This final report describes the activities, results, and conclusions of a 3-year project whose major purpose was to improve test-taking skills of learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students, with respect to standardized achievement tests. The project concluded that: learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students exhibit deficits…

A teacher, speech-language pathologist, school principal, and audiologist rated 27 hearing-impaired elementary students on effective use of language, speech, and sign language and on presence of a learning disability and/or behavior problem. Ratings were compared with each other and with test scores purporting to identify learning disabilities or…

Social skills across three subgroups of midly handicapped children were compared to a matched sample of nonhandicapped students using a teacher rating scale. Function analysis revealed that 75 percent of the subjects could be correctly classified on the basis of teacher-rated social skills. (Author/JAZ)

This paper was developed as a result of a 1999 conference on substance abuse and learning disabilities. An introductory chapter urges early identification of learning disabilities and appropriate treatment for both problems when they co-exist. The second chapter discusses the differences between learning disabilities and behavioral disorders, the…

A three-year study found that children with learning disabilities displayed a persistent pattern of maladaptive classroom behavior that distinguished them from average achievers and was associated with continued underachievement, especially for attention and conduct problem subtypes. The developmental relationship between learning disabilities,…

Teacher ratings on reading recognition, reading comprehension, arithmetic, and written expression revealed that behaviorally disordered and learning-disabled adolescents (N=200) were seen as performing significantly below expected levels of achievement. Differences between behaviorally disordered and learning-disabled students appeared to depend…

This article presents strategies teachers can use to develop a pool of potential sensory reinforcers for behavior problems in students with learning disabilities, behavior disorders, mild or moderate mental retardation, or language delays. It also provides a step-by-step method for conducting ongoing reinforcer assessment, and suggests how the…

Broadly examines diagnostic category of attention deficit disorder (ADD), which affects individuals from childhood to or through adult life, with special attention to cases in which predominant characteristic seems to be inattentiveness. To work with individuals with ADD, counselors need to understand nomenclature, etiology, unique symptoms, and…

This review highlights the physical, intellectual, academic, behavioral, and communication characteristics associated with fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation. Educationally relevant problems linked to fragile X are noted, including learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, speech and language…

The article describes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and how it affects learning, notes why whole language provides one of the best settings for students with ADHD, and discusses strategies for adapting the whole-language classroom to meet the needs of many different kinds of learners. (SM)

Describes a survey of services provided by schools for pupils with learning difficulties and challenging behavior in Britain. Analysis of the responses of 80 teachers indicated a need for in-class staff support, curriculum access, and additional facilities and resources for such pupils. The value of teacher collaboration in solving problems is…

A study examined the identification rate of mental retardation, learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, and emotional disturbance of 4,161 Head Start children as they completed first grade. Only 26% of the children meeting research diagnostic criteria in these four major categories were identified by the schools. (Author/CR)

Twenty-four meta-analyses in mental retardation, learning disabilities, and emotional/behavior disorders were reviewed and analyzed across six domains of information necessary for securing face validity of published meta-analyses. Wide variations that could influence summative results were found. Additionally, temporal analysis of 44 meta-analyses…

The students in Ms. Thomas' classes are struggling with poverty, learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, transience, and home languages other than English. Ms. Thomas is struggling to understand how they are going to meet the same standards as students who don't face such difficulties. In this artilce, Ms. Thomas expresses her opinions on…

A study determined if handicapped adolescents have an interest in reading novels about handicapped teenagers. Many in this population tend to be reluctant readers. Generating interest in reading is important in helping to change that tendency. Reading novels concerning adolescents with handicaps or problems may also be considered a type of therapy…