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Connor and Wesley are two young audiobook readers struggling with learning disabilities. The Utah State Library for the Blind and Disabled provides the kinds of materials found in public libraries in formats accessible to the blind and disabled. Books and magazines are available in braille, in large print, on audio cassettes, and on audio digital books. Services are provided by the Utah State Library Division in cooperation with the Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Services are provided free of charge to eligible readers.

The Extended Core Standards describe academic content towards which students with significant cognitive disabilities should work to achieve competencies in math, science and English language arts (ELA) at each grade level from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The Extended Core Standards have been developed over several years, reviewed by numerous local and national experts in curriculum and special education including, special educators, teachers representing all grades, university educators, curriculum and assessment professionals at the Utah State Office of Education (USOE), parents of students with significant cognitive disabilities and/or representatives from the Utah Parent Center (UPC).

Teachers often find themselves overwhelmed by students who have a negative attitude toward reading. This attitude is created, in part, from students being exposed to a heavy emphasis on state test preparation and exposure to non-fiction and informational passages. The purpose of this study was to determine if mildly disabled students' attitudes toward reading changed as a result of reading young adult literature mystery books in a co-taught language arts class. The researcher used a variety of surveys and observations over a three-month period while reading aloud three separate mystery books to a selected group of students. The surveys and observations occurred at three intervals for each mystery book read during each of the three months: (1) before the book was read, (2) at the midpoint of reading each book, and (3) at the conclusion of each book. The data were collected and analyzed; results showed, when considering various factors, that the collective attitude of these selected students became more positive as a result of being exposed to a certain type of young adult literature. The implications of this research pose numerous other questions for further study.

This research study examines the preparation necessary for high school students with disabilities enrolled in vocational programs to successfully transition from the high school vocational school to postsecondary education and/or the world of work. The transition experiences of the students in the study will provide information to vocational special education teachers to assist them in improving and perhaps changing the strategies and supports they currently use to assist students with disabilities in a vocational setting. The tools for this project include case studies, surveys, and interviews of five vocational high school seniors with disabilities, from various rural/small town high schools, in the process of transitioning from their respective vocational programs and high schools to postsecondary settings and/or employment.

This study seeks to investigate the teaching of gifted children in a Montessori school, with particular reference to gifted students with learning difficulties in writing. A review of the literature on the Montessori method of education and on provision for gifted children, shows considerable philosophical and practical overlap in these two fields. However, it appears that this theoretical overlap is not necessarily realised in practice. Furthermore, although considerable research has been conducted on the characteristics, identification and classroom provision for the gifted, very little has been undertaken on the actual provision for gifted children in Montessori schools or gifted children with learning difficulties in writing. Research indicates that appropriate teacher development is an important component of provision for the gifted. Within an action research context, all twelve teachers at a school participated in professional development on the gifted. They were provided with current information about attitudes toward the gifted, theories and models relating to giftedness, as well as curricular and instructional modifications for gifted primary children. The teachers' perceptions about the gifted were examined, by the administration of an attitude scale and through an interview process, before the professional development and again after they had the opportunity and support to implement program modifications. To obtain a more detailed understanding of what was happening in classrooms, observation sessions were conducted. Data was also collected from parent feedback, informal observations, document searches and the researcher's reflective journal. The research found that the teachers indicated, overall, positive attitudes toward the gifted. However, contrary to evidence in the literature which suggested positive attitudinal changes in teachers after professional development, the teachers' attitudes towards the gifted remained the same, overall, throughout the

