Educating Children with Learning Disabilities in Africa

The increase in the number of slow learners and children with learning disabilities in schools in Africa has become a major issue and concern. The situation is reflected in various school‐leaving examinations, where an average of 30 percent of the results are below average or failures each year. Although there are no statistical records available in most African countries on the number of children and youth with learning disabilities, it is believed that about 8 percent of the students in school are experiencing learning difficulties in the classroom. Diverse factors contribute to the large number of school difficulties, including overcrowded classrooms, poverty, health issues, shortages of experienced teachers, traditional beliefs, lack of teaching materials, school expectations, and motivational issues. I examine the state of education for students with learning difficulties in Africa, focusing especially on Botswana but also including information from other countries, and consider the concept, prevalence, causes, provision of services, and difficulties in providing effective services for children with learning disabilities.     

Source Monitoring in Children with Learning Disabilities

The results of a recent study by Lorsbach, Melendez and Carroll‐Maher (1991) suggest that children with learning disabilities may possess a general deficit in remembering the source of their verbal memories. The purpose of the present study was to examine further whether children with learning disabilities possess a general deficit in source monitoring and whether such a deficit is independent of performance on a recognition memory task. Children with learning disabilities and nondisabled children were presented with a series of incomplete sentences once or twice in either a listen‐listen (external source monitoring) condition or a think‐listen (reality monitoring) condition. Following the presentation of the study‐list, subjects were presented with the terminal nouns of the preceding sentences and asked to make old/new recognition judgments, as well as source attributions. Although children with learning disabilities were deficient in both forms of source monitoring, they did not differ from nondisabled children in their recognition performance. The results suggest that children with learning disabilities possess a general deficit in verbal source monitoring.     

学习不良儿童的情绪问题

情绪对人们的生活具有重要的影响,但是,学习不良儿童的情绪研究却被忽视了。实际上。学习不良儿童比一般儿童具有更多的情绪问题。文章介绍了有关学习不良儿童焦虑与抑郁情绪的研究。揭示了学习不良与情绪困扰之间的关系,并提出了改善学习不良儿童情绪问题的有效措施。     

试论行为矫正在学习障碍儿童教育训练中的角色演变

本文分析了二十世纪六十年代前、后学障研究者们设计出的众多关于学习障碍儿童的补救教学法,揭示出随着行为矫正的产生、发展,人们对学习障碍的研究愈加科学、完善,从而阐明了行为矫正在学习障碍儿童教育训练中的地位转变从配角到主角.     

不同行为类型学习困难儿童社会目标和自我效能感的关系研究

随着社会信息加工心理学的崛起,人们开始用社会信息加工过程中可能存在的障碍来理解学习困难儿童的礼会性发展.以往研究发现,意图归因、社会日标和自我效能感在加工过程中起着重要作用.本研究发现:(1)行为类刑不同的学习困难儿童在社会目标选取上存在显著差异;(2)行为类型不同的学习困难儿童在与社会目标相应的自我效能感上存在显著差异;(3)学习困难儿童所追求的社会目标与相应的自我效能感存在相关;(4)学习困难儿童社会目标存在年级差异.     

学业不良儿童前瞻记忆的实验研究

本研究采用实验室双重任务范式,探讨了在有无外部提示线索两种条件下,不同认知方式的学业不良儿童和普通儿童在基于事件、时间、活动三种前瞻记忆任务上的表现.结果表明:(1)所有儿童在基于活动的前瞻记忆任务上的成绩最好,在基于事件和基于时间任务上的成绩较差;(2)在无外部提示线索条件下,学业不良儿童在基于时间的前瞻记忆任务上的表现较普通儿童差,有外部提示线索能够促进学业不良儿童在基于时间的前瞻记忆任务上的表现;(3)无论普通儿童还是学业不良儿童,场独立型儿童在基于事件的前瞻记忆任务上的表现较场依存型儿童好.     

学习不良者的工作记忆特点

有关学习不良者的工作记忆特点的研究表明,阅读不良者与数学学习不良者都存在语音回路功能缺陷(如语音表征的效率低)以及中央执行器功能缺陷(如对注意控制的能力不足) ,即学习不良与工作记忆缺陷密切相关。今后的研究应进一步探明学习不良者工作记忆缺陷的深层原因。     

数学学习困难儿童的多媒体教学策略

如何对数学学习困难儿童进行有效干预是很多教育工作者关心的问题。已有研究表明,工作记忆的缺陷是数学学习困难的根本原因。而基于认知负荷理论的教学设计正是针对人的工作记忆容量有限这一特点,利用多媒体来促进意义学习的完成。文章试图以工作记忆为桥梁,结合认知负荷理论,提出几条针对数学学习困难儿童的多媒体教学的干预措施,并指出了将来的研究方向。     

元认知理论与学习不良儿童研究

元认知理论为人们全面深入理解学习不良问题提供了一个新视角,它对理解学习不良儿童的内部加工问题和发展提高学业成绩的教学方法都具有重要意义。元认知是个体在学习过程中主动控制认知过程的高层次思维,它包括两类成分:一类是静态成分,分为知识和动机信念;另一类是动态成分,主要指元认知监测和控制。与一般儿童相比,学习不良儿童在元认知加工方面存在不同程度的缺陷;在具体学科领域,学习不良儿童静态和动态元认知成分也有不同的表现。对学习不良儿童的研究应以服务教育实践为目的,打破纯实验研究的范式,采用不同方法,从不同角度探讨学习不良儿童的元认知发展规律和作用机制。     

