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Accessible summary We wanted to know what people with learning disabilities know about dementia. We asked service users what the word meant to them, if they knew anyone with dementia, and what it was like to share a house with someone who has dementia. We learnt that: • Service users can know a lot about dementia. • Living with someone with dementia can be really hard – and staff do not always have enough time for everyone else. • Services should think more about how dementia affects everyone – not just the person who has the dementia. This paper reports on research that illuminates how people with a learning disability understand dementia and indicates the implications of these understandings for developing appropriate models of care. As this new policy and practice area struggles to provide appropriate and effective models of care for people with a learning disability and dementia, an awareness of service users’ understandings of dementia leads to a number of important insights. The wider research programme from which this paper is drawn aims to identify best practice in supporting people with learning disabilities to stay in their own homes as they grow older and develop dementia. A combination of focus groups, ethnography and individual interviews were conducted at eight sites across England. Participants were people with a learning disability who had dementia, and those who have lived with someone with dementia. The findings have the potential to improve support to this population as they grow older. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The development of games for people with learning disabilities is one way to enhance the quality of learning and respond to the need for inclusive special educational support. Recently, game researchers have highlighted the need for paying more attention to identifying the game design choices that can strengthen learning. This paper reviews recent studies in the field of games that aim at supporting people with difficulties in learning, particularly in basic reading and maths skills. We identify the major characteristics and learning outcomes of the reviewed studies, as well as key design principles that have been used in games for enhancing basic reading and maths skills. The results show that people with specific learning difficulties have positive improvements in the quality of learning. We also found specific gamification elements that have been used to promote the learning of basic reading and maths skills. However, we call for research, which would explicitly examine the effects of game design choices on learning. Currently, the studies that address learning disabilities do not specifically define which kind of games and game design the results refer to, while game design studies do not clarify how these games influence learning. Thus, there is a need to rethink previous empirical studies on game settings for people with learning difficulties via advancing the role of game design in empirical intervention studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Engagement Model was launched in January 2020, endeavouring to address the weaknesses of the P‐scales assessment for students not yet involved in a subject‐specific curriculum. This paper will discuss how and if the tensions between previously adopted assessment systems as discussed in teacher interviews can be reconciled through the Engagement Model in relation to students with autism and severe learning difficulties. The interview findings suggested that some of the problems with assessment, when applied in this context, are related to consistency and transferability, lack of formal recognition of non‐academic progress, familiarity with the students, observation skills and training, workload and time, and subjectivity of judgement amongst professionals. When compared with the aims of the Engagement Model, the findings of the research suggest that even though it addresses some of the issues raised, it cannot act as a substitute to the P‐scale system as it serves a different purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports research commissioned by an English City Council. Its aim was to gather data to identify and prioritise the council's efforts to develop, co‐ordinate and monitor services and support for young people with SEND in the city as they move into their adult lives. This included the four areas identified by the English government in the SEND Code of Practice, these being: employment, community inclusion, health and independent living. The study used qualitative and quantitative research methods including semi‐structured interviews and questionnaires to investigate the experiences of students, teachers, National Health Service staff and social workers in identifying processes and structures that support or hinder the transition process as children prepare for adulthood. As such the study gathered generic data to indicate the expectations, needs, aspirations and views of young persons between the ages of 14 and 22 with regards to employment, education, community inclusion and health. An interpretation of data from the research illustrated the effectiveness of the support structures that are in place to help with planning and delivery of the strategic direction for services supporting children and young people with SEND as they become adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs related to special education in Europe as of June 2016. Topics include results of an interim report which highlights priorities for investigation on transforming student's perception on mathematics, professional development of mathematics teachers and value of mathematics, fundraising for Learning Disability Wales Engage to Change project for young people with learning disability and updates on special education needs and disability regulation in Northern Ireland.