Summary: This study compared the efficacy and efficiency of using constant time delay (CTD) with interspersal of known items (IKI) paired with an error correction technique to teach sight words to students with mild mental retardation and learning disabilities. Time delay is a technique that transfers stimulus control from a controlling prompt (a prompt that results in correct task performance) to the discriminative stimulus (stimulus presented before a response can occur) by delaying the presentation of the prompt after the stimulus has been presented. During the initial trial, the delay between prompt and stimulus is at 0-seconds; during all other trials the delay is fixed at 4-seconds. Interspersal of known items is a method of sequencing unknown or target words among known words. Two sessions were provided each day in the classroom, one with constant time delay technique and the other with interspersal of known items as the training technique. The parallel treatment design was used to assess the efficacy and efficiency of the two strategies. The results indicate that both techniques were effective for students with LD. Constant time delay was significantly more effective than interspersal of known items for the students with MMR. Based on both the number of minutes of instructional time and the number of sessions through criterion, the constant time delay procedure was more efficient for students with MMR. However, the interspersal of known items technique was more efficient in terms of percentage of errors and rate of correct responses for both students with MMR and LD., College of Education, Thesis (M.Ed.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2001.

English: The purpose of this study was an investigation of the dynamics of psychofortological factors in learning disabled learners in order to make a contribution to their vocational preparation and adjustment in the outside world. The advancement of the learning disabled learner's psycho-fortological functioning for successful functioning after school leaving is therefore the primary focus of the study. The investigation is directed towards the psycho-development of the learners who experience problems, as well as towards the prevention of problems in adulthood. The rationale of the study is to be found in the investigated functioning aspects: i.e., psycho-fortological factors such as coping, assertiveness, fortitude and sense of coherence which are important for functioning in the workplace. The field of study of psycho-fortology focusses upon the psychologically healthy individual, more specifically, the individual who remains psychologicallyand physically healthy in spite of stress and crisis situations. Aspects discussed are the learning disabled adolescent, learning disability, the demands made by school leaving and the task and terrain of the special school. An investigation was done into the connection between the learner's psychofortological functioning, namely, his/her coping skills, assertiveness, sense of coherence and fortitude and his/her functioning. The aspect of assertiveness was analysed to determine to what degree anxiety, associated with social situations, is problematic for the learning disabled learner. The empirical investigation consisted of a quantitative and a qualitative component. In the quantitative investigation the following scales were used to operationalise the psycho-fortological constructs: the fortitude questionnaire of Pretorius (1998), the assertivenessquestionnaire of Gambrill and Richey (1975), the sense of coherence questionnaire of Antonovsky (1987) and the COPEquestionnaire of Carver, Scheier and Weintraub (1989). A functi, Afrikaans: Die doel van hierdie studie was om die dinamika van psigofortologiese faktore by die ernstig leergestremde leerders te ondersoek ten einde 'n bydrae te kan maak tot hulle beroepsvoorbereiding en aanpassing in die buitewêreld. Die bevordering van die leergestremde se psigofortologiese funksionering vir suksesvolle aanpassing na skoolverlating is dus die primêre fokus van die studie. Die ondersoek is gerig op die psigo-ontwikkeling van die leerders wat probleme ervaar, sowel as op die voorkoming van aanpassingsproblemein die volwasse stadium. Die rasionaal van die studie lê daarin dat die funksioneringsaspekte wat ondersoek word, te wete psigofortologiese faktore, soos onder meer coping, assertiwiteit, fortaliteit en koherensiesin belangrik is vir funksionering in die arbeidsmark. Die studieterrein van psigofortologie fokus op die sielkundig gesonde individu, meer spesifiek die individu wat psigies en fisiek gesond bly, ondanks stres en krisissituasies. Aspekte wat bespreek word is die leergestremde adolessent, leergestremdheid, die eise wat skoolverlating meebring en die taak en terrein van die spesiale skool. In Ondersoek is gedoen na die verband tussen die leerder se psigofortologiese funksionering, naamlik syjhaar copingvaardighede, assertiwiteit, koherensiesin en fortaliteit en syjhaar gedragsfunksionering. Die aspek van assertiwiteit is ontleed om te bepaal in watter mate angs, wat geassosieer word met sosiale situasies, problematies is vir die leergestremde. Die empiriese ondersoek het bestaan uit In kwantitatiewe en In kwalitatiewe komponent. In die kwantitatiewe ondersoek is gebruik gemaak van die volgende skale om die psigofortologiese konstrukte te operasionaliseer: die COPE-vraelys van Carver, Scheier en Weintraub (1989), die assertiwiteitsvraelys van Gambrill en Richey (1975), die fortaliteitsvraelys van Pretorius (1998) en die koherensiesinvraelys van Antonovsky (1987). In Gedragsfunksioneringsindeks is deur die ondersoeker self opgestel. Betr, National Research Foundation (NRF)

