The I CAN (Independence, Completion, Accuracy, and Neatness) program is a motivational tool for elementary grade students with learning disabilities. Each student contracts for specific achievements in the four program areas, and parents and teachers contract for specific rewards. Daily review of goals as well as daily documentation of progress…

Oakland School, near Charlottesville, Virginia, is a boarding and day school for children (ages 8-17) with learning disabilities and other academic problems. This paper describes the school's history, philosophy, academic calendar, student characteristics, teaching staff, curriculum, residential program, and additional services. (JDD)

The personal perspectives and reflections of individuals with learning disabilities are presented, showing how these individuals were affected by educational and community systems and subsequently helped and/or hindered in their development. The observations provide insight into childhood influences, individual characteristics, and coping…

This case study of a 30-year-old woman with a developmental learning disability (including anomia, auditory processing problems, difficulty in learning reading and spelling skills, and a poor sense of number) suggests that all these impairments may be explained in terms of a sequential processing deficit. (Author/DB)

This study compared the object naming, object recognition, reading, and spelling abilities of 22 adults, half with written language difficulties and half without. Significant positive relationships were obtained between object naming ability and reading ability, object naming and spelling, and reading and spelling performance. Results suggest that…

Asserting that schools often label students who do not learn quickly enough as "learning disabled," this personal account of one young man's determination to overcome the label demonstrates the effect of a trusting teacher-student relationship and the need to reevaluate educational practices for these students. (SK)

The Regression Discrepancy Model, intended to increase accuracy in assessing severe discrepancy between IQ and achievement scores in students with learning disabilities, is examined. The model's initial equation is shown to produce results which bias the detection of severe discrepancy at lower IQ levels. Methods to minimize or remove this bias…

This article introduces a series of papers on cognitive process-based instruction for students with learning disabilities. Cognitive process-based instruction is defined and differentiated from the process training advocated by S. Kirk in the 1970s. The method's basis of sound theory and academic tasks is stressed. (DB)

Reanalyzed test scores of 153 referred students who received inconsistent placements according to California's discrepancy criterion, which does not take regression into account (standard score distribution procedure). Reanalysis used procedure accounting for regression. Findings revealed that regression "accounted" for significant proportion of…

This study compared personality profiles of young adults with learning disabilities attending college (n=16) to those (n=26) participating in training programs in a rehabilitation setting. Findings found both groups demonstrated profiles indicating extreme stress and anxiety though particular characteristics differed between groups. (DB)

Comparison of high-risk, low-risk, and learning-disabled high school students' foreign language performance found clear evidence of significant differences in the foreign language learning potential of low- and high-risk students and striking similarities between high-risk and learning-disabled students regarding foreign language learning…

This commentary on EC 603 155, which discusses enhancement of literacy skills in young children with learning disabilities, focuses on the cognitive/metacognitive mix in intentional learning, reasons for children's faulty self-regulation, changes in strategic behavior in reciprocal teaching over time, and power and knowledge of teacher and child…

Sixty-five pairs of teachers and parents of elementary and secondary school learning-disabled students completed the Homework Problem Checklist (HPC). The HPC demonstrated a moderate level of interrater reliability. Acceptable levels of internal consistency were reported for both teacher and parent ratings. (JDD)

One hundred students (ages 6-8) described similarities and differences among exemplars of different categories, identified the categories, and named the exemplars. Large performance differences were found between normally achieving and mildly retarded groups and between mildly retarded and learning-disabled groups, with small performance…

Learning-disabled and average readers (n=120) from grades four through six completed comprehension questions under one of four treatment conditions. Results indicated that computer-mediated text was no better than off-line conditions in improving learning-disabled readers' comprehension. Attribution and metacognitive sophistication were…