Learning disabilities are a group of disorders that affect 10–15% of the general population and 3% of United States medical students. Medical students with learning disabilities are typically unaware of their disorder and may only learn of it when the pace of medical school curriculum overtakes what were previously successful study techniques. Despite the significant prevalence of this disorder, medical educators’ awareness, understanding and provision of services for people with these disabilities are inadequate. This paper will present a medical student with a learning disability as a basis for discussion of the prevalence, classification systems and diagnostic testing methods for this disorder. Finally, recommendations for medical school administrative preparedness and accommodation of learning disability students will be presented, followed by a list of celebrated physicians with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet can be an excellent tool to help people with learning disabilities access relevant and appropriately written information. However, little work has been undertaken to ascertain web design or content preferences for this cohort. This paper examines methods to address this issue. Twenty five participants were presented with three web sites dealing with employment information. They were asked to browse each and carry out a series of set-tasks. Interviews and a rating scale ascertained preferences. The problem of acquiescence bias, the tendency for people to automatically agree with those in perceived positions of authority, was minimised by the avoidance of 'polar interrogatives' (questions requiring a 'yes/no' or similarly polarised answer). Participants liked the use of pictures, especially when they featured other young people with learning disabilities. Abstract content related to money or benefits often went unnoticed. Audio was appreciated where offered, although not extensively used. Preferences regarding text size and menu position were also established. Results are compared to other relevant literature and recommendations formulated to help web developers and information providers. The methodological issues inherent in this study were the use of the rating system, and the interview technique. The former was adapted following early findings that the neutral position, on a three point scale, was confusing. Using four points avoided this problem and produced more varied results. Avoiding polar interrogatives greatly helped in minimising 'acquiescence bias'. The study concludes that it is possible to elicit considerable information from people who find it difficult to articulate their views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary • This article is about Emma's experience of living with learning difficulties. • Emma expresses a lot of anger, and talks about feelings of loss. • This article is interesting to people with learning disabilities because they can see if their experience is like Emma's in any way. This paper presents Emma's story: her experience of living with learning difficulties. The emerging themes of loss, blame and anger are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of 'care in the community' has highlighted the need for more effective educational and training media for people with learning disabilities, and this paper suggests that virtual environments (VEs) may help to meet this need. Firstly, key terms (virtual environment, cyberspace and artificial reality) are defined. Secondly, aspects of developmental and cognitive psychological theories and principles of computer-assisted learning are presented that suggest that VEs might be an especially valuable educational media for people with learning disabilities. Thirdly, the existing literature in this field is reviewed. Fourthly, ethical issues associated with the use of VE, both generally and specifically by people with learning disabilities are discussed. Fifth, possible future developments of VEs, both in education and through their convergence with technologies of miniaturization, are suggested. It is concluded that VEs are an effective, affordable, accessible and safe training and educational media for people with learning disabilities, although further research will be required to realise their full potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This design-based research study was conducted to identify what importance of a tangible user interface ( TUI) can add to teaching and learning. Over a 2-year period, teachers ( n = 39) and students ( n = 145) participated in the study. The identified problem for investigation was how students, including those with low fine motor skills and those with learning difficulties, develop geometry concepts combining cognitive and physical activity. A didactical application was designed during the first iteration and implemented in inclusive classrooms during the second and third iterations. Qualitative research methods were applied. A relationship between diverse students' needs and geometry concept learning in relation to computer-supported learning by TUI was discovered. Two dimensions were identified: (1) TUIs support concept development, with physical and virtual representations based on dynamic geometry assisted by TUI; (2) TUI manipulative properties support students who have low motor skills and difficulties in their geometry learning as well as in their inclusion in classroom activities. The study outcomes contributed to the design process of the TUI didactical application and its implementation in inclusive classrooms, and to the body of knowledge in teaching and learning geometry concepts applied for computer-assisted learning environments supported by TUI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the use of differential reinforcement has been recommended in previous investigations and in early intervention curriculum manuals, few studies have evaluated the best method for providing differential reinforcement to maximize independent responding. This paper reviews previous research on the effectiveness of differential reinforcement as treatment and describes important areas of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phil Goss has extensive experience as a practitioner and manager in schools for pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. In this article, he reports on his enquiries into the gender mix among staff in these schools. He finds that there are significantly more women than men working as teachers and in support roles in these specialist contexts. Phil Goss goes on to discuss the outcomes of his research into headteachers' perceptions of the impact of this