Results of a statewide teacher stress survey conducted with 187 teachers of learning disabled students and 178 teachers of nonlearning disabled handicapped students (total N = 365) revealed that LD teachers differed from NLD teachers in terms of experience, educational status, and caseload size; there were similarities in terms of job…

Twenty-five learning disabled adolescents were administered Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview. Compared to the average achieving adolescents, LD Ss showed less evidence of ability to view moral dilemmas from a community or societal perspective. LD Ss also exhibited a substantial amount of reasoning from an egocentric perspective focusing on…

A longitudinal study of 47 children with bilateral otitis media with effusion (OME) at age five compared with a group of non-OME children revealed that OME Ss continued to have significant hearing loss at subsequent ages, as well as language, speech, behavior, and reading difficulties. (Author/CL)

Test scores of two groups of learning disabled children (N=63 and N=96) were submitted to cluster analysis in an attempt to replicate previously described subtypes. All three subtypes (visuo-perceptual, linguistic, and articulo-graphomotor types) were identified along with minimally and severely impaired subtypes. Similar clusters in the same…

Four studies are offered from a Piagetian perspective on providing children with an optimal microcomputer environment. Guidelines stress the importance of flexibility, and a hierarchical software environment. (CL)

A survey of 50 school districts assesses the extent to which special educators are moving beyond drill and practice software with learning disabled and emotionally disturbed students and identified factors preventing or discouraging applications beyond drill and practice. (Author/CL)

Researchers, policymakers, and teacher trainers, identified as being on the "cutting edge" of research and programing in learning disabilities, responded to surveys in 1975 and 1981. The "experts" generally endorsed learning disabilities as viable classifications and asserted that they are identifiable by specific symptoms or syndrome of symptoms.…

Data from reports of the federally funded Child Service Demonstration Centers (CSDCs) are said to show that only three CSDCs adhered to all criteria in the federal definition of learning disabilities. The author suggests that LD should be adopted as a generic term for all mild handicaps. (CL)

The author responds to an article (EC 151 569) questioning the federal definition of learning disabilities (LD) because federally funded child service demonstration centers did not adhere to it. He asserts that this argument is faulty and that LD can be defined. (CL)

The author asserts that the diagnosis learning disability is applied too often and too loosely. It is recommended that the possibility be considered that poor school adjustment may be due simply to immaturity and unreadiness rather than to some general learning disability. (Author/CL)

The author traces efforts to define and redefine learning disabilities (LD). The inclusion of children in LD classes who do not meet requirements of the definition is seen as a common yet dangerous practice. (CL)

The definition of learning disabilities (LD) by the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities emphasizes severity and heterogeneity; focuses attention on the internal nature; eliminates exclusive focus on psychological processing disorders; stresses the cognitive, linguistic, and academic nature of LD; and denies direct causation to other…

The author suggests that controversies over defining learning disabilities (LD) have resulted from confusion between diagnosis and definition and from disagreement over the discrepancy issue. He further suggests that LD students are a subset of age- and ability-referenced underachievers. (CL)

The author suggests that, if the purpose of classification is to provide educational services, the category of learning disabilities be used to describe pupils with mild handicaps. She cites the folly of research on sytem-selected students because system-selection decisions are biased by political, practical, and financial influences. (CL)

The definition of learning disabilities is viewed as ambiguous, confusing, imprecise, and a waste of time. The author cites the possibility of backlash from regular education. (CL)