The purpose of this two-phase study was to investigate the effects of rate of presentation and type of material on the use of visual imagery in learning disabled (LD) and average achieving (AA) students. In the first phase, a norming study, 15 LD and 15 AA students were instructed to generate images for a list of concrete paired associates. The amount of time required to generate an image and the particular inlage reported was recorded. Based upon processing time and an image similarity index, 18 easy-to-relate and 18 difficult-to-relate word pairs were identified. Two rates of presentation (5 seconds and 10 seconds) were also determined in the norming study. In the second phase, an experimental study, 40 LD and 40 AA students were presented with the word pairs derived from the norming study, at a 5 second and a 10 second rate. The experimental task involved learning the word paIrs under either imagery or rehearsal instructions. Students were tested for associative recall after each learning trial by being presented one member of each pair and being required to recall its pairmate. Subjects were subsequently asked to report on the strategies they implemented to learn the word pairs. Data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 (group x instruction x presentation rate x pair difficulty) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last two factors. A series of separate imagery/rehearsal planned comparisons were conducted within each group/ presentation rate/pair difficulty combination. In addition, descriptive statistics were computed on the number and types of strategies reported by the students. Both LD and AA students benefited from the imagery strategy with both types of pairs at both rates. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to produce a portrait of career maturity in an LD secondary population described along multiple dimensions. The Career Development Inventory-Part 1 (CDI) was administered to the 7 females and 68 males who formed the LD population in grades 8, 10 and 12 of a Southwestern Virginia school system who had IQs of 85 or above and no serious emotional or behavioral problems. Research questions considered the reliability and item appropriateness of the CDI for this population, the contribution of variables related to career maturity and/or learning disabilities to the variance on five CDI scales and the CDI profiles for the total population and 11 subsets of the population. Internal consistency reliabilities of .88, .65, .58 and .71 respectively were found for Career Planning (CP), Decision Making (DM), World of Work (WW) and Career Development-Knowledge and Skills (CDK). A minimum of six items on the latter three cognitive scales were deemed inappropriate in terms of item-scale correlations. Grade, WISC-R Verbal and Performance IQs, WRAT Arithmetic and Reading scores, ACD profile and father's occupational level were found to contribute descriptively to explaining 19% of the variance for CP, 26% for CDA (Career Development-Attitudes), 43% for WW, 55% for CDK and 45% for COT (Career Orientation Total). Beyond Grade which made the highest contribution to all five scales (p<.01), the intelligence variables contributed significantly to the attitudinal scales (p<.05) and the achievement variables to the cognitive scales (p<.05 or .01). Father's occupational level and the ACD profile contributed insignificantly. This LD population at all grade levels scored higher than the norm group of students in grades 9-12. Although very small subgroups made any inference to even similar populations tenuous, scores increased as degree of disability went down, when students had less than two years of vocational training or parents in low occupational levels or their greatest dysfunction in Spelling. Discrepancies between attitudinal and cognitive scale scores existed in some subgroups. Scores decreased with primary dysfunction in Arithmetic. / Ed. D.

Reading problems create difficulties for many learning disabled (LD) students. Little is known, however, about the causes of reading failure among LD students. Researchers have recently focused on the comprehension processes of this population, particularly the metacognitive processes involved in reading. An important area of investigation is how comprehension monitoring can be facilitated during reading. Research in reading and learning disabilities suggests that LD students do not adequately monitor their comprehension during reading. According to schema theory, the activation of readers' prior knowledge should enhance LD students' ability to monitor their comprehension during reading. This study assessed the effects of pre-reading schema activation and schema presentation tasks on the comprehension monitoring of LD adolescents. Specifically, this study investigated the effectiveness of self-questions, structured overviews + self-questions, and a control condition on subjects': 1) detection of passage errors and 2) accuracy on two statement identification tasks. Fifty-four LD adolescents in grades 9-12 from public schools in Southwest Virginia participated in this study. All subjects were required to meet specific placement, verbal IQ, reading comprehension and exclusionary criteria before they were included in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions (two pre-reading and one control) . Dependent variables were the number of embedded errors detected and accuracy on two statement identification tasks (SIT). The first set of SIT items measured subjects' recognition of information in the passages. The second set was designed to measure subjects' accuracy on determining the plausibility of information in the passages. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures MANOVA and one-way univariate tests. Post hoc tests were used to determine which means were significantly different from each other. In addition, the number and types of questions generated, probe data and interview responses were analyzed and reviewed. Major empirical findings include: 1) subjects in the structured overview and self-questioning condition identified significantly more embedded errors than subjects in either the self-questioning or the control condition; 2) subjects in the control condition recognized less passage information (SIT 1) than subjects in either the self-questioning or the structured overview and self-questioning condition; and 3) no significant differences were found among groups in the identification of statement plausibility (SIT 2) . / Ed. D.

