Although the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (P.L. 108-446) (IDEA 2004) has brought the issue of specific learning disabilities (SLD) identification procedures and criteria to the forefront, calls for reform are not new and are based on decades of various policy, implementation, and research agendas. The…

In this article, the authors first discuss the multi-tiered Indian education system. Then, they examine the challenges for special education in India, including: (1) the issues surrounding appropriate assessment in a multilingual country, which is enhanced by marked differences in children's socioeconomic status; (2) social stigma of disabilities…

The aim of this article is to promote discussion and professional development around the topic of learning difficulties in mathematics, particularly as these pertain to teaching and learning in the middle school years. The article has three sections. In the first section, a review of literature about learning difficulties (LD) in mathematics is…

Alberta Education provides programming support and funding to school authorities to develop and implement special education programming for ECS children and students in grades 1 to 12. "Special Education Coding Criteria 2009/2010" outlines criteria within specific categories to help school authorities identify those children and students…

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing literature on the foreign language learning of students with LLDs by conducting a comprehensive investigation of the performance of three students in middle school foreign language classes in a suburban school district in southwestern Pennsylvania. More specifically, this study documents…

In British Columbia, Canada, two population-based databases have been linked at the level of the individual child: the "Early Development Instrument", a Kindergarten school readiness measure; and the "Foundation Skills Assessment", a Grade Four academic assessment. Utilising these linked data, we explored the early school…

Transition from secondary education to adulthood represents a period during which adolescents with disabilities face multiple responsibilities and changing roles that include establishing independence, attending postsecondary education or training, developing social networks, choosing a career, participating in their communities, and managing…

No Child Left Behind has mandated that all students reach proficiency by 2014. This mandate places special emphasis on the performance of special education students. The purpose of this study is to use social theory to understand the factors that explain the achievement of emotionally or behaviorally disordered (E/BD) students. Results suggest a…

Despite the repeated adage that "no two LD (learning disabled) students are alike, it is not only possible but important to focus on the most common errors of LD college writers in order to learn how best to serve these students. There are in fact two main categories of these students: severely learning disabled and classically learning…

The number of school age children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) has increased over the past decade to 10-20% of the elementary school population and is expected to continue to grow. The need to understand these children and effectively teach them is obvious. This paper examines the research literature to determine the best and most current…

An intervention was implemented to improve academic success and self-esteem of eighth grade students classified as learning disabled in a district northwest of Chicago, Illinois. Major elements of the intervention included strategies to increase teacher awareness of the students' inability to use and process information, intervention to improve…

This digest provides basic information on phonological awareness in the process of learning to read for students with learning disabilities. It considers how phonological awareness fits into this process and the special problems experienced by children with learning disabilities or from culturally diverse backgrounds. Suggestions for teaching…

A study tested the long-term (end of Grade 1) effects of phonological skills treatment in kindergarten for children across a range of abilities. In Grade 1, 80 children from treatment and control classes participated in the study, along with 16 children in self-contained special education classes. In an earlier study with these same children, 6…

This digest discusses the dilemma surrounding foreign language requirements at colleges and universities and students with learning disabilities. Many students and professionals question the reasonableness of foreign language requirements for students with learning disabilities, but, according to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,…

A study determined if there would be any significant difference in comprehension test scores when learning disabled students were instructed with and without graphic organizers while reading novels. Subjects were five male fifth-grade learning disabled students reading on the fourth-grade level, who came from the same middle-class suburban school…