Research indicates that students with learning disabilities know little about their condition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the depth and breadth of high school students' understanding of their learning disabilities. Using semi-structured individual interviews, the researcher collected, transcribed, and analyzed data to determine 12 participants' knowledge of learning disabilities, about how they learn, and about their potential to succeed in school and adult life. Results indicate varying levels of self-knowledge and varying perceptions of future success.

This self-study explores the question of "What factors in my life shaped my journey in earning an American college degree and becoming a successful educator in the U.S.?" This question is explored in the context of my own lived experiences. Results contribute to the field of immigrant studies and may encourage others who wish to transition from first generation immigrant to successful professional educator in the U.S. This study employed hermeneutic phenomenology to answer the research question. It used in-depth narrative interviews to elicit my responses to lived experiences from growing up in Mexico to my current teaching position. Thematic analysis was used to summarize and interpret the data. Data analysis yielded six themes that describe my journey to becoming a teacher in the U.S.: family influence, vision of life, role models, challenges, sources of support, and inner strength. Findings reaffirm the belief that it is possible for an individual who has recently immigrated to the United States and who may have experienced aspects of structural inequality to surmount difficult circumstances and achieve important life goals.

Academic cheating frequency, motivating factors for cheating, and student reasons for cheating have been studied extensively for decades, but nearly all of the research has been conducted with typically-developing students. To date, only one published study has examined cheating among students with learning disabilites, despite over 2 million students in American schools having been diagnosed with a learning disability. Students who engage in academic cheating, as well as students who have learning disabilities, are more likely to have low levels of self-efficacy, hold more performance goal orientations, and have higher levels of impulsivity. Therefore, in the present study, individuals with a learning disability were expected to cite significantly more reasons for cheating related to those three variables, as well as to endorse cheating as being acceptable in more academic situations. Learning disability status, cheating tolerance, and reasons for cheating were measured in 77 Amazon Mechnical Turk adult participants through self-report surveys. Results revealed no difference in cheating tolerance between individuals with learning disabilities and their typically-developing peers. Individuals with a learning disability cited significantly more reasons for cheating related to low self-efficacy and performance goal orientations compared to their typically-developing peers, but not for reasons related to impulsivity. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

This investigation compared the auditory memory span and sequence of language/learning disabled children with that of normal children to determine if there was a difference between the two groups on short-term auditory memory, ordering of stimulus type difficulty and performance on subtests using various stimulus types. Fifteen LD subjects were matched with fifteen normal subjects for mental age as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The Auditory Memory Test Battery (AMTB) was administered to each subject. The AMTB consists of five tape recorded subtests of recall for sentences, digits, related words, unrelated words, and nonsense words. Each subject responded verbally to the randomly presented subtests. This resulted in ten scores for each subject: a span score and sequence score for each of the five subtests, with a possible twenty-eight points for each subtest for both span and sequence.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of inclusive education for children with specific learning disabilities from the point of view of primary school teachers at selected primary school. The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out the opinions of primary school teachers on inclusion of children with specific learning disabilities and on the basis of the information from the theoretical part to propose recommendations for pedagogical practice. The diploma thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. In the theoretical part, I focus on defining inclusive education and its legislative framework, specific learning disabilities and their categorisation, the levels of supporting steps, the role of teacher and teacher's assistant in mainstream education and, last but not least, the games that can be used to correct specific learning disabilities in younger and older children and ways to improve at school. The practical part is based on qualitative research in pedagogy, realized by means of semi- structured interviews with primary school teachers who have pupils with specific learning disabilities in the class. The aim of the practical part is to find out the opinion of primary school teachers on inclusive education for children with specific learning disabilities and to give...

