Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Learning Disabilities”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,189 records · Page 66Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Students with learning disabilities in higher education: academic strategies profile.

This study compared 191 college students with learning disabilities (LD) and 190 students without LD in four main areas: academic difficulties, learning strategies, functioning during examinations, and students' perception of factors that help or impede their academic success. Analysis of the personal data of students with and without LD revealed no significant differences between groups on grade point average, number of courses taken, and family status, but students with LD reported having more difficulties in humanities, social sciences, and foreign language than students without LD. Regarding academic strategies, students with LD devised unusual strategies and preferred additional oral explanations or visual explanations, whereas nondisabled students preferred more written examples. These differences indicated that students without LD used more written techniques than did students with LD. During examinations, the students with LD had difficulty concentrating and were concerned about lack of time. They experienced stress, were nervous, and felt more frustrated, helpless, or uncertain during examinations than students without LD. The implications for college students with LD are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Teacher perceptions of differences among elementary students with and without learning disabilities in referred samples.

Current referral and identification procedures for students with learning disabilities (LD) have been criticized on conceptual and procedural dimensions, including difficulties in operationalizing the definition and in making eligibility decisions that are data based. Recognizing these difficulties, the Texas Education Agency appointed a task force to examine various issues associated with the identification, assessment, and programming of students with LD. Task force members recognized the need to identify classroom behaviors that differentiate students with LD from their non-disabled peers. Two scales of 83 items each were devised and piloted in 70 school districts. Five significant factors or subscales were identified through discriminant factor analyses. Two subscales and 18 individual items discriminate students later classified as LD and those referred but not subsequently classified as LD. Results are discussed, with implications for further investigation of behaviors that distinguish students with and without LD.

Achievement↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Learning disabilities in Costa Rica: challenges for an "army of teachers".

Special education services in the country of Costa Rica have been affected by factors that most developing countries confront: shortages of trained personnel, geographic isolation of a large sector of the population, and severe economic limitations. Despite these challenges, services for students with learning disabilities in Costa Rica have rapidly expanded in the last 15 years through the development of resource rooms, recargo classrooms, and itinerant teacher delivery systems. The history and evolution of special education services in Costa Rica are described, along with critical issues that impede the expansion of educational services to students with learning disabilities, particularly in rural areas.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Putting people first: a social constructionist approach to learning disability.

Moving from an individual to a social focus will allow clinical psychologists working with people who have learning disabilities to address a wider range of difficulties experienced by this client group. Social constructionist theory may be a useful framework to facilitate such an approach, and is intellectually compatible with changes occurring in other related disciplines. Research relevant to this perspective is reviewed under four subheadings proposed by Doise. Implications for clinical practice are discussed by reference to two case studies.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Gifted students with learning disabilities: who are they?

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 by recent research. We argue that an uncritical acceptance of the concept of concomitant giftedness and LD has led to unsound identification procedures and to interventions that are not targeted properly. Specific recommendations for future research and implications for current clinical practice are discussed.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The irrelevance of IQ to the definition of learning disabilities: some empirical evidence.

The relevance of IQ to the definition of learning disabilities is a much-debated issue. In this article, the effect of not using IQ in the identification of children with reading disabilities is demonstrated. Two classification procedures, differing in their use of IQ, are compared. The first conclusion is that abandoning IQ in classification has a very limited impact on the number of children identified as reading disordered. Our data demonstrate that, if IQ is used, more high IQ children are classified. Another finding pertains to the effect of a restriction of IQ range. The number of children classified as reading disordered is a function of the IQ range.

Achievement↗
PubMed1997

Personality disorders in people with learning disabilities: a community survey.

The prevalence of personality disorders has been determined by studies of both the general population and mental handicap hospitals. The present study attempts to determine the prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample and to check the implications for treatment. A community sample of learning disability service users was surveyed by obtaining a rating from a good informant to establish demographic data, level of functioning and the nature of personality disorders, if any, using the ICD-10 version of the Standardized Assessment of Personality (SAP). Fifty per cent of the sample had personality abnormalities, and 31% had sufficient impairment of the social and occupational domains and personal distress to warrant a diagnosis of personality disorder. These findings are compared with previous studies. Paranoid, schizoid, impulsive and dissocial personality abnormalities were seen to be associated with a high referral rate to psychiatric services and needed considerable therapeutic input. The prevalence of personality abnormalities in community populations with a learning disability is high. The SAP is a useful instrument for screening. This subpopulation makes significant demands on community psychiatric services.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Learning disability in adults: a comparison of two indices of differential cognitive impairment derived from the Wechsler scales.