学习障碍儿童的家庭环境探析

家庭是儿童接触最早的环境,也是接触最多的环境,父母是孩子人生的第一位老师,因此家庭环境对每个儿童的影响是根深蒂固的。许多研究都发现家庭环境对学习障碍儿童有影响,文章从家庭物质环境和家庭精神环境来论述其对学习障碍儿童的影响及建议。     

学习障碍超常儿童的研究进展

从特征、鉴别方法以及干预等方面综述了国外学习障碍超常儿童的研究进展.目前主要鉴别方法有智力分测验分析以及学业成绩和智力水平差异分析.日常生活评估和游戏评估是学龄前学习障碍超常儿童鉴别的有效方法.使用多种方法对多种能力进行评估可以提高鉴别准确性.在培养优势能力的过程中减少障碍是有效的教学方法.其他有效方法还包括形成知识网络结构和使用辅助工具.学习障碍超常儿童社会交往和情感需要值得关注.目前研究存在的主要问题有缺乏一致的学习障碍超常儿童能力剖面图,在主要鉴别方法上和超常儿童选拔的智商标准上也存在争议.文末探讨了对我国学习障碍超常儿童研究和教育的启示.     

A Longitudinal Study of Risk-Taking Behavior in Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

Risk taking may be regarded as a normative behavior in adolescence. Risk-taking behaviors may include alcohol, smoking, drug use, delinquency, and acts of aggression. Many studies have explored the relationship between adolescents and risk-taking behavior; however, only a few studies have examined this link in adolescents with learning disabilities. The purpose of this study was to compare the risk-taking behavior of adolescents with learning disabilities ( N  = 307) and without learning disabilities ( N  = 307) over time. Specifically, this study investigated changes over time in adolescents' substance use, engagement in major and minor delinquency, acts of aggression, and gambling activities. Results indicated that, compared to their non–learning disabled peers, adolescents with learning disabilities engaged more frequently in some risk-taking behaviors including smoking, marijuana use, acts of delinquency, acts of aggression, and gambling. The results also indicate that for some risk-taking behaviors adolescents with and without learning disabilities differ in their trajectory of engagement. Implications of this study point to the importance of supporting adolescents with learning disabilities when they are faced with difficult decisions around risk taking.     

学习困难儿童社会目标、社会行为和同伴接纳的关系研究

随着社会信息加工心理学的崛起,人们开始用社会信息加工过程中可能存在的障碍来理解学习困难儿童的社会性发展.以往对学习困难儿童的社会目标、社会行为和同伴接纳的研究主要考察两两之间的关系,本研究用社会信息加工模型来系统考察三者之间的关系.研究发现:(1)学习困难儿童的社会目标存在年级差异;(2)学习困难儿童自我报告的攻击行为存在年级差异;(3)学习困难儿童同伴评定的攻击行为存在性别差异;(4)在敌意和非敌意归因情境下,学习困难儿童的社会目标对社会行为和同伴接纳都有影响,从而为教育者通过干预学习困难儿童的社会目标来改善他们的社会行为和人际关系提供理论依据.     

Contingency Awareness in Infants and Children with Severe and Profound Learning Disabilities

Seven infants and children with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties (CA 3 months to 4 years, MA 2 months to 12 months, mean MA 4.5 months) were presented with a contingency situation where they could control the onset of a visually and auditorily attractive toy. In this situation their responding increased and some positive emotional effects were seen. When they were subsequently unable to control stimulation, negative effects were seen on a range of emotional, motivational and self‐stimulation measures. These results suggest that from a mental age level of 2 months children are equipped to detect cause and effect relationships and build up a picture of their world based on expectancies about such relationships; and that violations of these expectancies can lead to negative effects.     

国外学习障碍儿童的非标签化教育取向

本文从标签理论出发,提出了非标签化的教育取向,从诊断和安置两个环节介绍了国外学习障碍儿童非标签化教育的实施现状,总结了非标签化教育的实施过程中的有关争论,并结合我国的学习障碍儿童教育实践进行了讨论。     

学习障碍儿童社会技能研究的新进展

学习障碍儿童社会技能研究主要围绕社会技能缺失、社会技能训练有效性和社会技能研究方法方面进行。社会技能缺失研究主要探讨学习障碍儿童社会技能缺失成因、分类以及社会技能缺失是否是一种学习障碍等问题。影响学习障碍儿童社会技能训练有效性的因素主要包括干预的频率和强度、干预方法、治疗完整度和训练效果的迁移与保持等。社会技能研究方法的研究主要包括对现有社会技能评定量表和测量方法的分析与评价以及对新的社会技能研究方法———最小可觉差法和功能分析法的特征分析和有效性评价。     

学习不良儿童言语交际策略的理解与运用

言语交际策略是个体根据特定社会习俗,通过语言表达和理解意图,从而实现交际目标并获得良好社交效果的一种能力。它是言语、社交习俗和元认知三种知识成分的有机结合。以往研究表明,与一般儿童相比,学习不良儿童在言语交际策略的理解与运用上均存在一定程度的缺陷。言语交际策略研究,将为进一步探索学习不良儿童社会技能缺失的原因,以及社会认知发展的内部规律提供新的视角,因而具有理论价值与实践意义。