Three male year nine students with learning disabilities were given an intervention program that involved use of a word processor to write science fiction stories. The program was conducted over a five-week period. The effects of the use of the word processor alone were compared to the effects of the provision of an interactive teaching course program in conjunction with a word processor. The treatment program was a single subject treatment design. One participant's writing improved to an equal extent whether or not an interactive teaching program was provided. A second participant's fluency, spelling and the number of unique words written improved more if an interactive program that provided feedback were provided than if he used the word processor alone. The mechanics of his writing improved regardless of the provision of an interactive program. The third participant's spelling improved more if an interactive teaching program that provided feedback were provided. The mechanics of his writing improved regardless of the provision of the interactive program.

ADHD and learning difficulties are associated with limitations in working memory capacity which may disrupt performance of writing skills. This thesis investigated teaching strategies to improve story-writing skills in five students with ADHD and learning difficulties in writing. The strategies were based on the view that these students would write more effectively if the task imposed fewer constraints on working memory capacity (the ability to store information while performing a task). Students were taught to write stories under time constraints using the PW2R approach of five minutes to plan, five to draft and five to review. Students planned orally during the first few weeks, then learned to plan by writing their ideas into a web diagram. Students finally learned to plan by using teacher-prescribed headings denoting conventional story structure. The 12 story elements were written into a "wheel" shaped diagram, forming the prompt for students' ideas on the set topic. Specific gains were linked to the introduction of two spatial planning strategies. Four students wrote longer stories containing more ideas when using the self-generated web strategy, and four students wrote stories containing more story elements using the wheel strategy which incorporated story elements. Two students maintained gains regardless of strategy use, and two maintained gains only when using the written planning strategy. It appears that individual differences should be taken into account in instruction and task design, and that task modification can help to improve the quantity and quality of writing. Results showed that students improved written expression skills after less than 15 hours of instruction, distributed across a 20-week period. Overall progress may be linked to teaching factors held constant, such as simplifying the writing task into component sub-tasks, individualising instruction and providing graduated prompts, facilitating accurate, guided and independent practice, and pr

The effectiveness of Triple Alliance theory with its emphasis on cognitive skills, metacognitive skills, and motivation was investigated in relation to its application with a group of academically talented secondary students with specific writing disabilities. An intervention programme was implemented and its effectiveness assessed in terms of changes in learned helplessness attributions and expository writing skills. Attribution retraining and strategy instruction were selected as avenues of instruction suited to Triple Alliance theory. The academic attribution and expository writing skills profiles of 15 gifted learning disabled Year 9 students were assessed. Profiles were then compared to 20 of their gifted non-learning disabled peers in order to obtain information regarding similarities and differences between the two groups. Inter- and intra-group differences were also assessed for both groups following implementation of the intervention programme. The intervention programme consisted of seven instructional lessons with pre- and post-intervention assessment. No significant inter-group differences were found for academic attributions although intra-group pre- and post-intervention differences did occur. Findings from this study support those from an earlier study (Watson, 1993) that suggested that some key principles of attribution theory may not be appropriate for New Zealand students. Significant inter-group differences existed for writing skills and writing attitudes at the time of pre-intervention assessment. At the time of the post-intervention assessment, the writing skills of the research group either equaled or exceeded those of the control group, except in terms of the number of words written. It would appear that an intervention programme grounded in Triple Alliance theory, with a specific focus on attribution retraining and specific strategy instruction, can significantly improve the writing skills of gifted learning disabled students. It is not possi