Two indices descriptive of patterns of differential cognitive impairment have been derived from principal component analyses of the normative data of the Wechsler scales for adults (WAIS-R) and children (WISC-R), respectively. The former index is sensitive to the test-specific cognitive effects of unilateral cerebral damage in adults. The latter accurately describes the pattern of subtest scores produced by learning-disabled children. The present study reviews the available WAIS and WAIS-R data from adults with learning disability in order to determine which of these two indices more precisely delineates their pattern of test performance; the index derived from the children's test appears to be the one best able to do so.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Hypertext support for remedial students and students with learning disabilities.

Student use of pop-up text windows that support or extend information found in a high school social studies text provides a detailed look into the instructional effectiveness of a set of hypermedia study guides. Twenty-five students, 19 male and 6 female, with a mean age of 14.6 years participated in this study. Thirteen were students with learning disabilities and 12 were remedial students. Findings from the study indicate that hypertext (text-only) support provides adequate reinforcement to move remedial students and students with learning disabilities toward continued, unprompted use of a hypermedia study guide, and that short-term and long-term retention of information can be expected from text-only information support. Students who had access to the hypermedia study guides exhibited better information retention than students who did not use the hypermedia study guides.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Attitudes of the dental team to the provision of care for people with learning disabilities.

The aim of this study was to report on the evaluation of an attitude scale for General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) and Dental Auxiliaries/Professionals Complementary to Dentistry (PCDs), to determine the reliability of the scale with these two groups and to note any inter-group differences. Seventy-four GDPs and 89 PCDs completed the self-administered questionnaires. The main outcome measures were reliability statistics, attitude scores, and factor analysis statistics. Reliability was satisfactory for both groups. PCDs scored consistently higher than GDPs on this attitude scale. Six factors were found to underlie the responses of GDPs, accounting for 62% of the variance. Seven factors were found to underlie the responses of PCDs, accounting for 65% of the variance. PCDs expressed more positive views about provision of care for patients with learning disabilities than did GDPs. Factor analysis revealed that GDPs were concerned about effectiveness of treatment and the stress related with treating patients with disabilities. PCDs appeared to be more concerned with the human rights of people with learning disabilities and how they fit into society.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Psychopharmacological intervention. II: Teacher perceptions of psychotropic medication for students with learning disabilities.

The perceptions, knowledge, and opinions of 104 teachers of students with learning disabilities regarding medication used with their students were investigated. The students' doctors were perceived as the professionals primarily responsible for making the decision to have the student either placed on or taken off medication. The teachers indicated that global impressions and direct behavioral observations were used to assess the effects of medication but that they would prefer to use behavioral observations and rating scales. Hyperactivity and delusions/hallucinations were perceived as the problems most likely to lead to medication. Less than 15% of the teachers indicated that their professional preservice training had provided them with sufficient information on the use of medication for children with behavior problems, and less than 20% had a similar opinion regarding their inservice training on the same topic.

Attitude↗
PubMed2005

Positive illusory bias and the self-protective hypothesis in children with learning disabilities.

We tested the hypothesis that overestimations of performance by children with learning disabilities (LD) are self-protective and will dissipate following positive feedback. Twenty-three boys and 17 girls with LD (ages 10.6 to 13.5 years) and a control group of non-LD matched children (22 boys and 17 girls) provided a prediction of their performance on a spelling test prior to completing the test. Subsequently, they were randomly assigned to either a positive feedback or a no-feedback condition. Finally, they provided a second prediction of performance on an equivalent spelling test. In children with LD, there was a positive bias in their predictions of performance, and, following positive feedback, their predictions became accurate. In children without LD, there was no positive bias and no effect of feedback. The results provide further support for the presence of a positive illusory bias and for the self-protective hypothesis in children with LD.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Visual and auditory coding confusability in students with and without learning disabilities.

The nature of visual and auditory coding processes in students with learning disabilities (SLDs) and student controls (SCs) was examined with a letter-matching task on four types of successively presented letter pairs: identical (A,A), visually confusable (P,R), auditorily confusable (F,S), and neither visually nor auditorily confusable (N,T). Two delay intervals (0 and 2 seconds) were used between the presentation of the first and second letters. Analysis of decision latencies on the nonidentical letter pair trials revealed that with initial exposure to the task, the SLDs responded more slowly than SCs, but their general confusability patterns (visual and auditory) were similar. With additional practice, overall decision latencies were comparable for the two groups, while confusability differences emerged: SCs showed maximal visual confusability at a 0-second delay and maximal auditory confusability at a 2-second delay, while SLDs did not. Evidently, SLDs make less extensive use of visual and auditory coding processes compared to SCs.

Attention↗
PubMed1998

Seasonal Affective Disorder and response to light in two patients with learning disability.

