Maurice Miller

Relevance of Resilience to Individuals with Learning Disabilities.

Research and descriptive literature are reviewed documenting qualities of resilience, emphasising those with particular relevance in individuals with learning disabilities (LD). After highlighting the importance of resilience to the development of success and self‐concept in individuals with LD, the lack of agreement in defining or describing resilience is noted. Risk factors which may bring about a lack of resilience are reported and protective factors to counter these are described. The review concludes by depicting strategies which successful, resilient individuals do use, with a challenge to develop these ingredients in programs for children and youth who have learning disabilities.

A Demonstration of Resilience

The resilience that individuals who have learning disabilities can demonstrate is illuminated through a case study. Examples from a students description of his school history illuminate resilience themes. The article culminates in a list of things teachers can do to instill resilience in their students, based on the findings from this case study.

Self-Assessment as a Specific Strategy for Teaching the Gifted Learning Disabled

Self-assessment is described as an important element in teaching gifted students who have learning disabilities. Literature on “metacognitive” (“learning strategies”) approaches, and on self-assessment as a component of that, is reviewed with its application to students with specific learning disabilities. Two examples are given showing the way self-assessment can be used in teaching students who are gifted yet who also have learning disabilities.

Creative Problem Solving for General Education Intervention Teams A Two-Year Evaluation Study

Creative problem solving (CPS) is an approach for identifying solutions to problems within a structured, facilitated process. In the current studies, CPS was customized for general education intervention (GEI) teams in elementary schools. In the first study, 24 GEI teams were randomly assigned either to a CPS for GEI training condition or to a control group. Team outcome measures were tracked over the course of a school year, and the CPS for GEI teams consistently demonstrated superior performance relative to controls across all measures. One year later, a second study investigated 2 approaches to delivering training in CPS for GEI teams. Five teams received CPS for GEI training directly from university-based staff, and 9 teams received training from employees in their district who had previously received CPS for GEI training from the university-based staff (a “train-the-trainers” approach). Schools receiving training from their own staff performed as well as the independently trained schools, thereby providing support for the train-the-trainers approach. Discussion focuses on the results from both studies and identifies areas for future research and practice with CPS for GEI teams.

The myth of the L.D. WISC‐R profile

Abstract One frequently finds researchers and practitioners attempting to identify subtest scoring patterns on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales indicative of learning disabilities. This review notes the many statistical and research design flaws in these studies. In conclusion, the point is made that extant research has not been able to confirm an L.D. pattern and that, probably, the search for an L.D. profile is no longer justified.

Social Acceptability Characteristics of Learning Disabled Students

Previous studies, in exploring correlates of lack of social acceptance of LD students by other children, have identified characteristics associated with qualities of verbal interactions and social cues. The present study found LD students to be less accepted than non-handicapped children, but attitudes toward LD were more positive than toward other handicaps. Attitudes of 4th-grade students were less positive than those of younger and older students. Children in this study were significantly more willing to have the LD child as a friend or in a social group than to have the LD child be in an authority position. Finally, subjects were more receptive to the LD student when she initiated an interaction.

On the Attempt to Find WISC-R Profiles for Learning and Reading Disabilities (A Response to Vance, Wallbrown, and Blaha)

In this issue we will depart from the typical Programs, Materials, and Techniques column format to include a response by Miller to two recent articles submitted by Vance, Wallbrown, and Blaha that describe the use of WISC-R scoring patterns in planning remediation strategies for learning disabled students. Millers rebuttal claims that many of the conclusions and interpretations are unjustified. Vance, Wallbrown, and Blahas rejoinder and a final reply by Miller are offered. Augmenting this theme with new information, Stevenson describes the value of a functional analysis of WISC-R performance in the assessment and remediation of the learning disabled child. Finally, Scull and Brand compare the performance of severely learning disabled children on the Wide Range Achievement Test and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test.

Verbal Mediation for Perceptual Deficits in Learning Disabilities: A Review and Suggestions

An intervening variable between perceptual deficits and academic learning — verbal mediation processes — is explored. Research reviewed, primarily that of Luria, leads to the conclusion that verbal mediational processes can compensate for perceptual learning-process deficits. Relevant teaching applications are discussed.

Recommendations for G/T Teacher Preparation and Graduate Programs.

The article describes some of the general criteria that are being developed specifically in training teachers of the gifted.

Teachers' and Students' Ratings of Achievement-Related Skills among Juvenile Delinquents

65 boys, 12 to 16 yr. old, with learning handicaps rated their achievement higher than their teachers did.