James McLeskey

The Effects of an Inclusive School Program on Students with Mild and Severe Learning Disabilities

This investigation used a curriculum-based measure to examine the effects of an Inclusive School Program (ISP) on reading and math achievement of students with LD. Results revealed that students with LD in the ISP made significantly more progress in reading and comparable progress in math when compared to the students who were provided services in resource classes. Furthermore, significantly more students with mild LD who were educated in the ISP made progress in reading that was comparable to general education peers than did the students with mild LD who were educated in noninclusive settings. Students with severe LD made comparable progress in reading and math, regardless of the setting. The implications of these results for practice are discussed.

Mainstreaming Students with Learning Disabilities: Are We Making Progress?

This study investigated placement practices for students with learning disabilities over the past 11 years, as reported in the Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of P.L. 94–142. From 1979 to 1989, the placement rate for students with learning disabilities being educated in restrictive, separate-class settings almost doubled. Moreover, the proportion of all students with learning disabilities served in separate-class settings increased 4.4%. Little progress is being made toward mainstreaming students with learning disabilities. The article discusses implications of these findings for reform in the provision of special education services.

Grade Retention Rates among Students with Learning Disabilities

This study investigated the grade retention of students with learning disabilities. Data were collected on 689 students referred and identified as having learning disabilities during the 1987–88 school year in Indiana. Of these students, 58% had been retained before identification The results of this investigation suggest that retention is being used as a remediation before labeling a student. Implications of this practice and alternatives to grade retention as a method to address the academic needs of students are discussed.

Students with Learning Disabilities at Primary, Intermediate, and Secondary Grade Levels: Identification and Characteristics

This study provided descriptive information about 790 students with learning disabilities at primary (K-2), intermediate (3–5), and secondary (6–12) grade levels who were identified during the 1987–88 school year in Indiana. The results revealed that identification of students with learning disabilities peaked in the first grade, and that 76% of these students were identified by the end of grade 5. Furthermore, students with more severe discrepancies tended to be identified at the primary level; discrepancies became less severe in higher grade levels. Additional findings were reviewed, and the results of the investigation were compared to previous large-scale studies of students with learning disabilities.

The Implications of Response Generalization for Improving the Effectiveness of Programs for Learning Disabled Children

that to be effective must maximize pupil acquisition rates and foster the generalization of academic skills. While there is a substantial and growing body of research related to designing materials and methods to facilitate the acquisition of academic skills by learning disabled and other handicapped children (Engelmann 1970, Haring & Bateman 1977, Lovitt 1975), there is less research regarding the development of materials or methods to increase response generalization (Stokes & Baer 1977). Response generalization refers to the transfer of information across similar but novel behaviors without

Learning Set Acquisition: Problem Solving Strategies Employed by Reading Disabled and Normal Children

A number of characteristics have been attributed to reading disabled children, primarily through the use of correlational statistical techniques. This investigation looked directly at the learning process of reading disabled children, by comparison of reading disabled and normal childrens responses to a conditional discrimination learning set (LS) task. Errors made by both groups were analyzed to determine if different problem -solving strategies were employed by reading disabled and normal children when attempting to solve the learning task. The results of this investigation indicate that normal children are more adept at solving the LS task than the reading disabled children. Children comprisirtg the two groups also used different strategies for solving the learning task, as the reading disabled children tended to be more rigid in their approach, while normal children were more willing to try varying responses and take chances. The results of this study offer a direction for future research leading to possible reading remediation strcrtegies. Investigation of strategies used in the learning-to-learn process, as well as methods for facilitating (or programming) generalization, offers a perspective on reading problems which is as yet unexplored.

A Canonical Correlation Analysis of the WISC and ITPA for a Group of Learning-Disabled Children

A frequent criticism of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) has been that it may measure general cognitive abilities — similar to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) or Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale — rather than the specific abilities it was designed to measure. This study investigated the extent to which information obtained from the WISC overlaps with information obtained from the ITPA. A canonical correlation analysis revealed that only 24% of the WISC subtest variance is redundant, given the ITPA; while 22% of the ITPA subtest variance is redundant, given the WISC. The ITPA and WISC seem to measure essentially different constructs. The only subtests significantly related are the Digit Span and Auditory Sequential Memory subtests. Thus, an educational evaluator should not consider discarding one or the other test because of assumed similarity of results; both tests should be retained.

Effects of Verbal and Written Labeling on Selective Attention of Mildly Retarded Children.

Despite the fact that mentally retarded children have frequently been characterized as being deficient in selective attention, this characteristic has seldom been considered in the development of instructional media for the handicapped. To determine the influence of verbal and written labels on the selective attention to visual materials, retarded children were tested. Under treatment conditions, retarded and normal children located an object more quickly, looked at the object longer, and recognized more of the treatment objects on a recognition memory task. Information regarding the learning characteristics of retarded children may be simply and effectively applied to development of materials.

Selective Attention to Visual Stimuli: The Need to Combine Theory and Research

Mentally retarded children have been widely characterized by an inability to attend to relevant aspects of a stimulus display. This information has seldom been considered when producing instructional media for the retarded. In this paper, a taxonomy of visual attention influencing devices is presented which may be used as a structure for research, development and evaluation of instructional media for the handicapped. Five research studies based on this taxonomy are also summarized. These investigations reveal that while most attention influencing devices show some positive effects, four devices—motion, verbal pointers, arrows, and spatial location—seem to be most effective. Although further research is needed to determine the effects of attention-influencing procedures across materials and settings, the results clearly indicate that these devices may be utilized to improve the quality of instructional materials for the retarded.