To determine whether story mapping would improve reading comprehension, five intermediate grade students with mild learning handicaps and poor comprehension were prepared to use story mapping procedures as a schema-building technique. As they were reading, students learned to identify the setting, problem, goal, action, and outcome of narrative…

To investigate self-concept, 50 learning disabled adolescents from a regular high school who were receiving resource room assistance were given the Situation Specific Subject Competence Test for self-concept. Their scores were compared with 50 learning disabled adolescents from a self-contained program. The adolescents from the self-contained…

The role of depression as related to symptoms of social behavior, teacher ratings of behavior and intellectual ability was examined for 58 children (7-14 years old) with learning disabilities. Subjects were administered the Children's Depression Inventory, and those (N=16) scoring one standard deviation below the mean were designated nondepressed,…

A clinical psychologist describes an approach she uses to assess learning disabled students. She explains that brain function is analyzed through a sequence of tasks charting visual and auditory discrimination, perception, memory, organization, integration, and output. An example is cited in which an 11 year old child with traumatic brain injury…

A literature review was conducted to determine the meaning, symptoms, causes, and treatment of dyslexia. The review revealed that dyslexia simply means "distorted words," and is the inability to read either phonetically or visually. Among the symptoms of dyslexia disclosed by the review are motion sickness, retardation in reading of from 6 months…

Using a definition of metacognition that distinguishes between knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition, this paper discusses the role of metacognition in the identification and categorizing of students with learning problems. Following this discussion, the paper describes three types of cognitive skills training studies--blind,…

The familiarity and use of direct and frequent measurement in special education was examined using three sample groups of teachers serving learning disabled students. Although most teachers were shown to be familiar with direct and frequent measurement strategies, relatively few were found to use them, in the belief that the repeated measures were…

Thirty-four third and fourth grade students were observed over two entire school days to examine the nature of instruction and academic responding time for LD and non-LD students in regular classrooms. Across students, a typical school day was characterized by a limited amount of academic responding (about 45 minutes). Comparison of LD and non-LD…

The paper asserts that learning disabilities is a "cherished ailment" in that so little is definitively known about the condition or about effective treatment, and further, that school systems and practitioners benefit from the large numbers of students diagnosed as LD. It is suggested that the traditional view of LD precludes alternative…

In an examination of the opinions and needs of special educators regarding computer instructional uses for learning disabled students, 353 teachers, including special education and regular class educators, responded to a questionnaire about concerns and perceptions of computer uses for learning disabled students. Results indicated the continuing…

The study examined the manner in which self perceptions of learning disabled (LD) children (1) develop in relation to growing social awareness and (2) differ among groups of LD students who are segregated from normally achieving students for varying amounts of their instructional time. Eighty-seven children (in grades 3 though 8) had been placed…

Two studies investigated effects of programs in which handicapped students tutored regular class students. In study 1, 39 fourth to sixth grade learning and behaviorally handicapped students tutored regular class first graders in reading. In study 2, 17 intellectually handicapped students tutored regular class peers in sign language. Comparing…

A curriculum in affective education was developed for learning disabled and emotionally impaired high school students. The initial course in the curriculum was one on personal growth (in which students were encouraged to become more aware of identity, competencies, preferences, influences, and body). Objectives were written for three major subject…

Two experiments compared cross-age and peer tutoring interventions within special education settings. In experiment 1, 47 elementary age learning and/or behaviorally disordered (LD/BD) students acted as tutors of younger LD and BD students. In experiment 2, 31 same-age LD and BD students alternated tutor and tutee roles. In both experiments,…

Describes two experiments which investigated the importance of immediate memory in explaining the defects of children with specific learning disabilities. A group of such children and group of normal children were compared with respect to their performance on an immediate memory task involving the recognition of letter trigrams. (Author/CS)