Interactive teaching approaches have been documented as viable and effective methods of comprehension instruction. This study identified the components characteristic of interactive and directive teaching. The language employed by teachers and learning disabled (LD) students engaged in one of three interactive strategies or a directive strategy are described and compared with student performance. A written summary and a multiple choice comprehension test served as dependent measures. Subjects were upper elementary bilingual, LD students and their teachers in eight self contained or resource classrooms. Classes were randomly assigned to one of four instructional conditions: (a) semantic mapping, (b) semantic feature analysis, (c) semantic syntactic feature analysis, or (d) direct instruction. Teacher utterances were coded according to general, directive, and interactive teaching functions. Student utterances were coded according to prior knowledge categories including elaborate, specific, restrictive, and response, and other. Results reported indicate findings regarding classroom interaction, condition effects, and theoretical tenets. Teacher and student interaction patterns revealed (a) no difference in the amount of teacher talk across assigned conditions, (b) "no response" as the most frequent student response to teacher utterances, and (c) the most student to student conversation occurred in the semantic feature analysis and the semantic syntactic feature analysis condition. Condition effect findings reported significant difference on prior knowledge and cohesiveness of written summaries. Student performance on the multiple choice test exhibited no significant difference on vocabulary items. Theoretical divergence was represented by interactive and directive teaching functions that were most differently used. These differences characterize interactive and directive instruction. Findings indicate that learning disabled students are capable of benefiting from interactive instruction; and, teachers engaged in interactive instruction employ teaching functions that encouraged student participation in classroom discussion.

No description available.

A total of 60 school psychologists and educational diagnosticians across Texas completed a survey to identify the instruments used to screen and diagnose learning disabled (LD) students, and to identify the criteria on which the final diagnosis and placement of LD or non-LD is made. The results of this survey indicate that consistent methods and criteria are not being used for identifying children as LD within the state. Many of the instruments currently used may not be technically adequate for use with a LD population. Implications of the use of inconsistent criteria, inadequate screening and assessment measures are discussed.

This thesis examines the teaching and learning of deaf primary-school learners in Kenya in order to explain their poor examination performance and to find ways of better supporting their learning. While language and communication are perceived as the main problems encountered by deaf children, it is assumed that if teachers and learners are able to communicate through sign language, deaf learners can learn. The main argument of this thesis is that although proficiency in sign language among teachers does play a great role in the education of deaf learners, it is not sufficient in offering quality education in this context. Other needs of deaf learners should be addressed during the teaching and learning process through appropriate teaching and learning materials and teaching and assessment approaches. The thesis reviews literature looking at the relationship between language, thought and learning in the education of deaf learners. The study was partly informed by Vygotsky's theory of social learning and language which recognises that children learn through their interaction with the social environment. A discussion on the difference between the concepts: ‘special education', ‘integration', and ‘inclusive education' is raised in the review of literature leading to the discussion of whether deaf learners require ‘special' pedagogy. Different views have been held regarding the type of pedagogical approach used in the teaching and learning of deaf learners in Kenya who learn in specialist units attached to mainstream schools: whether this is ‘special', integrated or inclusive education. The research took an exploratory approach and focused on the teaching and learning of Social Studies in specialist units in urban and remote rural areas in Kenya. Data were collected mainly through lesson observations and semi-structured interviews with deaf and hearing education stakeholders including learners, teachers, education officials and representatives of deaf people's organisations. Kenyan Sign Language and English were the main languages used in data collection. The study found that although textbooks were mostly available for learners in the units, they did not benefit from them due to their design which did not respond to their learning needs. However, some textbook design features that would benefit the learners were identified by the deaf teachers and learners. In addition, while deaf teachers did not generally encounter communication problems in teaching, most hearing teachers lacked sufficient proficiency in Kenyan Sign Language (the language of instruction), a phenomenon that affected dialogue in teaching,. Assessment practices seemed not to be suitable for deaf learners to express what they knew. Although teaching and learning took place in sign language, assessment was through reading and writing in English. A combination of a general quality improvement of educational resources which would be relevant for all learners and some deaf-specific interventions for deaf learners is an approach that would support deaf learners to achieve more in their learning. Recognising the expert knowledge of deaf teachers gained from their experiences as teachers and formerly as deaf learners, and their proficiency in sign language would contribute towards providing the learners with opportunities to learn more.

