Learning Disabilities Research and Practice (Learn Disabil Res Pract)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Graves, A.W., Valles, E.C., & Rueda, R. (2000). Variations in interactive writing instruction: A study in our bilingual special education settings. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 15(1), 1-9.

  Graves A.W, Valles E.C, Rueda R
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 02/2013; 15(1):1-9.
• Article: Amount of Time in Print Reading in General Education Kindergarten Classrooms: What Does It Look Like for Students At-risk for Reading Difficulties?

  Shawn C Kent, Jeanne Wanzek, Stephanie Al Otaiba
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to examine the amount of time spent actively engaged in reading sounds, words, and connected text for students at-risk for reading difficulties in the first formal grade of reading instruction, kindergarten. Observational data of 109 kindergarten students at high-risk for later reading difficulties were collected during general education reading instruction across the school year. Findings revealed students read orally for just over 1 minute during their reading instruction with approximately equal time spent reading sounds, words, or connected text. Implications of these results for early reading instruction and intervention for students at-risk for reading difficulties or disabilities are presented.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 05/2012; 27(2):56-65.
• Article: Early Numerical Competencies of Students with Different Forms of Mathematics Difficulty.

  Jessica M Namkung, Lynn S Fuchs
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study was to examine differences in early numerical competencies, as well as subtraction skill, as a function of children's mathematics difficulty (MD) status: computational difficulty (CD), word problem-solving difficulty (PD), concurrent difficulty (CDPD), or neither difficulty (i.e., typically developing; TYP). Based on measures of addition and word-problem skill, second grade students (N = 332) were classified in terms of MD status. Then, students were assessed on three early numerical competency measures (Number Line Estimation, Number Sets Test, and Counting Knowledge) as well as a measure of subtraction. On Number Line Estimation and Number Sets Test, students with CD and those with PD scored comparably, but both outperformed students with CDPD. On Counting Knowledge-Double First, students with CDPD scored lower than the three contrasting groups. On subtraction, students with CD outperformed those with PD, and students with PD and those with CDPD performed comparably. Findings are discussed in terms of differential performance as a function of difficulty status and implications for understanding and teaching subtypes of MD.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 02/2012; 27(1):2-11.
• Article: The Efficacy of Repeated Reading and Wide Reading Practice for High School Students with Severe Reading Disabilities.

  Jade Wexler, Sharon Vaughn, Greg Roberts, Carolyn A Denton
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  ABSTRACT: This experimental study was conducted to examine the efficacy of repeated reading and wide reading practice interventions for high school students with severe reading disabilities. Effects on comprehension, fluency, and word reading were evaluated. Participants were 96 students with reading disabilities in grades 9-12. Students were paired within classes and pairs were randomly assigned to one of three groups: repeated reading (N = 33), wide reading (N = 34), or typical instruction (N = 29). Intervention was provided daily for approximately 15-20 minutes for 10 weeks. Results indicated no overall statistically significant differences for any condition, with effect sizes ranging from -.31 to .27. Findings do not support either approach for severely impaired readers at the high school level. We hypothesize that these students require more intensive interventions that include direct and explicit instruction in word- and text-level skills as well as engaged reading practice with effective feedback.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 02/2010; 25(1):2-10.
• Article: Highlights of Programmatic, Interdisciplinary Research on Writing.

  Virginia W Berninger
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 06/2009; 24(2):69-80.
• Article: Effects of Fact Retrieval Tutoring on Third-Grade Students with Math Difficulties with and without Reading Difficulties.

  Sarah R Powell, Lynn S Fuchs, Douglas Fuchs, Paul T Cirino, Jack M Fletcher
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of fact retrieval tutoring as a function of math difficulty (MD) subtype, that is, whether students have MD alone (MD-only) or have concurrent difficulty with math and reading (MDRD). Third graders (n = 139) at two sites were randomly assigned, blocking by site and MD subtype, to four tutoring conditions: fact retrieval practice, conceptual fact retrieval instruction with practice, procedural computation/estimation instruction, and control (no tutoring). Tutoring occurred for 45 sessions over 15weeks for 15-25 minutes per session. Results provided evidence of an interaction between tutoring condition and MD subtype status for assessment of fact retrieval. For MD-only students, students in both fact retrieval conditions achieved comparably and outperformed MD-only students in the control group as well as those in the procedural computation/estimation instruction group. By contrast, for MDRD students, there were no significant differences among intervention conditions.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 02/2009; 24(1):1-11.
• Article: Contrasting Adult Literacy Learners With and Without Specific Learning Disabilities.

  Margaret Becker Patterson, Daryl Mellard
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  ABSTRACT: Contrasting adult literacy learners with and without specific learning disabilities This study of 311 adult education (AE) learners found 29% self-reported having a specific learning disability (SLD). Significant differences in demographic, academic, and life experience variables between the adult learners with and without SLD included: prior participation in special education, having both an SLD diagnosis and a high school diploma, low reading scores, middle age, and negative perceptions about limitations due to reading abilities. A post-hoc regression analysis found SLD status significantly contributes to variance in reading level when controlling for age and IQ. From these findings we conclude that SLD status should be considered an educationally relevant variable in adult education that warrants a diagnostic or clinical teaching approach.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 01/2008; 29(3):133-144.
• Article: Development of the Metacognitive Skills of Prediction and Evaluation in Children With or Without Math Disability.