Passed in 1985, the Texas Education Code (TEC) §38.003, Screening and Treatment of Dyslexia and Related Disorders, required public school districts and charters to identify and provide remediation services for students with dyslexia. While Texas was the first state to pass such a requirement, the question remains: What is the prevalence and proportionality of dyslexia in Texas public school districts and charters? In Phase 1 of this study, a secondary analysis using point prevalence and disproportionality calculations was conducted to analyze the impact of this more than 30-year-old law. In order to better help understand these findings, semi-structured interviews with district leaders were conducted in Phase 2 to gain insight on how students were identified with dyslexia across the state. The results of Phase 1 showed the estimated prevalence of dyslexia in Texas public school districts and charters to be low in comparison to the literature. Additionally, the findings suggested a discrepancy in identifications between gender and district type (public school versus charter) and across racial and ethnic groups. Meanwhile, the results of Phase 2 revealed that leadership, support, funding, and accountability impact dyslexia identifications. This study emphasizes the need to further explore and analyze how to best identify and service all students with dyslexia, regardless of gender, race and ethnicity, district type, and geographical location.

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Educational Psychology

Η παρούσα εργασία αποτελεί μια μελέτη πάνω στις Μαθησιακές Δυσκολίες και ιδιαίτερα τις δυσκολίες που αντιμετωπίζουν οι μαθητές στα Μαθηματικά. Μελετάται επίσης ειδικότερα και το φαινόμενο της Δυσαριθμησίας. Αρχικά γίνεται μία γενική θεώρηση των Μαθησιακών Δυσκολιών και παραθέτονται τα χαρακτηριστικά των μαθητών με Μαθησιακές Δυσκολίες, έτσι ώστε ο καθηγητής του γενικού σχολείου παρατηρώντας τη συμπεριφορά του μαθητή να τον διακρίνει από τους τυπικούς μαθητές. Ακολουθεί η παρουσίαση των προτεινόμενων τεχνικών διδασκαλίας και στρατηγικών αντιμετώπισης. Η επιλογή αυτών των τεχνικών και στρατηγικών όμως γίνεται με γνώμονα τη δυνατότητα εφαρμογής από εκπαιδευτικό γενικής αγωγής στη Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση. Στη συνέχεια παραθέτονται ενδεικτικά Σχέδια Διδασκαλίας μέσω δραστηριοτήτων σε κάποιες ενότητες, με στόχο να ενσωματωθούν σε αυτές κατά το δυνατόν περισσότερες από τις προτεινόμενες προσαρμογές. Ως δεδομένο θεωρείται ότι στην τάξη για την οποία σχεδιάζεται η διδασκαλία υπάρχουν μαθητές με Μαθησιακές Δυσκολίες, οι οποίοι αντιμετωπίζουν δυσκολίες σε συγκεκριμένες δεξιότητες, που οι έρευνες σχετίζουν με την μαθηματική επίδοση. Με αυτή την υπόθεση, η διδασκαλία απευθύνεται σε όλους τους μαθητές, βοηθάει εξαιρετικά τα άτομα με Μαθησιακές Δυσκολίες και δεν δημιουργεί πρόβλημα στους προχωρημένους ή/και τους άριστους μαθητές. / The present work is a study of the existing literature about Learning Disabilities and particularly the difficulties faced by students in Mathematics. Also specifically studied the phenomenon of Dyscalculia. Originally is presented an overview of Learning Disabilities and the characteristics of students with Learning Disabilities, in order to distinguish them from the typical students. The teacher of general school can observe the behavior of these students and distinguish them from the typical students. Next follows the presentation of the proposed teaching techniques and strategies. The choice of which is driven by the possibility of application from the teacher of general school in Secondary Education. Then are cited some teaching projects through activities in some sections in order to incorporate them as much as possible over the proposed adjustments. Considered as a given that the class, for which the specific teaching is designed, contains students with Learning Disabilities, who face difficulties in specific skills, which investigations relate to math performance. In this case, the teaching is open to all students, it helps extremely students with Learning Disabilities and there is not a problem for advanced and / or topnotch students.

The thesis focused on specific learning disabilities.

Metaphorlc competence of learning disabled and normally achieving fifth and seventh grade male children was Investigated. Four measures were made of metaphorlc abilities. The first task was a multiple choice written test to determine the rate of metaphorlc preference. Part two consisted of children developing metaphors. Part three and four required explanations of the meaning of preferred metaphors and produced metaphors.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of specific learning disabilities in school-aged hearing impaired children based on the proposed theoretical definition of the National Joint Committee for Learning Disabilities (1981) and the theoretical definition constructed by the Canadian Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities (1981). The operationalization of these theoretical definitions, coupled with the current operational definition issued by the Texas Education Agency (1983), formulated the investigative framework.

No description available.