Learning Difficulties Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This paper attempts to discuss and highlight the need and scope for the use of assistive technology in inclusive education, to help include the excluded.

In general, children with a range of special needs have below-average motivation and perceived control. We have investigated whether differences exist between the types of problem in different special groups. Theory distinguishes between two types: low motivation and perceived control can be based either on a low perceived contingency, or on a low perceived competence. These two types of problem require different intervention strategies. The development of these types is related to several factors that might vary systematically in different special groups: specific histories of experience of success and failure, the possibilities of perceiving contingencies, and the kind of feedback and attributions from important others. We asked teachers to rate their pupils and found, in accord with our expectations, that children with social, emotional and behavioural problems, children with moderate learning difficulties and children with specific learning difficulties have more problems in perceived competence than children with physical or visual impairments. There was a non-significant tendency in the expected direction for children with physical impairments to have lower perceived contingency scores than the other groups. We conclude that caution is required in generalizing research findings from one special group to another, and in the application of intervention techniques that have been developed for one particular group.

- by Saskia Kunnen
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- Education, Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Group Theory

Learning skills, social intelligence, and self-concept were related to each other and to bully-victim problems among fifth-grade children (79 boys and 62 girls, aged 11-12 years). In addition to exploring connections between single variables, a person-oriented approach was applied in order to analyze children's value patterns with respect to learning skills, self-concept, and social intelligence, and how these value patterns are related to bully-victim problems. Social intelligence was found to be positively correlated with learning skills, but negatively related to victimization. Bullying was positively correlated with self-concept scores. However, this was true only of boys. According to cross-tabulations, there were significantly more bullies among children with learning difficulties (LD) than would have been expected by chance. Victimization, on the other hand, was not related to LD. LD children's proposed victim status was in some degree supported by cluster analysis: a group of LD children emerged, who not only scored high on bullying, but also tended to be victimized by others. In addition, two groups of bullies appeared: one whose members could be interpreted as socially unskilled and another as socially skilled. This finding is in line with recent theoretical reasoning, which calls into question the idea of bullies as a unified group, lacking in social skills.

- by christina salmivalli
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Difficulties, Multivariate Analysis
- by Penina Ngio
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- Learning Difficulties

This article focuses on garments used in care environments. We investigate a patient overall, developed for the care of people with severe memory problems, severe learning difficulties and brain injuries. The aim of the use of a patient overall is to prevent undressing in socially inappropriate situations and/or to stop the user from removing an incontinence pad. This article is based on interviews of designers of medical textiles and patients and family carers in Finland. Both designers and patients found patient overalls to be infantilizing and stigmatizing for the user but accepted the basic functions of the product. We report results of a design project aimed at designing a new type of garment that takes into account the technical requirements but provides a more dignified look and opportunities for activity. We discuss the ethical issues concerning the use of this kind of product in the care of people with dementia.

- by Sonja Iltanen-Tähkävuori
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- Cognitive Science, Nursing, Dementia, Learning Difficulties

The present paper contends that children with learning disabilities are better served when assessment and intervention are conceptualized within an ecological neuropsychology perspective than within the traditional deficit model perspective, which is the predominant approach to intervention in medical and educational settings. The deficit method conceptualizes problems as within the child, and the major consequence of this approach is that little time is spent analyzing the learning environment or other systems that might impact the child's ability to be successful in an academic setting. Therefore, rehabilitation efforts have had limited success. In contrast, ecological neuropsychology is a strengthbased approach that considers the child, as well as the systems within which he/she interacts, when assessing, diagnosing, and intervening with students who are experiencing learning difficulties.

- by Franci Crepeau-hobson
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuropsychology, Special Education

At the moment we are working on an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) connected communities’ research grant exploring the resilience benefits of visual arts practice. As we write this Hannah has a headache and keeps on thinking about budgets in the bath and Angie is tired after a night of writing the next bid for follow on funding! We are all involved in the complex process of engaged, impactful participatory research and at times suffer some of the symptoms of this labour intensive and contradictory process. Our current research project involves a scoping study with community partners and young people facing mental health complexity and / or learning difficulty.

- by Becky Heaver
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- Child and adolescent mental health, Mental Health, Resilience, Learning Difficulties

Adults with Learning Difficulties in England 2003/4. Emerson, Eric B. and Davies, I. and Spencer, K. and Malam, S. (2005) Adults with Learning Difficulties in England 2003/4. . Full text not available from this archive. Item Type: Other.... more

- by Joav Merrick
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- Psychology, Social Work, Learning Difficulties

Dyscalculia is a learning difficulty faced by an individual. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of problems of dyscalculia in primary schools. The researchers employed quantitative design to carry out the study. Survey method is used to collect the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics are used to analyze the survey data. A study was conducted with 381 primary schools Mathematics teachers in Malaysia. Means and standard deviation were used to analyze the level of problems of dyscalculia, whereas independent t-test were used to compare the level of problems of dyscalculia between school locations. The results show that the level of problems of dyscalculia is medium high (M=3.31, σ=0.97). On the other hand, the problem of dyscalculia in rural area is slightly higher (M=3.822, σ=0.697) than the urban area (M=3.717, σ=0.696). In short, there is no significant difference for the level of problems of dyscalculia between different school locations (p=0.147, p>0.05). This study is able to bring significances to Ministry of Education Malaysia, educators, teachers, and researchers. The result is useful to determine the allocations of funding and resources for the students with learning difficulties. It is also able to create the awareness of dyscalculia among the people. As a conclusion, interventions and diagnosis need to be carried out in order to improve the capabilities of these pupils to the maximum.

