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An emerging theory of learning disabilities characterized learning disabled students as inactive learners who do not spontaneously employ task-appropriate cognitive strategies. This study addressed the range of tasks to which this characterization applies. It compared learning disabled and average achieving students' spontaneous activation of differential reading strategies as evoked by the situational context of reading tasks. Subjects were 20 learning disabled and 20 average achieving seventh graders. Groups were controlled for age and non-verbal intelligence. Learning disabled students had been diagnosed as such and exhibited serious reading difficulties. Within two experimentally induced situational contexts, students read and retold short, narrative passages which contained interpropositional consistencies. Within a storytelling context, designed to maximize interaction between text and background knowledge, subjects were instructed to think about the appropriateness of the passage for young children and imagine a first-grade audience while accurately retelling the passage. Within a memory context, designed to maximize differentiation of text from background knowledge, the same subjects were to read and retell another story for the sole purpose of maintaining accuracy. Stories were counterbalanced across contexts. Retellings were categorized as either evidencing distortions which resolved text inconsistencies or as accurately maintaining the inconsistencies of the original text. Nonparametric tests were used for data analysis. Results indicated that both groups shifted retell strategy in response to situational context, with no significant differences between groups. Within the storytelling context, retellings tended to resolve passage inconsistencies. Within the memory context, retellings were generally accurate in their maintenance of inconsistencies. The memory context also fostered increased accuracy for both groups on a sentence recognition task. Responses to comprehension monitoring questions suggested on relationship between retell strategy and students' expressed awareness of text inconsistency. Findings indicate that both learning disabled and average students respond to situational contexts of reading tasks. They can activate increased interaction between text and background knowledge or increased differentiation of text from background knowledge. It was concluded that the characterization of learning disabled students as cognitively inactive does not apply to the spontaneous activation of differential reading strategies evoked by the situational context of the reading act.

The current project investigated the brain-behavior relationships between fusiform volume and orthographic processing in children with Reading Disability (RD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It was hypothesized that there would be differences in fusiform volume between those with and without RD. Individuals with and without ADHD were not expected to differ in fusiform volume and an interaction in the RD/ADHD group was not expected. Children with RD/ADHD were expected to have similar volumes to children who have RD. It also was hypothesized that size of the left fusiform segments would be correlated with three orthographic processing tasks and tests of reading achievement (i.e., Orthographic Choice, Homophone/Pseudohomophone Choice and the Colorado Perceptual Speed Task; Letter Word Identification, Word Attack, and Reading Fluency). Results indicated that there were no group differences in fusiform volume between children with and without RD as well as with and without ADHD. There were also no relationships between the left fusiform and any of the orthographic or reading achievement measures. However, all three measures of orthographic processing were significantly related to the right posterior fusiform. Additionally, Homophone/Pseudohomophone Choice and Reading Fluency demonstrated a trend with the right anterior fusiform. The findings reported in this study were largely unexpected and suggest that further research examining the relationship between right fusiform volume and orthographic processing is warranted.

No description available.

The Double Deficit Hypothesis posits that four mutually exclusive subgroups can be identified in a reading disabled (RD) sample. These subgroups are predicted to differ on reading measures, and further evidence suggests they may differ on other academic achievement (AA) and neuropsychological (NP) measures, as well as sex ratios and rate of ADHD diagnosis. Two hundred twenty six college-level adults identified as RD were evaluated, and subgroup comparisons were analyzed. Significant subgroup differences were observed in each domain. No subgroup differences were observed for sex or ADHD diagnosis. Findings suggest that patterns of linguistic ability affect the profiles of reading, AA, and NP performance that characterize adults with RD. These findings have implications for evaluations and academic accommodations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-167). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Appendix F in Spanish. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73). Also available on the Internet.