The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of explicit, direct, and generative strategy training and working memory capacity (WMC) on mathematical word problem-solving accuracy in elementary schoolchildren. In this study, children in third grade ("N" = 82) identified as at risk for math difficulties (MD) were randomly…

This article provides a quantitative synthesis of the published literature on word problem solving intervention studies for children with math disabilities (MD). Seven group and eight single-subject design studies met inclusion criteria. Mean effect sizes ("ES"s) for solution accuracy for group design studies were 0.95 (SE = 0.19) for children…

This study investigated the role of generative strategies and working memory capacity on word problem solving accuracy in children with math difficulties (MD). Within classrooms, children in Grade 3 with MD ("n" = 69) were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: paraphrase question propositions (Restate), paraphrase…

The present study investigated whether (a) growth patterns related to cognitive processing (working memory, updating, inhibition) differed in subgroups of children with reading disabilities (RD) and (b) growth in working memory (executive processing) predicted growth in other cognitive areas, such as reading and math. Seventy-three children (ages…

Many practitioners and state education agency staff would likely agree that the accuracy and consistency of specific learning disability (SLD) eligibility decisions is in need of improvement. One component of the SLD definition particularly controversial in the identification procedures is the evaluation of cognitive processes, primarily due to a…

This study was conducted to determine whether the cognitive performance of reading disabled and poor readers can be separated under dynamic assessment procedures, and whether measures related to dynamic assessment add unique variance, beyond IO, in predicting reading achievement scores. The sample consisted of 70 children (39 females and 31…

This study examined the way successful college students with LD compensated for their deficits in phonological processing. Successful was defined as average or above-average grades in college coursework. The study compared the cognitive and metacognitive performance of students with and without LD (N = 40). Although achievement levels for both…

This article presents a synthesis of articles discussed as part of the research symposium at the 25th international conference on learning disabilities by the Council for Learning Disabilities, October 11, 2003. Educators attempting to keep up with the most recent research readily acknowledge that there is too much to read and too little time for…

Four issues facing the field of learning disabilities are discussed: (1) defining learning disabilities in terms of discrepancy scores; (2) delineating the boundaries of how specific a learning disability must be; (3) identifying treatments with scientific credibility; and (4) implementing instructional policy that is in the best interest of the…

Parents (N=67) and siblings (N=71) of children with and without learning disabilities (LD) and/or behavior problems were interviewed. The primary indicator of the impact of a child with LD on siblings and parents was whether the child also had behavior problems. Results also indicated that LD children and siblings differed in perceptions of…

A study synthesized findings of 41 studies that compared children with and without learning disabilities in reading on immediate-memory performance. Results indicate children with learning disabilities were distinctly disadvantaged compared to average readers when memory manipulations required the naming of visual information and task conditions…

The information processing approach to the assessment of learning disabled students' intellectual performance includes decisions about: (1) relationship between hypothesis testing and overall performance, (2) the knowledge base for strategy development, (3) coordination of search strategies, (4) metacognition, and (5) problem solving strategies.…

The role of subvocalization in 12 learning disabled (LD) adolescent readers' comprehension difficulties was studied. Nondisabled and LD readers were compared on silent reading and listening comprehension of noun lexical, verb lexical, semantic, and inferential sentences under conditions of suppressed and nonsuppressed subvocalization. (Author/SW)

An information processing approach to the assessment of learning disabled students' intellectual performance is presented. The model is based on the assumption that intelligent behavior is comprised of a variety of problem- solving strategies. An account of child problem solving is explained and illustrated with a "thinking aloud" protocol.…

Twelve nondisabled adolescents were superior to 12 learning disabled students in performance on all types of strategy transformations presented on simple arithmetic computation tasks. Significant ability-group differences emerged on reduction to answer, saving partial results, unit building, and alternative method transformations. Results…