Teachers in Lebanese schools are still using outdated traditional strategies for instructing students with learning disabilities (LD). The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to understand Lebanese elementary teachers' perceived barriers to providing effective metacognition skills instruction and increase the understanding of how teachers are supporting students with LD to use metacognitive strategies to enhance their own learning. The conceptual framework used to ground the study was Flavell's metacognitive theory. The purposeful sample included 12 elementary special and regular education teachers selected from 6 different Lebanese schools in 5 areas in Lebanon. Each teacher participated in a semistructed interview and was observed while teaching in the classroom. Coding and thematic inductive approaches based on elements of the conceptual framework were used to analyze the data. Peer debriefing, member checking, and triangulation by region were used to ensure credibility and trustworthiness. The findings revealed that teachers were knowledgeable about how to teach metacognitive skills, but they were not explicitly instructing those skills to students with LD. Among the reported barriers to teaching these skills included lack of time, perceived nature of the LD students' disability, and cultural expectations. The findings were used to provide recommendations for Lebanese teachers to implement in day-to-day instruction for students with LD and for school leaders to build teachers' capacity to engage LD students in constructing their own learning. This study may affect positive social change by promoting instruction of metacognitive strategies for students with LD to help them build lifelong 21st century skills.

Researchers have shown the importance of effective transition services for students with learning disabilities entering college. Few studies, however, have explored the perceptions of students with learning disabilities going through the transition process while pursuing postsecondary options. To address that gap, this study analyzed how students with learning disabilities perceive the effectiveness of their secondary transition services and preparedness for college. The conceptual framework was based on Rogers's theories of learning, which suggest learning includes feelings and emotions as well as cognitive development. Education should promote the type of learning that leads to this personal growth and development. A phenomenological approach was chosen, and a research protocol was developed for the participants. Nine students with learning disabilities who completed at least 1 year of college were interviewed about their perceptions of the effectiveness of their secondary transition services and their perceptions of their preparedness for college. These interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. The data was hand coded, analyzed, and organized to discover emerging themes. The data revealed the majority of the participants had not perceived their transition plans and services to have prepared them for college. The participants' role was minimal in their individualized education program meetings and in the development of their transition plans. The implication for positive social change is to develop the resources required for school districts, administrators, and teachers to better prepare postsecondary students with learning disabilities for the rigors of higher education.

Although educators have embraced technology in mathematics inclusion classrooms, students with math learning disabilities (MLD) still have anxiety and negative attitudes about mathematics and score lower than their counterparts. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to investigate and describe the experiences of middle school 8th grade inclusion iPad math app users. The technological pedagogical content knowledge model, the universal design for learning model, and the experiential learning theory provided the conceptual framework of technology integration. The research questions addressed the experiences of middle school inclusion teachers and students with MLD regarding iPad use in a Common Core standards-based math curriculum. Two inclusion co-teachers and 8 special education students from 2 inclusion classes in a middle school participated in the study. Data were collected from direct lesson observations, document analysis, and individual teacher and student interviews. An interpretative approach of clustering codes and categories was employed to identify emerging themes. Findings indicated that iPads increased student engagement and student access to the Common Core math curriculum. Teachers and students using iPads faced some challenges including lack of knowledge of using text-to-speech and keeping up with relevant new apps. Educators may use findings to understand how technology integration can provide equal access to the Common Core standards-based math curriculum for students with MLD and can reduce learning barriers for all students

