Nonverbal signals during interaction among 37 learning disabled third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade boys with and without social/behavioral problems and among nondisabled boys were analyzed. Examination of videotapes revealed that only one of 31 nonverbal behaviors (body lean) differed significantly between the groups. (Author/CL)

Problems with the current definition of learning disabilities (LD) include its misinterpretation, failure to recognize the developmental nature of LD, and lack of statement about etiology. The definition offered by the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities is presented. (CL)

Complete and partial illustrations were found to exert a detrimental effect on the reading performance of 52 learning disabled students (grades two to four) but a beneficial effect on the performance of 24 normally achieving second graders. Findings provided indirect support for the selective attention hypothesis. (Author/CL)

References cited during 1979 and 1980 in five special education journals were reviewed, revealing information about nature and recency of sources (heavily reliant on journals), the top ten journal sources, stability of citation patterns (each journal tended to refer to a consistent pool of sources), and comparison to related fields. (CL)

A learning disabilities program at the American Community School in Athens, Greece followed the procedures established by P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. The 12 children (grades two through four) participating exhibited statistically significant growth in most academic and perceptual areas. The model was inexpensive as…

Twenty-four adult patients who presented to a number of hospital services with complaints related to difficulty in hearing, understanding, remembering, or writing were examined for auditory perceptual disorders. Results support the desirability of examining auditory perceptual abilities in adults even though the tools available are designed…

Analysis of birth dates and school entry ages of 188 gifted children (grades five through eight) revealed that over 60 percent of the Ss were late entering school. Results supported earlier studies in which a large percentage of learning disabled children were found to be early entering. (CL)

Resource teachers can help learning disabled students generalize skills to a mainstream setting with three types of procedures: transfer activities; self control procedures (in which a behavior contract is developed and contingencies for self reinforcement are specified); and cooperative planning (in which resource teachers and regular teachers…

Learning disabled adolescents can become more responsible for their social and academic performance by learning to monitor themselves. Self-monitoring activities can involve self-assessment, self-recording, and self-reinforcement. Procedures for establishing a self-monitoring approach are discussed. (CL)

To identify reading materials suitable for learning disabled adolescents, teachers should determine areas of student interest, predict the student's reading level, and determine the material's readablity. Then the match between the student and material should be evaluated in terms of reading level, interest, word recognition, and comprehension.…

In a humorous question-response fashion, the author discusses issues related to the assessment of learning disabled adolescents, including involving students in conferences, conducting language tests, solving testing problems in rural districts, and involving parents in the assessment process. (CL)

The normal readers were able to read significantly more regular real words and nonsense words than were the learning disabled children. It was concluded that reading disabled children experience specific difficulty in learning to use the phonetic code to unlock unknown words. (Author/CL)

Discusses the role of physicians in assessing children with learning disabilities and offers guidelines for the physician's participation in educational planning for such children. (RH)

When 99 elementary school learning disabled and normal children participated in one of four conditions (word identification and meaning aids, sentence aids, purpose setting aids, and prior knowledge aids), sentence aids were significantly more effective in improving comprehension than prior knowledge for both learning disabled and similarly…

The author describes a hearing to determine if a learning disabled teenager could receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. The example illustrates the overreliance on tests and labels in determining who is eligible to receive SSI. (CL)