Widespread dissatisfaction with the present federal definition of learning disabilities suggests that the term should function as a conceptual rather than a categorical term. (DB)

Investigation of learning-disabled elementary school students' (N=29) ability to comprehend narrative text when important information was systematically dispersed or centralized within the text revealed no significant effect for input mode on measures of comprehension and recall. (Author/CB)

L. Gordon's Survey of Interpersonal Values was used to compare 136 parents of normal and learning disabled children. Fathers of LD boys scored higher on Independence and Leadership and lower on Conformity and Support. Mothers of LD boys favored authoritative attitudes; same-sexed experimental mothers valued conformity and sources of emotional and…

The author describes progressive programing practices in the Netherlands and Denmark which have provided school to work transitional support for learning disabled students. Implications for practices in the U.S. are noted. (CL)

The nature of learning disabilities in adulthood is examined in relation to theoretical models and research related to adult development. The basic assumptions of a life span developmental approach are presented, and specific mediating variables influencing adaptation to significant life events are discussed. (Author/CL)

Power Spectral Fast Fourier analysis of the scalp electroencephalogram was obtained from six locations in 69 children with learning disabilities without hyperactivity and 34 control children, during baseline and while performing reading, arithmetical, and spatial tasks. Significant EEG power and percent differences for specific frequencies were…

Learning disabled and nondisabled readers (N=12 each) were compared on dichotic listening recall tasks that included semantic, phonemic, and structural orienting instructions. As expected, recall increases were a function of group, orienting instructions, and level of word processing. Most importantly, the results clearly demonstrated that group…

Twelve nondisabled adolescents were superior to 12 learning disabled students in performance on all types of strategy transformations presented on simple arithmetic computation tasks. Significant ability-group differences emerged on reduction to answer, saving partial results, unit building, and alternative method transformations. Results…

A comparison of tenth graders who identified themselves as learning disabled and their non-LD peers suggested that the LD group was older, had a disproportionately high representation of Blacks and Hispanics and an underrepresentation of Whites, and reported more secondary handicaps than the non-LD cohort. (CL)

An examination of the peer discrepancy concept and the percentages of students (grades 1-6) declared eligible for special education with varying discrepancy ratios revealed that a 2.0 to 3.0 times discrepancy is a reasonable level for identifying low-performance students. (CL)

Two procedures significantly improved multiplication skills in six students (nine to 12 years old) with learning disabilities. The procedures were writing out multiplication problems and saying problems aloud while working. (CL)

The performance instability of learning disabled (LD) and emotionally handicapped (EH) elementary children was compared in two studies. Results indicated no difference between the performance instability of the two groups of subjects. Implications for the diagnosis and treatment of LD and other exceptional students are discussed. (Author/CL)

Studies are reviewed in four topic areas: (1) learning disabled (LD) students' spontaneous use of language; (2) their ability to adapt language to listener characteristics; (3) effectiveness of their communications; and (4) their ability to fulfill listener responsibilities. Noted are methodological flaws which cast doubt on implications for…

Thirty-three college students in a Learning Disabilities (LD) program were compared with thirty-three non-LD peers in syntactic complexity of their writing. LD Ss did not differ significantly on the Syntactic Density Scoring (SDS) procedure for the corrected SDS (CSDS) score, but they did differ on two variables thought to be more sensitive…

Twenty-six children (ages 9-18) who had recovered from Reye's syndrome (characterized by lethargy, disorientation, personality changes, and decreased consciousness) were tested for possible memory deficits. In reviewing school histories, an unexpected finding was the disproportionately high number of students who were learning disabled before…