A Spanish perspective on LD

This article offers an overview of special education in Spain, specifically in the area of learning disabilities (LD). The term LD in Spain implies a different conception of the definition that enjoys considerable international agreement and consensus. We give a historical perspective of Spanish legislation and place the proposed definition of LD in the context of recent school reform in Spain. The support services model and the assessment practices and instructional approaches in the LD field are described. Finally, some educational implications of the new school reform regarding teacher training programs to assist special educational needs are presented.     

国外学习障碍研究的历史和现状

本文介绍了国外对学习障碍研究的三个阶段，基础阶段，早期阶段和现阶段，分析了不同国家对学习障碍的认识、研究和实践。学习障碍领域的正式建立至今仅有四十多年的历史，但各国的研究者们不断努力已取得了巨大成就。然而，这个领域仍有许多有争议的问题需要进一步的研究和探索。     

An examination of the homework practices of teachers of students with learning disabilities

This study examined the homework practices of 88 teachers of students with learning disabilities. While the findings indicated that the respondents were using several quality homework practices, some problems were noted. Suggestions for improving the homework procedures of teachers of students with learning disabilities are presented.     

Beyond strategies: teacher beliefs and writing instruction in two primary inclusion classrooms

Links between teachers' pedagogical beliefs and teaching practices were investigated with respect to process writing instruction. Participants included 5 teachers, 44 general education students, and 23 special education students in 2 elementary multi-age inclusion classrooms. Findings suggested that, although the teachers shared similar views on inclusion and were convinced of the uniqueness of their respective instructional approaches, they nuanced their writing instruction to conform to their implicit theories about teaching, learning, and disability. One set of teachers believed that the writing "breakdowns" of students with disabilities required a structural approach-sequenced, individualized, phonics-based instruction targeting individual performance levels. Another set of teachers advocated a relational approach, wherein students with disabilities are "protected" and "empowered" in learning communities characterized by shared activities, student choice, and interpersonal communication.     

The discursive practice of learning disability: Implications for instruction and parent-school relations

This article serves as an invitation to rethink and to broaden the scope of learning disabilities (LD) research and practice. We begin with 3 assumptions: Education in a representative democracy is inevitably a political enterprise; social justice is everyone's responsibility, but educators have a special role to play; and segregated schooling is neither equal nor equitable. After an analysis of the primary extant discourses, we argue for a more comprehensive and more openly political vision of the LD field, which we think is supported by Disability Studies in Education. Finally, we draw 3 conclusions relevant to our collective work as researchers and educators. First, learning disabilities are not objective fact; they are historically and culturally determined. Second, disability is both a personal and a societal attribute. Finally, learning disabilities are not and have never been immutable. We contend that we are ethically bound to transform educational practices to both welcome and accommodate everybody's children.     

Beyond Prejudice: Thinking Toward Genuine Inclusion

Abstract. The challenge of transforming our educational thinking and practices to achieve genuine rather than token inclusion asks that we examine select ideas from the natural and social sciences that have served to colonize the childhood disability field through hegemonic educational discourses. This article examines the colonizing discourses that have limited the possibilities for education available for students with disabilities, particularly those with learning disabilities, through placing them as disadvantaged through a process of being “othered.” We then present three alternative, decolonizing discourses, which open greater possibilities for persons with disabilities through the adoption of an emancipatory rather than a compensatory orientation to learning.     

Culturally Sustaining Practices in Content Area Instruction for CLD Students with Learning Disabilities

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students comprise a substantial population of students with learning disabilities, and are historically disproportionately represented in special education. To effectively teach CLD students with learning disabilities, teachers should integrate evidence‐based practices and culturally sustaining pedagogy in their practice. This article highlights several practical examples of culturally sustaining evidence‐based practices across the content areas of mathematics, reading, and writing. Suggestions for practice and future research are presented in the article.     

Evidence-Based Reviews: How Evidence-Based Practices are Systematically Identified

Evidence-based reviews are a type of systematic literature review used to identify evidence-based practices. When conducting an evidence-based review, researchers apply predetermined standards to identify evidence-based practices—practices that have been shown to reliably improve an outcome for a population of learners, according to evidence from a body of rigorous, experimental studies. In this article, we describe evidence-based reviews, provide an overview of one set of evidence standards used in special education, and describe important caveats and considerations related to evidence-based reviews. We conclude with two examples of evidence-based reviews in the field of learning disabilities. Our take-home message is that evidence-based reviews are a trustworthy approach for identifying generally effective instructional practices—but no practices, not even evidence-based practices, are effective for all learners.     

Identifying English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities: Key Challenges and Possible Approaches

The need for effective approaches for identifying English language learners with learning disabilities is great and growing. Meeting this need is complicated by recent developments in the field of learning disabilities that are unrelated to the English language learning status, and by limitations in existing knowledge specific to the identification of English language learners with learning disabilities. We review recent developments in the field of learning disabilities concerning the need for earlier identification, the need for a more appropriate conceptualization of learning disability, and the need for more effective assessments and treatments. We discuss challenges to assessment and identification of English language learners with learning disabilities, provide examples of two approaches to meeting these challenges, and describe some remaining challenges.     

Learning disabilities in Australian universities: hidden, ignored, and unwelcome

Although more students with learning disabilities (LD) are enrolling in Australian universities, their learning needs are not well understood. This article reports on the experiences of students with LD who are encouraged to enter the academy by Australian university policies and government legislation but, once there, find that the promise of equal opportunity is often not kept. This article provides some insights into how university lecturers' normative expectations and practices can affect students' everyday experiences. Interviews with students with LD showed that they do not often receive support services, their "stories" are not believed, and they often feel that they do not "belong".     