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Research on the families of the disabled suggest that the advent of a child with a disability will cause a far-reaching effect on the mother, father, siblings and the family's relationship with the outside world. Researchers have differed on the extent and causes of difficulties faced by the siblings, with many inconsistencies and contradictions shown. Some studies have found behavioural problems and lowered self-esteem, and others suggest an increase in altruism and compassion. An investigative study was implemented, with siblings from 29 families with a disabled child, matched with siblings from 29 families with no identified disabled sibling. Patterns of family outings, the use of support services and perceptions of difficulties faced by the family were examined. The matched siblings were compared on the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, measures of altruism, and behaviour as seen by both teachers and parents. The children also were questioned on their perception of family cohesion and their involvement with other family members. Major findings of the study were a pattern of social isolation for the families, and perception of isolation within and outside the family for both the parents and the siblings. The siblings scored significantly lower on the Coopersmith Inventory, and parents perceived them as having more behavioural difficulties than the controls' parents. No significant difference in altruism was found between the two groups of siblings. The finding that some siblings are coping well, whilst others are showing severe difficulties is ilustrated by four case studies. A number of limitation s of the study are discussed. particularly the wide range of variables investigated, and difficulties with some instruments. Further areas of research are suggested, including exploring the relationships and interactions within the family. It is concluded that for both the siblings and the whole family, the development of strong support networks and help in reframing perceptions and expectations may help to overcome the feelings of intra-family and extra-family isolation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive tempo of learning disabled students and their listening comprehension ability as a function of rate of presentation, regardless of material content (i.e., taped narrative materials--leisure: high interest/low vocabulary; taped expository materials--factual/social studies and technical/science. These data were collected on 57 learning disabled students enrolled in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in the Anderson Community Schools Special Education Co-op. Each student was tested with the Matching Familiar Figures Test (Kagan et al., 1964). Three groups of the four cognitive tempo quadrants were utilized in the experimental manipulation (i.e., listening comprehension as a function of rate of presentation, regardless of material content). Fifteen subjects were randomly assigned within each group using a drawing with replacement procedure.A 3 x 3 x 4 analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducive to the manipulation of three independent variables with repeated measures on the latter two of these variables (i.e., material content and rate of presentation). One between groups analysis (3x) and two within groups analysis (3 x 4) were involved. A R<.05 significance level and error analysis wereemployed to test three null hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated that no significant differences existed between the three groups of subjects (i.e., impulsive, reflective, fast/accurate). However, significant differences existed between content levels and between the four rates of presentation. A significant interaction between groups and rates of presentation was observed. An analysis of simple effects revealed that significant differences existed for reflectives with respect to content and rates of presentation. A significant difference between content levels was present for impulsives, while a significant difference between rates was present for fast/accurates. With the three content levels, no significant difference between groups was found. However, with all groups combined, a significant difference between rates occurred at each content level. A significant difference between groups and between content levels was determined at the 1.0 rate of presentation. At the 1.5 rate of presentation, a significant difference existed between content levels only.In addition to a significant difference between groups at the normal rate of presentation (i.e., 1.0), all groups performed best at this rate, although the impulsive group performed less well than the other two. The narrative content level elicited the best performance from all three groups, with the impulsives again demonstrating the poorest performance. Age ranges were also evaluated revealing that the oldest group (11.6 - 12.6 years) maintained the highest scores.ConclusionsIn general, the results of this study did not support the contention that increased rates of presentation would improve listening comprehension ability among learning disabled students. It was revealing to note the consistently poorer performance of the impulsive subjects on all tasks. This finding supported research which suggested that impulsive tempo is one factor contributing to poor school performance (Messer, 1976b). The study also provided evidence that the visual processing strategies underlying differences in conceptual tempo seem to generalize to the recall of auditory materials as posited by Zelniker and Jeffrey (1976). It was their suggestion that training in task-appropriate strategies may be more effective with learning disabled students than the modification of cognitive styles.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Nov. 12, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-90).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-55).