mildly mentally retarded. Evidence is provided which suggests that the primary reason for these declining figures is that these children are being classified as learning disabled. Relatively loose criteria for the learning disabilities…

This report discusses the findings of a study that investigated whether the New York State Education Department's Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) has improved its oversight of special education by implementing a system for evaluating the performance of special education programs, and whether…

This children's book tells the story of 10-year-old Jimmy who is having problems at school and believes he is stupid. After a parent-teacher conference, he is tested and found to have a learning disability. The book discusses the characteristics of learning disabilities and the help Jimmy receives from a tutor. It concludes with Jimmy performing…

This brief paper summarizes warning signs of learning disabilities in preschool children, elementary school children, and secondary school children. It notes that learning disabilities are presumed to arise from dysfunctions in the brain resulting in significant difficulties in perceiving information, processing and/or remembering information,…

Protective factors were ingrained in the traditional Nez Perce way of life. The imposition of the White way of life introduced alcohol, suppressed protective factors, and facilitated the development of risk factors across all domains. For the past decade, the tribe has obtained federal funding for a variety of substance abuse prevention programs.…

Part of a larger ongoing study of the impact of antiracism mentoring on black student achievement, this report of a developmental study used a before-after approach to evaluate the pattern, direction, and significance of change in participating white teachers' white racial identity as a function of antiracism professional development. Using the…

This monograph deals specifically with the challenge of recognizing or assessing creativity. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 focuses on definitions and characteristics of creativity to help clarify the nature and meaning of creativity and creative thinking, and to consider the implications of those definitions for assessment. The…

Recent national studies show that nearly 2 million children have preventable learning "disabilities," and the number of students classified as learning disabled could be reduced by as much as 70 percent with rigorous early reading instruction. In predominantly white school districts, minority students are classified as learning disabled…

The Consortium of Longitudinal Studies in Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) brings together five long-term studies of child maltreatment that utilize common procedures and instrumentation. Although each site is a separate project, collaboration permits exploration of additional issues and replication of findings. This paper provides brief reports…

This paper introduces a framework for conceptualizing a system of care for children and youth with severe emotional or behavioral disorders built on a child development perspective. The approach focuses on developmental transitions which all children and youth experience. Such transitions include entry into school, negotiating the challenges…

Students work in pairs or small groups to identify and categorize various objects. One student is blindfolded and the other student chooses five objects for his/her partner to identify. The blindfolded student has to describe and try to identify the object based solely on touch. Both students then record their data, describing the objects first as…

This manual, the 10th edition of a regularly published definition and classification work on mental retardation, presents five key assumptions upon which the definition of mental retardation is based and a theoretical model of five essential dimensions that explain mental retardation and how to use the companion system. These dimensions include…