Results indicated that normally achieving children were more aware of passage organization than learning disabled elementary children. However, both groups focused on dimensions such as sentence length, decoding and vocabulary difficulty and informational load, rather than passage organization as determinants of task difficulty. (Author/CL)

Techniques for teaching spelling to learning disabled elementary students are described, including suggestions for reinforcing learning. (JW)

Findings revealed significant correlations between all three measures of visual motor development as well as those measures and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised Performance IQ. The VMI-Revised appeared appropriate for measuring paper/pencil fine motor aspects of visual perceptual development in children. (CL)

Four physiological conditions associated with later learning disabilities are noted: Turner Syndrome (a chromosomal abnormality), preterm children with intracranial hemorrhage, children with incompletely developed connecting fibers between the cerebral hemispheres, and children with acquired brain injury. (CL)

A teacher of secondary learning disabled students describes how she began to work on her students' writing skills by incorporating a five-minute writing exercise into the beginning of each class. In addition to increased interest in writing, the approach also improved classroom management by the comfortable routine. (CL)

An elementary school teacher relates a method of teaching handwriting through grouping letters into families. The Hanover method, said to be particularly appropriate for children with learning disabilities, is described and examples given. (CL)

Teachers can motivate secondary learning disabled students to improve their handwriting skills by allowing students to take examinations from their notes, providing address books in which students write their friends' phone numbers and addresses, and using cooking as a means to improve handwriting. (CL)

A spelling approach which incorporates music on a cassette with spelling, pronunciation, and definition of specific words was successful in improving junior high learning disabled students' spelling performance, self-esteem, and sequential memories. (CL)

The article describes the nature of learning disabilities, notes the characteristics that learning disabled clients may exhibit (including academic, perceptual, and motor problems), and considers the factors relevant to rehabilitation planning and counseling (including the importance of a holistic approach featuring remediation, compensation, and…

Learning disabled adolescents can be helped by teachers who incorporate intrinsic methods of motivation into instruction. The approach emphasizes choices, ownership, relevance, and feedback. Students profit academically as well as emotionally. (CL)

Teachers of learning disabled students can provide clear and convincing evidence of academic and behavior gains by charting performance daily and investigating fluctuations that do not appear to correspond to teacher-imposed interventions. Data collection can be a cooperative effort leading to improved communication among parents, school…

A math teacher recounts how six weeks of computer assisted instruction, about which she had been very skeptical at first, resulted in substantial gains for six learning disabled students in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. (CL)

Computerized diet analysis of 41 teachers of learning disabled students revealed deficiencies in carbohydrate, fiber, and micronutrient intake and excessive fat and protein intake. Findings suggested that poor dietary habits may make Ss more susceptible to emotional stress and physical illness. (CL)

A pilot study in which four postsecondary students with learning problems participated in sessions modeled after R. Feuerstein's theory of cognitive modifiability (instrumental enrichment) indicated the potential power of the Feuerstein method to improve learning disabled students' cognitive skills. (CL)

Learning disabled children with word-finding problems manifested significantly more errors, secondary characteristics, longer response times, as well as unique substitution types, while learning disabled children without word-finding problems performed similarly to their normal peers. (Author/CL)