A exposição a agentes químicos neurotóxicos pode concorrer para o desenvolvimento ou potencialização de dificuldades de aprendizagem. A investigação dos níveis de concentração de metais pesados em escolares com tais dificuldades pode auxiliar no planejamento terapêutico, bem como orientar órgãos de saúde competentes para promoção de prevenção e de desintoxicação. Foi realizado um estudo com o objetivo de verificar as concentrações remotas de chumbo em escolares com dificuldades de aprendizagem, a fim de avaliar a prevalência de exposição precoce a este agente, bem como correlacionar os níveis encontrados com resultados de desempenhos em avaliações de processamento fonológico, leitura, escrita e aritmética, além de descrever estatisticamente a amostra quanto a aspectos relevantes do histórico clínico e identificar os bairros de origem ao nascimento. Participaram escolares na faixa etária de 9 a 14 anos, regularmente matriculados no Ensino Básico de instituições públicas ou privadas do município de Bauru (SP) e região, em atendimento na Clínica de Linguagem Escrita da FOB-USP. Foram utilizadas amostras de esmalte dentário superficial como biomarcador de exposição remota ao chumbo. Foram realizadas análises por espectrometria de absorção atômica de forno de grafite (GF AAS) para determinação do chumbo e espectrometria de emissão óptica com plasma indutivamente acoplado (ICP OES) para determinação do fósforo, necessário para o cálculo da massa de esmalte. O estudo teve 17 participantes. Os resultados indicam a prevalência de 100% de exposição precoce ao chumbo, média da concentração de 46,56 g Pb/g esmalte, DP = 47,09. Não houve correlações estatisticamente significativas com os desempenhos avaliados. Quanto ao perfil amostral, as meninas representam 17,6% e os meninos 82,4%. Um total de 35,3% dos participantes sofreram intercorrências gestacionais ou neonatais, 23,5% tem QI limítrofe ou rebaixado, 94,1% tem histórico de distúrbios de linguagem oral, 41,2% alterações psicomotoras, 5,9% diagnosticados com TDAH. A análise descritiva qualitativa dos bairros de origem revela que a distribuição dos mesmos está dispersa pelo município, além de participantes de outras localidades da região. / Exposure to neurotoxic chemical agents may contribute to the development or enhancement of learning disabilities. The investigation of concentration levels of heavy metals in schoolchildren with such difficulties can aid in therapeutic planning as well as guide competent health agencies to promote prevention and detoxification. A study was carried out with the objective of verifying the remote concentrations of lead in students with learning disabilities in order to evaluate the prevalence of early exposure to this agent, as well as to correlate the levels found with results of performances in phonological processing evaluations, reading, writing and arithmetic, in addition to statistically describing the sample regarding relevant aspects of clinical history and identifying origin neighborhoods at birth. Participants were students aged 9 to 14 years, regularly enrolled in Basic Education of public or private institutions of the municipality of Bauru (SP) and region, attending the Clinic of Written Language of FOB-USP. Surface dental enamel samples were used as a biomarker for remote lead exposure. Analyzes were performed by atomic absorption spectrometry of graphite furnace (GF AAS) for determination of lead and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) for determination of phosphorus, necessary for the calculation of enamel mass. The study had 17 participants. The results indicate the prevalence of 100% early exposure to lead, mean concentration of 46.56 g Pb / g enamel, SD = 47.09. There were no statistically significant correlations with the evaluated performances. The sample profile reveals that girls represent 17.6% and boys 82.4%. A total of 35.3% of the participants had gestational or neonatal intercurrences, 23.5% had borderline or reduced IQ, 94.1% had a history of oral language disorders, 41.2% had psychomotor disturbances, 5.9% had ADHD. The qualitative descriptive analysis of the origin neighborhoods reveals that its distribution is dispersed by the municipality, besides participants of other localities of the region.

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) account for approximately 40% of all students receiving special education services. Debate among professionals regarding the causes of SLDs and the most appropriate methods used to identify SLDs persists. This debate may be related to the increase in prevalence of SLDs since the implementation of special education law in 1975. There are three prominent theories regarding the cause of SLDs: (a) environmental theory, (b) biological theory, and (c) interactional theory. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) allows school districts to implement the following SLD identification procedures: (a) the IQAchievement discrepancy method, (b) response-to-intervention (RtI), and/or (c) alternative research-based methods, such as personal strengths and weaknesses (PSW). This study employed survey methodology to evaluate the intersection between school psychologists’ beliefs about the cause of SLDs, their preferred practices, their actual practices, and their job satisfaction associated with assessment. School psychologists are one member of a multidisciplinary team aimed toward identifying children with SLDs and are estimated to spend nearly half their time in special education decision making. This study also evaluated the influence alignment between school psychologists preferred and actual practices have on their job satisfaction associated with assessment. Findings showed that, similar to other professionals, school psychologists’ had varying beliefs about the causes of SLDs. Environmental beliefs were significantly correlated with a preference for RtI for SLD identification, while biological beliefs were significantly correlated with preferences for the IQ-Achievement discrepancy method and alternative research based procedures for SLD identification. Preferred methods of identification impacted all three identification methods, and beliefs about the cause of SLDs impacted actual PSW practices, above and beyond individual and school characteristics. Finally, greater alignment between preferred SLD identification practices and actual SLD identification practices was associated with higher levels of job satisfaction related to assessment. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.