Studying disability and disability studies: shifting paradigms of LDA synthesis of responses to Reid and Valle

In this article, I discuss the 11 diverse responses to Reid and Valle's work on the discursive practice of learning disabilities (LD), implications for instruction, and parent-school relations. I highlight key ideas from each article and then focus on three common areas of interest shared by most respondents: the unacceptable status quo of schooling practices; desired changes in schooling practices; and knowledge production in the field of special education and its relation to schooling practices. In light of the many issues raised, I urge the need for a reflective turn in the field of LD and for openness toward diversification of thought.     

Grouping for reading instruction: does one size fit all?

Twenty-nine third-grade teachers and selected students from their classes participated. Study 1 used teacher interviews and classroom observations to examine teachers' perceptions and practices for grouping for reading instruction; Study 2 examined the impact of these grouping practices on the academic progress, social progress, and attitudes about reading of students representing a range of achievement levels, including students with learning disabilities. Results indicated that, overall, teachers used whole class instruction for reading and the same materials for all students, including students with learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities made little academic progress and their attitudes about reading did not improve over time.     

Disabled Learners in South Asia: lessons from the past for educational exporters

South Asia's historical heritage of ideas and practices for educating children with special needs contains many of the approaches that western teachers discovered independently in the past 150 years. These include close observation of children's current abilities, adjusting the curriculum to individual needs, valuing the social benefits even where intellectual progress is weak, allowing more time for learning, using specially designed materials, educating children with disabilities in ordinary schools, and providing role models of adult achievers who have disabilities. These approaches are here illustrated with stories from ancient India and educational documents from the British Raj. The cultural heritage has largely been ignored during the inflow of western educational ideas to South Asia. Some of the simpler approaches were displaced by the growing professionalisation of special education in the late 19th century. Casual integration of children with mild and moderate disabilities is still obscured in modern integration debates. To facilitate exchanges on a basis of mutual respect and reciprocity, the cultural and conceptual riches of South Asia's educational history must be rediscovered.     

Understanding the Philosophical Foundations of Disabilities to Maximize the Potential of Response to Intervention

In the United States and elsewhere in the world, disabilities are being studied by two different schools of thought: special education and disability studies. In the field of special education, analyses are often pragmatic and instrumental. In contrast, analyses in the field of disability studies are often historical and cultural, explaining disabilities as constructed by social value. This lack of agreement about disabilities leads us to ask: How can practitioners and researchers begin to address the issue of which students might need intensive interventions for their disabilities through the response to intervention (RTI) approach when disabilities are viewed so differently by scholars in the field? In this article I compare and contrast the philosophical foundations of disabilities in special education and disability studies and conclude that the dimensions of pragmatic, instrumental, historical, and cultural factors must be taken into account in order to achieve both the macro and micro levels of RTI implementation.     

At second glance: employers and employees with learning disabilities in the Americans with Disabilities Act era

The impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 on the American workplace is examined. The findings of a previous study (Gerber, 1992) on employer knowledge about learning disabilities are compared to current findings. Important themes and employer beliefs and practices that were consistent in employer responses are described. Although employers are continuing to make efforts to comply with the regulations of the ADA, they still have relatively little knowledge or experience with it in terms of learning disabilities.     

现代远程特殊教育需求调查与学习模式探索

河北远程特殊教育不仅是河北开放大学肩负的社会责任和重要的工作任务,也具有重要的社会意义。为充分了解石家庄市的残障人士的现状,特殊教育学院有针对性地对残疾人进行调查,以制定符合残疾人自身特点的学习专业方向和教学实施计划。远程职业特殊教育实行混合式学习模式,让河北有学习要求的残障人士通过"河北电大特殊教育远程教学平台",随时随地地免费参加学历教育与非学历教育的课程学习和考核,获得相应的学历或课程结业文凭。     

Understanding the ‘Lexia’ in dyslexia: A multidisciplinary team approach to learning disabilities

The historical roots of the IQ-achievement discrepancy definition of learning disability are discussed as a reference point for explaining why this definition came into being and why it is inadequate for dealing with the variety of learning and developmental disabilities that present in school settings. A proposal is offered and justified for defining learning disabilities on the basis of profiles for multiple developmental domains that affect learning. In this proposal, developmental dyslexia is differentiated from other learning disabilities. Developmental dyslexia is defined as uneven development (dissociation) between word reading and higher-level processes in the functional reading system. Dyslexics may struggle with word reading because of deficits in phonological processes, orthographic-phonological connections, and/or fluency (rate, automaticity, or executive coordination). The need for both national and international classification schemes for defining specific learning and developmental disabilities for the purposes of educational services and research is emphasized. Grant P50 33812-06 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development supported preparation of this article.     

Effects on first-grade promotion practices of a program for the prevention of learning disabilities

The impact upon promotion practices in an inner-city school of a program for the prevention of learning disabilities is examined over a twelve-year period during which the program operated. This preventive approach—a cooperative program of a community school district and a medical center—provided services to identify children vulnerable to learning disabilities, to diagnose the causes of their vulnerabilities, and to intervene educationally in school-based projects. Results of educational intervention are demonstrated in a decrease in nonpromotion rate to 5% or less.     

Relationships between children's birthdates and classification as handicapped: Do they exist?

For years researchers have debated the effect of school entrance age on student achievement and adjustment, and some researchers have attributed many school learning problems to students entering school too early. This study investigated the relationship between students' month of birth and learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and speech and language delays in 1,951 identified students with these disabilities. Analysis did not find that the late-birthdate children were identified as having disabilities more often, as was suggested in earlier studies. The implications of this finding for school entry practices are presented.