This meta-analysis assessed the effect of word-problem-solving interventions on the word-problem-solving accuracy of students identified as having a learning disability (LD) or at risk for an LD in kindergarten to the sixth grade. Eighteen randomized control group designed studies met the inclusion criteria. Overall, word-problem-solving…

English learners (ELs) experience difficulty with mathematical problem solving because word problems require complex processes beyond basic math skills, such as the use of linguistic information, identifying relevant information, and constructing the appropriate problem statement. This study used a combined multiple baseline design and criterion…

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…

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…

Comparison of the free recall of learning-disabled (N=24) and non-disabled (N=24) eight- and ten-year-old readers during directive and nondirective encoding conditions found that both groups recalled more semantically- than nonsemantically-organized items. Learning-disabled readers preferred to encode categorically-organized items nonsemantically…

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.…

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…

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.…

The Continuous Performance Test was administered to 16 normal and 16 learning disabled males (CA 12.5) to test the proposition that learning disabled children manifest an attention deficit related to reading performance. (Author)