This critique of Edwin Ellis's Integrative Strategy Instruction model for integrating cognitive strategies into content area learning for students with learning disabilities comments on the model's similarities to other cognitive strategy training models, the role of mnemonic techniques in content area learning, and the need to incorporate…

This article asserts that the learning disabilities field must (1) address causality in differentiating learning disabilities from other learning problems, (2) expand prevailing approaches to individualizing instruction so that intrinsic motivation is accounted for in a systematic, comprehensive manner, and (3) move beyond piecemeal programs to…

In the absence of a clear definition of learning disabilities, it has become an educational simile with children described as "like a learning disabled child." The learning disabled label has become reflective of a problem related more to social structure than to children. Greater attention should be given to individual needs and less emphasis…

The authors postulate that dysfunctions in the cortical sensorimotor areas of the brain that control internal speech may adversely affect the learning of reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic, especially in children who are first learning these skills. (Author)

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 two papers decrying reductionism and advocating holistic constructivism in models of learning disabilities, the article applauds trends toward a shifting paradigm in the field but warns against advocating any single approach as the only valid path to effective learning. (DB)

The position paper of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities provides five criticisms of the definition of learning disabilities developed in 1967 by the National Advisory Committee on Handicapped Children and proposes an alternative definition. (DB)

Discusses the development of informal mathematics in young children, the problems with formal mathematics instruction, how the traditional approach fails to address mathematics learning disabilities, and how a developmental perspective can assist in the identification and treatment of students with mathematics learning disabilities. (CR)

More than 20 years ago, psychologists first described gifted students with learning disabilities (LD). In the past decade, several sets of identification criteria have been proposed for this population. Many of the suggested assessment practices are unsupported by research in psychoeducational assessment, and some have been directly contradicted…

The paper points out that because of an incorrect interpretation of the development of learning disabilities, physically handicapped children with learning disabilities are being discriminated against in the provisions of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. (PHR)

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)

Services for learning disabled adults are discussed through a comparison of their treatment in the Dutch and Danish delivery of services. Promising practices are related from a European perspective and questions are raised about the evolution of services to learning disabled adults in the United States. (Author/CL)

A teacher of middle-school students with learning disabilities summarizes interviews with two learning-disabled young men in which they remember the humiliation suffered because of their disability and the difference a knowledgeable and understanding teacher can make. (DB)

The article discusses the need for new and different programmatic alternatives to train competent teachers in the future. The relationships between learning disabilities, competency based teacher education programs, and hierarchical theories of human development are explored and preliminary suggestions are offered in hopes of producing alternative…

In response to a previous article, the paper stresses that, in addition to theory development, the field of learning disabilities needs to resolve definitional issues involving disability specificity, intelligence, measurement concepts, and the continua of abilities. Suggestions for developing operational definitions of both learning disabilities…