gender imbalance. In concluding, he makes a series of proposals for future policy on recruitment and staff development, for teachers and teaching assistants. Phil Goss argues that we need to find ways to bring more men into this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The present paper gives an overview of some of the modular day courses offered and, in some cases, developed by tutors at a former hospital school providing education to adults with severe learning disabilities. The aims of the courses were cognitive and personal development, as well as aesthetic and spiritual enrichment. Art history was offered as an activity within the Open University ‘Learning Disability - Working as Equal People’ course, and the students' responses to paintings were deep and remarkable. In a play-writing course, tutors acted as ‘writing hands’ and the resultant plays were given a rehearsed reading. Some poetry was also produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom in education has suggested that students who are classified as learning disabled (LD) will exhibit inordinate difficulties learning a foreign language (FL). Even when not explicitly stated, the notion that those classified as LD have a disability for FL learning is implied. However, while beliefs about this purported disability have been supported by anecdotes, personal opinions, and case studies, the beliefs themselves have not been supported by empirical evidence. Advocates of a disability for FL learning have ignored the empirical evidence, which substantiates that there is, in fact, not a special relationship between FL learning and LDs, nor is there a unique disability for FL learning. This article cites several myths about LDs and FLs and examines the evidence that falsifies each of the myths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer scientists and educational researchers evaluated effectiveness of computerized instruction tailored to evidence-based impairments in specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in students in grades 4-9 with persisting SLDs despite prior extra help. Following comprehensive, evidence-based differential diagnosis for dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired word reading and spelling), and oral and written language learning disability, students completed 18 sessions of computerized instruction over about 3 months. The 11 students taught letter formation with sequential, numbered, coloured arrow cues with full contours who wrote letters on lines added to iPAD screen showed more and stronger treatment effects than the 21 students taught using only visual motion cues for letter formation who wrote on an unlined computer monitor. Teaching to all levels of language in multiple functional language systems (by ear, eye, mouth and hand) close in time resulted in significant gains in reading and writing skills for the group and in diagnosed SLD hallmark impairments for individuals; also, performance on computerized learning activities correlated with treatment gains. Results are discussed in reference to need for both accommodations and explicit instruction for persisting SLDs and the potential for computers to teach handwriting, morphophonemic orthographies, comprehension and composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used a multiple probe design across behaviours to determine if four high school students with learning disabilities could plan post-school transition goals using a modified GO 4 IT ... NOW! intervention while learning essential paragraph and essay writing skills. The results of this study indicate a functional relationship between the intervention and increased writing skills needed for high-stakes testing and increases in students' knowledge of transition planning. During baseline, students produced extremely short essays and did not include essential paragraph elements. After instruction, students wrote longer compositions and included more details, and paragraphs contained more paragraph elements. All participants increased essay quality during the intervention as measured by the rubric used to evaluate end-of-instruction writing prompts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the use of secondary prevention programs, also called Tier II intervention, in the response to intervention (RTI) model of addressing the causes of students who struggle with learning. The author suggests the use of levels of intervention followed by evaluation and diagnosis of special education needs. An academic intervention initiative used in the New York City Public Schools is explored. The author discusses capacity building, financing secondary prevention programs, and communicating with parents.

This article demonstrates how the broad and narrow abilities and processes that comprise Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory and their relations to specific academic outcomes have begun to transform our current understanding of the definition of and methods for indentifying specific learning disability (SLD), particularly in the school setting. The manner in which CHC theory has been used to guide evaluation of the academic and cognitive capabilities of students who are suspected of having SLD is described. Current psychometric methods for identifying SLD that have a foundation in CHC theory are highlighted. These newer methods are based on what is known as the “third method,” a provision for SLD identification included in the federal regulations (34 CFR 300.540-543) accompanying the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act that permits the use of alternative, research-based approaches. A method based on an integration of existing third-method approaches, called the Hypothesis-Testing CHC Approach (HT-CHC), was proposed. The HT-CHC method is expected to be carried out within the context of a Response to Intervention (RTI) service delivery model. Benefits of this approach over ability–achievement discrepancy and RTI-only methods and future directions in SLD identification research are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews research related to intensive interventions within a Response to Intervention framework. We review the research from studies that provided different levels of intensity of intervention with the goal of establishing a case that movement through less intensive tiers of intervention may not be an effective and responsible approach to addressing the reading difficulties of some students, particularly those with significant reading difficulties or disabilities. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition to post-statutory education and employment for young people with learning disabilities has become a hotly debated issue among professionals in education and support services in the UK. Partnerships between educational institutions and voluntary sector providers are supposed to be ideal vehicles for delivering transition services and securing outcomes for young people with learning disabilities. In this article, Axel Kaehne and Stephen Bayer of the Welsh Centre for Learning Difficulties report the findings of a survey of the views of special educational needs co-ordinators and professionals who are involved at operational and strategic levels in the work of transition partnerships. The data show that undue emphasis is often placed, by all stakeholders, on the soft, rather than the concrete, outcomes of transition; that smooth transitions are still hampered by insufficient flow of information between collaborating agencies; and that there are still significant gaps in provision, in particular in the supported employment field, due to funding or referral restrictions. To deliver first-class transitions, argue Axel Kaehne and Stephen Bayer, partnerships that support young people with learning disabilities need to address these difficulties with some urgency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are entering a new phase in learning about childhood disabilities. While we have found out much of what we need to know about their causes and aetiology, solutions to many of the challenges we will face in the future will come from the evidence base held by practitioners. Practitioners are ideally placed to carry out ‘real world’ research but they often need support in carrying out setting-based enquiry. In this article, Barry Carpenter, Chief Executive and Director of Research at Sunfield, discusses the relationship between academic and practitioner research and the role of practitioners as researchers. He goes on to explore the development of a research culture in special schools, focusing on Sunfield, a residential special school for children with severe and complex learning disabilities. Barry Carpenter shows how research projects at Sunfield have generated evidence which has guided the school's development. The inter-disciplinary approach adopted in this setting has encouraged involvement in research from many staff in diverse professions throughout the school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the use of Response to Intervention (RTI) in the education for students with reading difficulties. The speed of various reforms in the field of special education seems extraordinary. These reforms have a profound effect on students with reading difficulties. The objective of RTI is not only to provide early intervention for students who are at risk for school failure. It also aims to develop more valid procedure for identifying students with reading disabilities. RTI allows teachers to identify which students need special education instruction in reading. This is found on the basis of whether or not the student can respond to either typical classroom instruction, or the type of support that is possible in a typical classroom. In the 1980s and 1990s the concept of early identification of students with reading difficulties appeared cruel to many people. Supporters of RTI say that if students become proficient readers by the end of first grade, then they will always remain good readers. RTI provides teachers with a consistent and simple framework for assessing students and making data-based instructional decisions.

This article explores alternative routes into further education, and the subsequent attainment of qualifications, for people who experience barriers as a result of a learning difficulty and/or disability. The two distinct avenues considered at the outset were the use of information technology (supported, where necessary, by adaptive technology) and the implementation of more flexible approaches to learning. Robert Bevan undertook the research reported here in a college in the East Midlands as part fulfilment of his MA (Action Inquiry) at Nottingham Trent University. As he engaged in more depth with students and their views via questionnaire and interview, this researcher began to construct a more subtle and student-centred map of the possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our lead article Derek Bell, Chief Executive of the Association for Science Education and writing here in a personal capacity, discusses the special contribution science makes for all children in developing their understanding of the world around them. Derek uses evidence from research findings and practical experience to demonstrate how learning opportunities can be developed to ensure that children with learning difficulties also benefit from their science lessons. As a previous contributor to Support for Learning, we welcome him back. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keith Park, advisory teacher for Sense in the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham, has written a series of articles focused on the relationship between communication and access to literature for pupils with learning difficulties. In this article, he turns his attention to poetry. He explores the notion that all of us, to some extent, respond to great works of literature affectively. He describes his use of works by T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and Shakespeare in interactive and experiential sessions with pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. In closing this article, Keith Park provides a case study in assessment by evaluating the responses of one student and showing how the Shakespeare workshop enabled her to become an active learner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers increasingly need to manage and interact effectively with a broad range of students, including those with disabilities. Positive interactions require positive attitudes towards children with disabilities. In this qualitative study from Australia, Joanne Brownlee and Suzanne Carrington investigate the beliefs and attitudes towards people with disabilities of 11 pre-service teachers. The results of this study have implications for the structure of teacher education programmes in generic teacher education courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the services for people with a learning disability in Croatia. Approximate number of children and adolescents with learning disabilities who are included in the educational system in the country in 1989; Evaluation of special services for the learning disabled; Major problems in the system of care for people with learning disabilities.