  Adia J Garrett, Michèle M M Mazzocco, Linda Baker
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  ABSTRACT: Metacognition refers to knowledge about one's own cognition. The present study was designed to assess metacognitive skills that either precede or follow task engagement, rather than the processes that occur during a task. Specifically, we examined prediction and evaluation skills among children with (n = 17) or without (n = 179) mathematics learning disability (MLD), from grades 2 to 4. Children were asked to predict which of several math problems they could solve correctly; later, they were asked to solve those problems. They were asked to evaluate whether their solution to each of another set of problems was correct. Children's ability to evaluate their answers to math problems improved from grade 2 to grade 3, whereas there was no change over time in the children's ability to predict which problems they could solve correctly. Children with MLD were less accurate than children without MLD in evaluating both their correct and incorrect solutions, and they were less accurate at predicting which problems they could solve correctly. However, children with MLD were as accurate as their peers in correctly predicting that they could not solve specific math problems. The findings have implications for the usefulness of children's self-review during mathematics problem solving.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 05/2006; 21(2):77-88.
• Article: Kindergarten Predictors of Math Learning Disability.

  Michèle M M Mazzocco, Richard E Thompson
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  ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to address how to effectively predict mathematics learning disability (MLD). Specifically, we addressed whether cognitive data obtained during kindergarten can effectively predict which children will have MLD in third grade, whether an abbreviated test battery could be as effective as a standard psychoeducational assessment at predicting MLD, and whether the abbreviated battery corresponded to the literature on MLD characteristics. Participants were 226 children who enrolled in a 4-year prospective longitudinal study during kindergarten. We administered measures of mathematics achievement, formal and informal mathematics ability, visual-spatial reasoning, and rapid automatized naming and examined which test scores and test items from kindergarten best predicted MLD at grades 2 and 3. Statistical models using standardized scores from the entire test battery correctly classified ~80-83 percent of the participants as having, or not having, MLD. Regression models using scores from only individual test items were less predictive than models containing the standard scores, except for models using a specific subset of test items that dealt with reading numerals, number constancy, magnitude judgments of one-digit numbers, or mental addition of one-digit numbers. These models were as accurate in predicting MLD as was the model including the entire set of standard scores from the battery of tests examined. Our findings indicate that it is possible to effectively predict which kindergartners are at risk for MLD, and thus the findings have implications for early screening of MLD.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 08/2005; 20(3):142-155.
• Article: Investigation of Poor Academic Achievement in Children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

  V J Hinton, D C De Vivo, R Fee, E Goldstein, Y Stern
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  ABSTRACT: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a neurogenetic developmental disorder that presents with progressive muscular weakness. It is caused by a mutation in a gene that results in the absence of specific products that normally localize to muscle cells and the central nervous system (CNS). The majority of affected individuals have IQs within the normal range, generally with lower verbal than performance IQ scores. Prior work has demonstrated selective deficits on tests of verbal span and immediate memory. For the current study, 26 boys with DMD (and normal intellectual function) and their unaffected siblings were evaluated. Paired comparisons demonstrated that the children with DMD had significantly poorer academic achievement scores than their siblings, even though their vocabulary levels and home and educational environments were comparable. Children with DMD also had more behavioral concerns, physical disabilities, and poorer verbal memory spans. Linear regression indicated that behavioral concerns, executive function, and physical disability did not contribute substantially to academic performance, whereas performance on verbal span did. DMD presents with a selective developmental aberration in verbal span that has wide-ranging consequences on learning skills.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 09/2004; 19(3):146-154.
• Article: A Survey of Instructional Practices of Special Education Teachers Nominated as Effective Teachers of Literacy

  Joan L. Rankin-Erickson, Michael Pressley
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  ABSTRACT: This study examined the instructional practices of special education teachers nominated as effective in teaching elementary students with reading disabilities to become successful readers and writers. Thirty-one special education teachers from 19 different states completed questionnaires about their instructional practices. These teachers reported practices that included components of whole language and direct instruction approaches. Most teachers identified with a whole language philosophy, consistently reporting attention to a literate environment, use of themes to organize instruction, motivating students by using authentic tasks, encouraging ownership of learning, and development of background knowledge. Homogeneous grouping was common for about half of instruction, as was direct instruction of skills, including concepts of print, alphabetic principle, letter sound associations, decoding skills, text elements, and comprehension strategies. In general, the greater the needs of students, the more direct instruction they received. This instruction, however, was most typically embedded in the context of real reading and writing.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 12/2000; 15(4):206-225.
• Article: Variations in Interactive Writing Instruction: A Study in Four Bilingual Special Education Settings