The system of least prompts has been used to teach a variety of daily living skills to students with severe to moderate disabilities. The present study attempted to determine the effects of the system of least prompts when used to teach a pre-lunch routine to two students with severe disabilities. The students were categorised as autistic, or as having autistic characteristics, with severe to moderate intellectual disabilities and communication deficits. The results indicated that the system of least prompts was effective in facilitating a change in students' responses. Three effects were observed in relation to the hypotheses, First, there was an increase in the number of unprompted correct responses. Second, there was a reduction in the time each student required to complete the task. Third, there was a reduction in the use of intrusive prompts to stimulate task-related activity. Additionally, substantial improvements were observed in the communication and behaviour of both students. During maintenance one student continued to perform at an efficient level, while the other student required the assistance of the least intrusive prompt.

Examined how some children with learning disabilities (LD) sustain higher levels of general self-worth despite academic difficulties. Global self-worth was examined for a relationship with academic self-concept, non-academic self-concept, and perceived social support. Self-concept was additionally examined for any relationships with task performance indicators. Data were collected from 41 students aged between 7 and 15 years using a multitrait-multimethod assessment methodology. Self-concept was assessed by the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985a), and perceived social support was assessed by the Social Support Scale for Children (Harter, 1985b). Task performance was assessed by a battery of academic and motor skill measures. Findings indicated that most LD children in this sample reported low levels of academically based self-concept. However, most also reported high levels of global self-worth. The study found students with high global self-concept perceived they were more competent/adequate in some non-academic domains (e.g., physical appearance and behavioural conduct), and perceived being socially supported, particularly by teachers. Perceptions of academic self-concept were not found to be as related to perceptions of global self-concept as non-academic domains. In regression analyses, perceptions of physical appearance followed by perceptions of athletic competence were found to be predictors of global self-worth. No predictors were found to be significant for academic self-concept. Classmate support predicted aspects of social self-concept (i.e., social acceptance). No pattern of significant relationships were found between task performance indicators and various domains of self-concept. Discussion includes using data to dispel myths some may have about the global self-worth of LD children as well as in intervention programmes. This study replicated and extended research in this area. Caveats and recommendations for future research are discus

Phonological processing abilities among a group of older disabled readers were investigated in the first of two experimental studies. A second study was undertaken to determine the extent to which a group of disabled older readers could be trained to use rime spelling unit knowledge to make orthographic analogies when decoding unfamiliar words. The purpose of the first study was to assess (using a reading age match design) specific phonological processing abilities among a group of disabled readers. The disabled readers' performances on the tasks were compared to the performances of a group of younger normally developing readers who were reading at the same level as the disabled readers. The rime analogy training study was designed to encourage disabled readers to capitalize on their limited but sufficient phonological knowledge to assist them to make greater use of rime spelling units as a basis for making orthographic analogies when decoding unfamiliar words. In the rime analogy training study 57 disabled readers were assigned to either one of two training groups or to a third standard non-intervention (control) group. All of the disabled readers were enrolled on Resource Teacher of Reading (RTR) programmes. Thirty-six of these RTR children received one of two specifically designed 5-minute decoding interventions on a daily basis for 11 weeks. The remaining 21 disabled readers received only their standard RTR lessons. The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability Accuracy Subtest (1981), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (1981), the Burn Word Test (1981) and five tests of phonological processing ability were administered to all 114 children (i.e., 57 disabled readers and 57 younger normal readers) at the beginning of the reading age match study. The 57 disabled readers were also posttested on all the measures (except the PPVT) at the conclusion of the training study. Follow-up tests one year after the completion of the training study were also administered to 52 of the

Summary: Pitch-matching tests were conducted with learning disabled (LD) and non-learning disabled (NLD) third through fifth graders to examine whether a significant difference between pitch-matching abilities exists. Subjects were given a two part pitch-matching test using a tape recorded vocal model. The vocal model was a 12 year-old boy with unchanged voice singing the test examples on the neutral syllable "loo." Subjects were instructed to echo the vocal model and were given a single point for each correctly sung pitch. Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in the pitch-matching skills of the learning disabled and the non-learning disabled students., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection, Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1997.

