All four types of instruction (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile) increased word reading accuracy in five seven- to nine-year-old learning disabled students, but there were significant differences in effectiveness among the treatments. Visual-auditory instruction with praise was the most effective of all the procedures. (CL)

The article reviews experimental data on the deleterious effects of environmental lead and cadmium on cognitive functioning of children. (CL)

The article describes one school district's efforts to educate parents, teachers, and the community about computer technology. (CL)

Key concepts of the book include the lack of evidence supporting the neurological explanation for "learning disabilities," basic flaws in research based on this theory, and an alternative "interactivity" theory which posits that systemic economic, social, and cultural conditions are the principal influences contributing to learning failure. (DB)

In response to Coles (EC 220 146), the article examines evidence of the roles of intrinsic biological characteristics and the environment in learning disability and suggests that learning disability is a biological susceptibility manifested in an environment promoting its expression. (DB)

In response to Coles (EC 220 146), the article examines additional research concerning language-based theories of reading disability and finds problems with Cole's proposed research agenda focusing on systemic economic, social, and cultural conditions in the etiology of learning disabilities. (DB)

In response to Coles (EC 220 146) the author outlines points of agreement and identifies points of divergence including Coles' confusion of ordinary poor reading with true dyslexia, the role of phonological processes, and philosophy of science issues concerning Coles' alternative interactivity theory. (DB)

In response to Coles (EC 220 146), the author notes issues concerning: who is labeled "learning disabled," why they are labeled, how they are helped, how the solutions have become the problem, what real learning is, how to use present resources to transform the system, and the contribution of a collaborative ecological approach. (DB)

In agreement with Coles (EC 220 146), the article presents: a sketch of how the learning disability field was born, the sociological reasons why the field inadvertently moved beyond its original intentions, and how Coles aims for advances in the theory and practice of diagnosing learning problems. (DB)

In agreement with Coles (EC 220 146), the article comments on the poor quality of research in the learning disability field, and Coles'"interactivity" theory as an alternative to the neurological-deficit theory which is applied to the problem of classification, intervention, and a societal approach. (DB)

The author of "The Learning Mystique: A Critical Look at Learning Disabilities," responds to critical and supportive reactions (EC 220 147-152) concerning the relevance of cited issues, the role of language, heritability, scientific criteria, poor reading versus true dyslexia, and the promise of his proposed interactivity theory. (DB)

The article responds to three papers (by S. Forness, K. Reid, and W. Kimball and T. Heron) which reacted to two papers by M. Poplin (1988) concerning the reductionist fallacy in learning disabilities and holistic/constructivist principles of the teaching-learning process, with implications for the field of learning disabilities. (DB)

Two studies on the effectiveness of supplemental homework assignments on the acquisition of basic skills (math facts and spelling) with elementary school-aged learning-disabled students found three factors which maximized homework effectiveness: rate of homework completion, percentage correct of the homework, and rate of acquisition of the content…

Students (N=225) from three different facilities diagnosed as learning disabled were studied to determine the frequency of adoption with this population as compared to the national norm. The frequency of adoption was found to be 4.5 times higher than the norm, that is, 17.3 percent versus 3.9 percent. Possible reasons are discussed. (Author)

The paper develops the phonological-core variable difference model to conceptualize differences between dyslexic and other poor readers. The model highlights the importance of viewing the concept of dyslexia as the outcome of the application of an arbitrary criterion in a continuous distribution. (Author/DB)