The trend to include mildly mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed (behavior disordered), and learning disabled children in the same generic category and in the same school programs is increasing. The author believes that the noncategorical trend in special education can endanger the appropriate education of many children. (Author)

Indices of scatter on the WISC-R and McCarthy Scales were examined for 20 educable mentally retarded and 20 learning disabled children in relation to 20 matched controls and to standardization samples. Exceptional children exhibited more subtest scatter and variability than the standardization sample but not more than the control group. (Author/RD)

A study examined attitudes of vocational teachers toward students with handicapped labels. The instrument was a descriptive vignette of a hypothetical student and a modified version of the Guskin attitude scale. Overall, teachers viewed the labeled students as less competent, less reliable, etc. than nonlabeled students with the same description.…

Reviews the ANSER System, a set of questionnaires designed to collect background information from parents, teachers, and students that would be useful in conducting indepth evaluations of learning and behavioral problems. Concludes that because it relies on subjective interpretations, its use should be limited to specialists. (FL)

Problems and issues relating to attitudes, personnel preparation, funding, and interagency cooperation and agreements frequently inhibit the delivery of vocational programs and related services to learning disabled (LD) students. Vocational and special educators should work together as a team to provide vocational education instruction and the…

The author cites representative studies on the relationship of intelligence to nine specific factors: undernutrition and malnutrition; mother's health during pregnancy; prematurity; anoxia; smoking during pregnancy; childhood ill-health; twins; birth order; and brain damage. (SJL)

Measures of comprehension of the content indicated no significant difference in the amount of information each group of students retained when the historical or biological content was presented to their particular group aurally at an expanded, normal, or compressed rate of speech. (Author)

The program was developed to minimize classroom disruptions which often occur when a behavior problem student (9 to 13 years old) from a special education homeroom is placed in the mainstream. The program also was designed to encourage on task performance and work completion both in the homeroom and mainstream settings through reinforcement for…

A significant proportion of the 45 Ss made language age gains of more than six months on subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) and the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude (DTLA) and on the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory. (Author/SB)

Forty-seven studies, which compared normal and learning disabled (LD) children, were reviewed with a focus on the variability of performance within groups and the degree of overlap between LD and normal groups. The amount of variability of performance within LD and normal groups was similar and was approximately 75% of the variability of a…

H. Myklebust's Pupil Rating Scale (PRS) was administered to the first (N=92) and second (N=130) grades of a middle-class suburban elementary school to ascertain its effectiveness for predicting reading and arithmetic difficulties. (Author)

There is a clear relationship between learning disability and juvenile delinquency, as seen in a study comparing juvenile delinquents and seventh-grade students. (JOW)

The Alternative Vocational School in Connecticut services 90 adolescents identified as emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted students in a program emphasizing behavior management and discipline. Five components of the school are administration, job preparation and placement, clinical services, vocational-technical training, and learning…

The usefulness of individual reinforcement schedules in maximizing the attending to task and math percentage correct of 12 behavior disordered/learning disabled (BD/LD) adolescents is examined. Results indicate that individual reinforcement schedules are important to the academic success of some adolescent BD/LD students. (Author)

The effect of individual and group feedback upon reducing oral reading errors was investigated with 16 fifth-grade underachievers from a learning disabled (LD) program and from a regular classroom (non-LD). Both individual and group feedback procedures were found effective when compared with the baseline condition. (Author)