  Anne W. Graves, Eugene C. Valles, Robert Rueda
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  ABSTRACT: This study is designed as a set of four case studies to investigate writing instruction in bilingual special education settings and the compositions of students with learning disabilities in those settings. Each case study is in a bilingual special education setting. Special education teachers who were prepared with bilingual authorization in California were studied in each of the four settings; their decisions about writing instruction and the type of writing program they implemented were recorded. Data on students' writing were collected over a 10-week period and 1 year later as a follow-up. Results indicated that teachers chose different approaches for teaching writing, including: (a) interactive journals; (b) Optimal Learning Environment (OLE); (c) Writer's Workshop; and (d) a combination of journal writing, brainstorming-planning, and spelling practice. Based on analyses of narrative compositions, each of the four types of writing instruction appeared to yield higher writing quality after 10 weeks. However, 1 year later, only the students in the setting in which the elements of OLE were used appeared to demonstrate significant ongoing improvements in writing performance on compositions. Limitations of the study, educational implications, and future research are discussed.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 03/2000; 15(1):1-9.
• Article: Effects of a Problem-Solving Strategy on the Introductory Algebra Performance of Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities

  Paula Maccini, Charles A. Hughes
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  ABSTRACT: We investigated the effects of an instructional strategy within a graduated teaching sequence (i.e., concrete, semiconcrete, abstract) on the representation and solution of problem-solving skills encompassing integer numbers for secondary students with learning disabilities. Students advanced through three levels of instruction: (a) concrete application (i.e., manipulating physical objects to represent mathematics problems), (b) semiconcrete application (i.e., drawing pictorial representations of the mathematics problems), and (c) abstract application (i.e., writing mathematical symbols to represent and solve problems). Students also learned a strategy designed to cue effective problem-solving procedures. A multiple-probe design across participants was used (Tawney & Gast, 1984). Results indicated problem-solving skills involving integer numbers dramatically improved following instruction at the concrete, semiconcrete, and abstract levels. Students' strategy-use also increased over these instructional levels. Furthermore, generalization of treatment effects was evident in a far-transfer generalization task and over time for multiplication and division of integers.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 03/2000; 15(1):10-21.
• Article: And Now the Rest of the Story: The Research Process as Intervention in Experimental and Qualitative Studies

  Daniel J. Boudah, B. Keith Lenz
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  ABSTRACT: This article contends that educational researchers need to realize that the research process itself is an unregarded intervention beyond any intentional treatment effects or secondary effects on the research participants or other stakeholders. Implications are discussed for conducting and reporting experimental and qualitative research to increase benefits to practitioners and students with learning disabilities. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 12/1999;
• Article: Teachers Learning Ladders to Literacy

  Rollanda E. O'Connor
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  ABSTRACT: Researchers in reading acquisition over the past several years have routinely recommended that teachers in the primary grades increase the amount of instruction in phonological awareness and the alphabetic principle; however, most research with this focus has occurred in clinical settings. This study discusses the involvement of kindergarten teachers in developing practical application of the knowledge base in real classroom situations that included children with a wide range of ability. The project investigated two intensity levels of professional development, and focused on the efficacy of the activities for promoting children's early reading progress. Children whose teachers learned to implement phonological and print awareness activities performed better than children in control classes on phonological and literacy measures, with those in classes of teachers with more intensive professional development achieving the highest literacy outcomes.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 09/1999; 14(4):203-214.
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  Available from: bc.edu

  Article: Instructional Components That Predict Treatment Outcomes for Students With Learning Disabilities: Support for a Combined Strategy and Direct Instruction Model

  H. Lee Swanson
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  ABSTRACT: In this article I identify the instructional components across 180 intervention studies that best predicted effect sizes for students with learning disabilities. Although a number of methodological artifacts had a significant influence on the magnitude of treatment outcome, 16% of the variance in estimates of effect size was related to treatment components. Interventions, which included instructional components related to sequencing, drill-repetition-practice-feedback, segmentation of information, technology (structure presentation medium), controlling task difficulty (e.g., scaffolding), modeling problem-solving steps, presenting cues to prompt strategies use, supplementing teacher instruction (e.g., homework), small interactive groups, and directed response/questioning of students, accounted for the largest amount of variance in estimates of effect size. The results supported the pervasive influence of cognitive strategy and direct instruction models for remediating the academic difficulties. But the results suggested that a Combined Model is the instructional heuristic that yields the largest effect size.
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 06/1999; 14(3):129-140.
• Article: Treatment validity: A unifying concept for reconceptualizing the identification of learning disabilities.

  Lynn S. Fuchs, Douglas Fuchs
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  ABSTRACT: Discusses treatment validity as a unifying concept for reconceptualizing the identification of learning disabilities. A 4-phase eligibility assessment process is proposed that (a) attempts to maximize regular education's potential for all students; (b) reserves judgment about the need for special education until the effects of individual student adaptations in the regular classroom have been explored; and (c) before placement, verifies that a special education program enhances learning. The authors present a rationale for this alternative framework, use one well-developed classroom assessment method to illustrate the technical requirements of this alternative eligibility process, and discuss the feasibility issues this approach presents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
  Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 10/1998;