Learning Strategies: An Instructional Alternative for Low-Achieving Adolescents

This is the publisher's version also found at http://sped.org/ABSTRACT: As mildly handicapped students move from elementary to secondary school, they are expected to deal with increased curricular demands. The University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities has designed and validated a set of task-specific learning strategies as an instructional alternative for these students. Learning strategies teach students "how to learn" so that they can more effectively cope with increased curriculum expectations

Effects of Three Conferencing Procedures on the Academic Productivity of LD and NLD Adolescents

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.The effects of teacher and parent conferencing procedures on lesson completion by LD and NLD adolescents in a learning center were investigated. Following teacher conferences, students showed initial increases; however, these were not maintained. Following parent conferences, student responses showed great variability. Overall, both procedures encouraged initial increases in lesson completion, but magnitude of change was minimal; neither produced generalization or maintenance effects

Strategy Mastery by At-Risk Students: Not a Simple Matter

This is the publisher's version, also found here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1001966Teachers have succeeded in teaching at-risk students, including those with learning disabilities, to master and apply complex learning strategies. The majority of this instruction has been provided in resource rooms or other remedial settings where intensive and systematic instruction has been possible. Increasingly, teachers in regular classrooms are being asked to provide learning strategy instruction to diverse classes that include students with disabilities. This expectation presents many challenges to the classroom teacher, including the creation of an instructional balance between content and strategies instruction while at the same time ensuring both the interest and growth of all students in an academically diverse class. In this article we review the results of a line of programmatic research on learning strategies instruction that has been conducted on students with learning disabilities. From this research, a set of instructional principles about how to teach learning strategies to at-risk students has emerged. These principles and implications for teaching strategies to at-risk students in regular classrooms are presented

An Approach to Learning Strategy Training for Groups of Secondary Students

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.The purpose of this article is to outline specific instructional procedures that can be used effectively to teach LD adolescents in small-group settings. Specifically, the article covers the following: a brief review of research on 1 earning strategies conducted by the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities, (KU-IRLD); a set of instructional procedures for teaching specific learning strategies to groups of LD adolescents; and a set of general principles for teaching learning strategies to groups of students

Planning in the Face of Academic Diversity: Whose Questions Should We Be Answering?

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.The goal of this investigation was to identify how regular high school and middle school social studies and science teachers approach teaching their most academically diverse class. Specifically, we sought to determine whether or not the typical special education model of individualization could be part of the framework of approaching academically diverse classes. Information from this study will serve as the basis for conceptualizing interventions that will enable regular classroom teachers to better plan and teach students with mild handicaps

Teaching a Paragraph Organization Strategy to Learning Disabled Adolescents

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.In this study, 8 LD students were taught a learning strategy to structure the organization of single paragraphs. Three paragraph styles ware taught. Results indicated: {a) paragraph styles appeared to be interdependent, (b) that LD students can learn to write organized paragraphs after receiving the strategy training, and (c) generalization across paragraph styles is inconsistent across students

Application of a Social Skill and Problem-Solving Group Training Program to Learning Disabled and Non-Learning Disabled Youth

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.The efficacy of training social and problem-solving skills to learning disabled adolescents was evaluated by conducting a group skiff training program with three sets of youths: (a) LD adolescents attending an alternative high school, (b) non-LD youths attending the same school, and (c) court-adjudicated youths on probation with a juvenile court. Results of behavioral role-play tests showed that all three groups of youths performed the skills at low levels prior to training. With the training of each social skill, increases were shown by each group in that social skill level. Baseline levels of the untrained skills remained stable until after training. Initial increases apparent after training generally were maintained or increased throughout the program. On the cognitive problem-solving skill, LD adolescents showed a slight gain when compared to gains for non-LD and court-adjudicated youths

An Observational Study of the Academic and Social Behaviors of Learning Disabled Adolescents in the Regular Classroom

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.This study examined the class performance of LD adolescents and the performance of their peers who are successful participants in the classroom environment . Data from live observations of 47 pairs of students (one LD and one non-LD student) were analyzed. The data reveal that the majority of student time was spent attending to work material and that very little interaction occurs between students and teachers. LD students spent more time in reading, writing, and notetaking and spent greater lengths of uninterrupted time in these behaviors. LD students engage in significantly more rule violations in the classroom than non-LD student. Results of this study suggest that there are many similarities and only a few differences between LD adolescents and their non-LD peers with regard to study, social, and classroom behaviors overtly observed in their regular classroom

Research Approaches to Studying the Link Between Learning Disabilities and Juvenile Delinquency

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.A relationship between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency has been hypothesized for a period of time. Research on this relationship has been clouded with methodological difficulties. These problems include the definitions of learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency, the use of appropriate experimental designs, and the difficulty of obtaining informed consent in the court system. A current study through The University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities which is intervening with learning disabled youth in the juvenile court is described. Finally, key questions in the field are proposed with suggestion for future research