Contemporary models of reading indicate that reading achievement and impairment are the products of the complex interaction of motivational, cognitive and metacognitive processes. Most previous research has relied on correlational studies to examine the links amongst these variables. Given the complex relationships of these variables, research designs which examine these constructs simultaneously and which establish causal relationships are needed. The dearth of interactive research with different populations is surprising considering that reliable and theoretically meaningful models that are generally invariant across subpopulations would contribute much towards theoretical parsimony and progress of educational research. In light of the above considerations, the present study was designed with the primary goal of replicating and extending a previous test of a structural model of reading achievement. The main goal was to explain and predict both reading achievement and impairment from the complex and multicomponential perspective of a model of metacognition. Specifically, this involved an examination of the causal influences of young adolescent students' attributional style, and self-efficacy on metacognitive knowledge and their use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. In addition, these same variables were examined to see how they related to their reading comprehension performance and how the relationships differed in normal achieving (NA) and reading disabled children (RD). A secondary goal of this study was the investigation of variables that would distinguish between RD and NA readers. There were three phases involved in the present study. Phase 1 concerned sample selection and involved administration of a short-form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised. Selection of RD children was based on a six-stage multidefinitional approach. A sample of NA readers with reading achievement consistent with their age was also identified. A total of

Students who adequately decode but have difficulty comprehending what they read, often possess a limited range of comprehension strategies. Furthermore, they often lack the metacognitive knowledge to use these strategies effectively. These two factors limit the likelihood of students experiencing success on a range of academic activities. As a consequence these students often develop dysfunctional attributional beliefs which also negatively impact on future learning. In the present study, 39 students with comprehension difficulties participated in an intervention programme comparing the effects of strategy-plus-attribution training, strategy-only training, and no training conditions on reading comprehension. The results revealed no significant improvement in students' reading comprehension. However, there was a significant improvement in students' use of comprehension strategies. A number of reasons have been suggested, which could explain why the increased use of strategies did not translate into improvements in reading comprehension. In light of these suggestions, several recommendations have been made regarding the future development and implementation of reading comprehension intervention programmes.

This study was part of a follow-up project on a cohort of school students. Achievement data had been collected since 1982 and measures on affective variables had been made in 1982 and 1983. Part of the sample had been identified in 1982 as having learning disabilities in one or more academic areas. The students who were defined as learning disabled (LD) were displaying persisting negative responses on an academic self-concept scale in 1982 and 83. The present study was designed to compare the emotional status of these students in 1986, when they were now in their third year of secondary schooling and were faced with the first national examination,. with a group of students who were defined as normally achieving (NA). General self-concept, academic self-concept and depression were assessed. Students were also questioned about the amount and type of remediation they had received. Although it was hypothesised that more LD students than NA would be depressed because of their history of school failure, this was not the case. Fourteen out of 104 students were identified has having been depressed with the number of LD and NA students being nearly equal. The reasons given for their depression related more to family and social problems than to school performance. Depressed students had lower self-concept scores as predicted, but academic self-concept was not significantly associated with depression. The relationship between depression and School Certificate marks was non-significant. With this sample the type of remediation did not seem to have a measured effect on self-concept, or academic self-concept. Very few of the depressed students had received remediation and the interaction was not able to be clarified. The results of the study show that depressed students do exist in our secondary schools and it may be necessary for teachers to learn to recognise the symptoms so that intervention is arranged. The generalisability of the information gained here on the precipitating