BACKGROUND: Seasonal Affective Disorder is now a well recognised variant of recurrent depressive disorder. No previous description of its occurrence in people with a learning disability has appeared. METHODS: Two patients are described who manifested seasonal cycles in mood related behaviour. RESULTS: Both patients were treated with bright artificial light and showed adequate clinical responses. CONCLUSION: Patients with a learning disability and recurrent behavioural changes indicative of a mood disorder should be assessed for the seasonal pattern of the illness and, if appropriate, given a trial of treatment with bright artificial light. LIMITATION: The data relates to two case reports without structured assessments. Further studies in this population should use standardised diagnostic criteria and systematic severity of depression scores. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Patients with poor verbal skills may not be able to express their seasonal changes adequately but careful observation of the timing of behavioural abnormalities may aid the diagnosis of SAD leading to new therapeutic possibilities in phototherapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

An examination of the reading performance of students with mild educational handicaps or learning disabilities.

Reading performance is a primary concern in both regular and special education. Reading is also the dominant medium through which educators conduct lessons, or students acquire information in subjects such as science and mathematics. Reading performance can be measured in a variety of ways. The present study examined the performance of students with mild educational handicaps (n = 28) or learning disabilities (n = 38) on a combination of norm-referenced and curriculum-based assessment (CBA) approaches that used science content. Overall, there were no significant differences between the samples on measures of word recognition, but significant differences favoring students with learning disabilities did occur in comprehension.

Achievement↗
PubMed2000

Assessment of hearing in persons with learning disabilities: the Phoenix NHS Trust, January 1997 to September 1998.

People with learning disabilities are at increased risk of impaired hearing. The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of hearing impairment and ear disease in people attending the specialist Otolaryngology/Hearing Therapy clinic at the Phoenix NHS Trust, Bristol. The present and future process of such a service was explored. Data were obtained from the referral form and notes made by the consultant otolaryngologist. In 20 months, there were 226 consultations, 188 of which were new referrals. The majority of patients had verbal communication to some extent. Suspected infection/inflammation and unobtainable/abnormal tympanograms, each accounted for 43 per cent of reasons for referral. Twenty per cent of patients were normal otologically. Eighteen per cent were provided with hearing aids and nine per cent required surgery. Ten patients underwent brainstem evoked response testing, half of whom had aidable hearing. Our results are comparable to published data of similar units. It is recommended that combined otolaryngology/specialist hearing therapy services are continued and further developed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

State disparities in the diagnosis and placement of pupils with learning disabilities.

We investigated the hypothesis that interstate disparities in the diagnosis of pupils with learning disabilities (LD) are more strongly correlated with demographic and sociopolitical factors than with the biological prevalence of the disability. We also investigated the relationship of these factors to placement practices. Thirteen independent variables representing state characteristics were simultaneously regressed against each of seven static dependent variables, measuring diagnostic and placement practices in 1989, and two dynamic dependent variables, measuring changes in practices between 1976 and 1989. Results of the regression indicated that although demographic and sociopolitical factors explained none of the total prevalence of the four most common physical disabilities (adjusted R2[R2] = 0), they did explain to a moderate degree the state prevalence of LD (R2 ranged from .15 to .28), and were more predictive still depending on measure of LD prevalence. Moreover, these same factors strongly predicted the extent to which states mainstreamed their pupils (R2 = .59) and the size of the nonmainstreamed cognitively disabled (LD and educable mentally retarded) population (R2 = .56).

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Posttraumatic stress disorder reactions among children with learning disabilities exposed to terror attacks.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reactions were examined among adolescents exposed to terror attacks. In the first stage, 56 children with learning disabilities (LDs) were compared with 48 nonclinical controls aged 14 to 18 years. Posttraumatic stress disorder in children with LD was significantly higher than in the control group. Next, hierarchic regression predicting PTSD reactions among children with LD was performed. Results revealed that personal exposure to terror, past personal threatening life events, avoidant and anxious attachment, and the anxious attachment x threatening past events interaction contributed significantly to the explained variance of PTSD. Examination of the source of this interaction revealed that adolescents high in anxious attachment who underwent more threatening past life events were more prone to PTSD when exposed personally to terror attacks. The findings suggest that adolescents with LD have difficulties in cognitive processing of traumatic events. This group of adolescents is in double jeopardy for developing PTSD symptoms if they personally experienced threatening events in the past and are characterized by anxious attachment. The anxious attachment damages their self-regulation, intensifies their distress, and exacerbates the risk for PTSD. Hence, special attention and specific intervention are needed for youth with LD to enhance their coping strategies.

Adolescent↗