This study with 56 learning-disabled adolescents found that intensive generalization training specific to the development of complex mnemonic strategies was demonstrably more effective in recall at 1-day and 2-week intervals than a rehearsal condition. No added advantage was gained by adding attribution training to the mnemonic generalization…

A whole-language instructional approach is presented for use with students with learning disabilities. Teacher behaviors are outlined, including demonstrating, expecting success, and responding to students. Learner behaviors are also discussed, such as using language in natural situations, making approximations in their learning, taking…

The nine-step grid strategy provides prompts in both structure and content areas to improve the narrative writing skills of students with learning disabilities. The steps include developing a story grid with characters, setting, action, emotion, and so on; planning and writing the story; and completing both cognitive and technical edits. (DB)

Factors that may explain the increase in the prevalence of learning disabilities are explained. One factor is related to the newness of learning disabilities as a discipline, and one is related to social/cultural changes (such as substance abuse, poverty, and lack of social support) that have occurred in U.S. society. (JDD)

Teachers and parents of 45 students (ages 8-17) with learning disabilities completed the Homework Problem Checklist. The study found that students with learning disabilities experienced nearly two and a half times the level of difficulty with specific homework problems as their nondisabled peers. (JDD)

Compares the performance of four mainstreamed learning-disabled students on oral and written tests in social studies. Finds superior test performance during oral testing replicated across all four students. Suggests procedures for implementing oral testing by classroom teachers. (RS)

Finds an approach to improving revision skills that integrated strategy instruction, peer response, and word processing to be highly effective with seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities. (SR)

Twenty learning-disabled students (grades 5 and 6) who received procedural facilitation for narrative composition, including story grammar cue cards and a metacognitive check-off procedure, produced better quality stories than a control group of 10 students. Including verbal reminders to develop characters did not affect story quality. (Author/JDD)

Ten learning-disabled elementary students experiencing peer rejection participated in a 20-week intervention with a contextualist training model. Five of the 10 students' social status was classified as unrejected at the postintervention measure, and there were significant increases in positive peer nominations for males at posttest and 6-month…

Thirty studies that examined mathematics strategies for use with learning-disabled students are reviewed. The studies evaluated reinforcement and goal setting on seat work performance, specific strategies for computation and problem solving, mnemonic strategies, peer mediation, and computer-assisted instruction. Virtually all instructional…

This review examines the relationship between specific reading disabilities and aggressive behavior. It finds that there is not enough evidence to conclude that reading disability causes aggressive or delinquent behavior, though limited evidence does suggest that reading disability may worsen preexisting aggressive behavior. (Author/DB)

This study of autonomous functioning in 100 adolescents with learning disabilities found that subjects differed significantly from a nondisabled comparison group in execution of management activities involving use of community resources and self-management but found little or no differences on self and family care, recreation, and social and…

Examined differences in written expression between learning-disabled and nondisabled middle school students matched by grade and sex, using eight curriculum-based measures. All of learning-disabled students had been identified as having written language deficits. Nondisabled students showed superior written expression skills, especially on…

This paper suggests that Edwin Ellis' model for integrative strategy instruction, as applied to teaching adolescents with learning disabilities, requires further development in two areas: (1) the issue of what constitutes a thorough and valid educational model, and (2) the issue of how educational change can be successfully implemented. (JDD)

This article updates the integrative strategy instruction (ISI) model used with adolescents with learning disabilities; addresses motivation, evaluation, and implementation issues; reviews research concerning the impact of ISI on students, its social validity with teachers and students, and its relation to motivation; and clarifies differences…