This study purposed to determine if the decline of proficient cursive writing in students in Grades 3-5 in a private Christian school in Maryland has a degree of influence on the regression in academic achievement in spelling, language skills, and written expression. In this age of PET and fMRI scans, neurological imaging showed areas in the brain…

Archival data was obtained for 68 students enrolled in a non-public school, receiving special education services. Participants were classified as emotionally disturbed (ED) and had scores on file for three assessment tools utilized: Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III), Clinical Assessment of Behavior (CAB), and Piers-Harris…

The predictive utility of cognitive abilities on reading, writing, and mathematics achievement domains helps inform high-stakes decision making, such as learning disabilities. An examination of differences in specific groups may increase understanding of obtained scores on cognitive ability and academic achievement standardized tests. One…

The current study utilized data from screening and full evaluations for learning disabilities conducted at a university-based learning center. Results from the screening assessments were analyzed to determine the extent to which they predicted the diagnosis of learning disorders in postsecondary students. Mean scores from the screening assessments…

This study examined students' movement in and out of special education and predictors for later special education placement. The sample ( N = 556) came from a response to intervention (RTI) study, specifically, a cluster-randomized control field trial that undertook the development and study of a hybrid Tier 1 (classroom instruction) and Tier 2…

Historically, theories pertaining to learning disabilities, and the programs and techniques developed to attempt to help children with learning disabilities, have centered on children ages seven and younger. There has been very little treatment for, or even written about, learning disabilities in children through and beyond the age of eight.…

Assessment of specific learning disabilities (SLD) in educational settings is one important function of a school psychologist. The federal definition of SLD describes "underlying cognitive processing deficits" as part of the assessment criteria, that is also incorporated in several states' SLD eligibility criteria, that is difficult to…

Early number sense knowledge is highly predictive of later math achievement (Herbers et al., in press; Jordan, Kaplan, Ramineni, & Locuniak, 2009; Obradovic i et al., 2009). However, research suggests that variables beyond number competencies contribute to students' mathematics achievement, most notably, executive function (Blair & Razza,…

Psychoeducational assessment, and specifically cognitive testing, is important to the role of school psychologists; however, the utility of such testing has been called into question, and its future is unclear. Researchers are divided into two camps. One side grew disenchanted with cognitive testing after the failure of the discrepancy method to…

To insure academic success for students with learning disabilities, it is critical that educators are able to make timely and effective instructional decisions. The focus of this study was to evaluate the relationship and effectiveness of two different progress monitoring tools, a measure of oral reading fluency and the Wilson Reading System's…

While special education law has been amended several times since the statutory definition of a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) was created in 1968, there continues to be ambiguity within the field regarding the definition as well as the diagnostic criteria. This inevitably leads to a lack of consistency in diagnosis within states and among…

Children with HFA/AS are outperformed by their neuro-typical peers on mathematical problem solving skills even though they have average-to-above-average intelligence (Dickerson Mayes & Calhoun, 2003b); have average-to-above-average computation skills (Chiang & Lin, 2007); and, are educated in the general education setting (Twenty Eighth…