A fundamental assumption in the identification of specific learning disabilities (SLD) has been that the presence of a severe discrepancy between ability and academic achievement is a valid marker for the presence of a SLD. This assumption is based on the notion that discrepant low achievers constitute a unique group of children who are different…

Forest Grove School District v. T.A. involved a student with learning disabilities, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and depression (T.A.) whose parents had moved him to a private academy for students with special needs without first consulting with his public school. In the past, the school district had found T.A. to be ineligible…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills with a sample of adult basic education (ABE) learners, including both native and nonnative English speakers, and to describe the performance of those learners on the measures. Investigation of measures of reading components…

This digest presents definitions of 30 important terms in the field of learning disabilities. They are: accommodations, assistive technology, attention deficit disorder, brain imaging techniques, brain injury, collaboration, developmental aphasia, direct instruction, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyslexia, dysnomia, dyspraxia, learned helplessness,…

The proceedings of the 1980 first National Meeting of Learning Disabled (LD) Adults are presented. Topics focused on the history and current status of the consumer movement among LD adults. The concern of national and local LD groups with problems facing LD adults is traced, and current movements within ACLD (Association for Children and Adults…

Two digit span distraction tasks were used to compare performance of 32 learning disabled (LD) and 32 normal children (mean ages 16 and 15 years). On the first set of tasks, where the neutral and distraction conditions were matched for their ability to discriminate between groups, no differential distraction effect was found. The second task's…

In rebuttal to seven responses to a paper (EC 081 334) on differences between the fields of learning disabilities and reading, the author notes the disagreement among the respondents as to points of overlap and difference, and reaffirms that two fields of study continue to exist. (DB)

After an eight-lesson program in body awareness, learning disabled students demonstrated improvement in self portrait drawings and in the accuracy of body part connections. (CL)

The author addresses the problem of defining the learning disabled population and considers a solution to the dilemma in which different definitions serve different functions. (SBH)

Differences in visual-ocular function, particularly optokinetic nystagmus (OKN), were compared with 40 learning disabled and 40 normal children (8-12 years-old). No significant differences were found between groups on the variables tested (refixation saccades, smooth ocular pursuit, spontaneous nystagmus, gaze nystagmus, and OKN). (Author/DB)

In rebuttal to a critique of a previous paper, the authors stress the complexities of defining the term "learning disabilities" and the inadequacies of Kosc's approach to a prior definition based upon established definitions of "learning" and "disability" (Author/DB)

The position paper of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities provides five criticisms of the definition of learning disabilities developed in 1967 by the National Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children and proposes an alternative definition. (DB)

The study examined cognitive impairment in 21 learning disabled (LD) adults. Results indicated that LD adults consistently overestimated their ability to remember lists of words and that they were especially impaired on a test requiring termination of an exhaustive and thorough search for relevant material. (Author/DB)

Multisensory techniques to remediate reversal problems in learning disabled students are reviewed. (CL)