Four physiological conditions associated with later learning disabilities are noted: Turner Syndrome (a chromosomal abnormality), preterm children with intracranial hemorrhage, children with incompletely developed connecting fibers between the cerebral hemispheres, and children with acquired brain injury. (CL)

The article examines neuropsychological theories of behavior and considers their application to special education, with particular emphasis on learning disabilties. Among problems involved with the approach are difficulties communicating educationally relevant data and confusion over the validity and utility of the neuropsychological approach. (CL)

The article focuses on the factors that have led to the current interest in the neuropsychology of learning disorders. The validity of the neuropsychological model is examined. Research regarding the neurobiological basis of learning disorders, cerebral asymmetries, and neuropsychological assessment batteries for learning disabilities are…

The paper reviews research, largely inconclusive, on diagnostic-prescriptive teaching and proposes a model for use with learning disabled students using neuropsychological test data to infer relevant learner aptitudes. Studies are cited to support the validity of strength-matched teaching and the use of compensatory teaching with severe learning…

The neuropsychological approach to studying learning disabilities (LD) has produced two extreme positions: the view of LD as (1) homogeneous and unitary and (2) as a pattern of unique and idiosyncratic characteristics. Resulting classification approaches for determining subtypes of the population have important implications for assessment and…

The author reviews implications of the previous four papers on the neuropsychological approach to learning disabilities (ED 161 035-038), notes the importance of an interdisciplinary approach, discusses potential valuable test batteries, and emphasizes the need for appropriate training in neuropsychology psychologists and teachers. (CL)

The authors suggest a preventive program for behavior problems in potentially learning disabled students prior to referral. This preventive program should include teacher workshops on behavior modification, affective training in the classroom, parent education on children's emotional development, inservice courses for all elementary teachers, and…

Results indicated a significant difference between the 18 normal readers and the 36 learning-disabled readers on tasks matching auditory temporal to visual-spatial and auditory-temporal to visual-temporal but not on the visual-temporal to visual-spatial task. Results were interpreted in terms of learning-disabled readers being deficient in…

An examination of methodologies of 24 follow-up studies of learning disabled persons, charts sample, IQ, treatment type, follow-up length, age at follow-up, dependent measures, and results. The importance of choice of outcome variables on conclusions is emphasized, and the inability to make inferences on treatment efficacy is ascribed to…

The lack of a firm definition of emotional disturbance, accompanied by a dearth of valid identification methods and absence of effective programing are cited as major problems. The authors emphasize the importance of basic skills instruction, behavior management leading to self-control, and reeducation of the student's total environment. (CL)

Minimum competency testing in Louisiana emphasizes individual needs (as delineated in the indiviualized education program) regardless of special education classification. Nine format/procedural modifications are allowed on the Basic Skills Test, including braille editions and extended time. Test administration and score reporting may also be…

Both German and American children with learning disabilities performed significantly poorer than their age-level controls on semantic, syntactic, auditory memory, and word retrieval tasks. The majority of the language tasks also differentiated the two age levels (7- to 8- and 12- to 13-year olds) for both groups. (Author/CL)

Problems encounterd in conducting attitudinal research include difficulties with sampling procedures, attitudinal measurement, and attitudinal biases. Implications for researchers include the need to address the attitudinal biases of each individual involved in the research and the need to develop valid and acceptable attitudinal assessment…

When two psychological reports of handicapped children were presented to 86 professionals alone and in their multidisciplinary team, the teams exhibited significantly less variability in placement decisions than the same specialists acting independently. No one profession appeared to dominate the group decision making. (Author/CL)

The Pre-Reading-Screening Procedures and the Slingerland Screening Tests for Identifying Children with Specific Language Disability were administered to 1021 grade one to six students. Results indicated that reliability and validity coefficients were acceptable and that educational programing decisions could confidently be based on the test…