- by Yoong Soo May
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- Mathematics, Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Survey Research

Teaching pupils with identified and categorized learning difficulties in Design and Technology may be seen as a challenge to the teachers. In recognition of the different learning difficulties students may have, teachers should be able to plan means and ways of overcoming them. It is part of the teachers‟ role to find different teaching methods and strategies. However since Design and Technology is a relatively new subject in the Maltese Curriculum, teachers may find that any suggestions will be of great help. After a review of literature, Observation sessions were undertaken in order to determine what some teachers, according to their understanding of the learning difficulties are doing at present. Teachers were found to have difficulties in handling the student‟s behaviour, and often ended up ignoring the students completely in order to continue with the lesson. Suggestions are given on how to deal with the types of behaviour observed, and also reference to documents that are intended as guidelines for teachers teaching Design & Technology is made and discussed.

- by Katinka Lehtonen
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- Learning and Teaching, Learning Difficulties, Design and Technology

The transformation of learning materials in an accessible format for blind students allows them to access texts and graphics. This access was not possible before considering the past technologies. The Daisy format represents an accessibility standard that permits the visually impaired person to listen an audio book as a person without disability. In this way, the visually impaired person can

- by Marian Padure
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- Teaching and Learning, Learning Difficulties, Visual Impairment

The study of how children with severe learning difficulties acquire number skills is a much neglected topic-especially when compared to other areas such as language development or social interaction. Jill Porter, lecturer, Institute of Education, London University, asks if this is because the acquisition of language is perceived as more important than the acquisition of number or if it is because we don't think children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) are capable of developing numeracy skills. An examination of how numeracy skills have been treated within the curriculum for pupils with SLD over the last 30 years makes interesting reading in relation to these questions. As in many other areas of education, what seems to have happened is that the wheel has turnedfullcircle. Prior to the 1970sprovision for SLDchildren wasmadein junior training centres. In some respects at least, these centres were often modelled on mzinstream primary schools and areas like 'number' were given quite high priority (Norris, 1961). For example, Simpson (1967) noted that 30 minutes a day might be reserved for number skills, a generous amount of time considering that such a large part of the day was taken up by what he described as the 'inessentials' of administration,

- by jill porter
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- Learning Difficulties

The problems of communication with Chinese international students are reported in many academic publications related to international students in higher education in the UK. Majority of these problems links to teaching and learning activities: Chinese international students are quiet in classroom, not active in group discussion or group work, and passive in tutorials etc. Such problems not only cause misunderstandings between Chinese international students and their tutors but also have negative influence on their learning outcome. This article is based on an empirical study on Chinese international students’ learning experience in University of Huddersfield. 34 Chinese international students from foundation to PhD participate in focus group discussion and personal interview. The participants generally have learning difficulties to some degree, which associate to their communication problems. English proficiency is not a primary factor cause their learning difficulties. External and...

- by Chuanyan Zhu
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- Psychology, Intercultural Communication, Teacher Education, Higher Education

The developmental psychology of mathematical thinking and the clinical interview method can make major contributions to education by transforming the process of formative assessment -the attempt to use information concerning student performance, knowledge, learning potential, and motivation to inform instruction. The clinical interview is a powerful method for learning about students' underlying cognitive competence. Cognitive developmental theory is essential because assessment is only as 'valid' as the ideas on which it is based. Yet current theories of developmental trajectories need to be supplemented by consideration of obstacles that the student must overcome. These involve the mathematics, instructional materials and the teacher.

- by Herbert Ginsburg
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Mathematics

Geography is one of the core school subjects in India. As a school subject, it has also gained its due place in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) syllabus, Meghalaya. There is a general notion that geography is a tough subject in the social sciences. This notion may exist due to several related factors that hamper geography learning in schools. In this connection, the present study was undertaken to explore the students' interests and learning difficulty in geography and to analyse the methods employed by teachers to teach geography. In this study, a qualitative research design was used and a self-developed semi-structured questionnaire was employed to collect data from fifty-seven secondary school students and twelve teachers in the South West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. The analysis was completed based on frequency, percentage, and content analysis. The findings showed that the majority of students (N=42, 73.68%) had an interest in geography. However, a significant proportion of the students (N=15, 26.32%) did not like the subject. Furthermore, the study rendered the grounds of students' interest and disinterest in the subject. Besides, different areas related to students' learning difficulty were identified. For better off, the study urged teachers to use innovative and ICT integrated methods and teaching aids in the classroom. Teachers' training and content mastery for teachers was emphasised as essential criteria for effective and interesting teaching at school levels.

- by Vandana Vandana
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- Social Sciences, Learning Difficulties, Qualitative Research, Geography Education

Rebound Therapy is a term referring to the use of trampolines to provide therapeutic exercise and recreation in an educational setting. It is purported to offer physiological, therapeutic and communication benefits, especially among children with “profound and multiple learning disabilities” (PMLD) and is widely used throughout Special Education Needs schools in the UK. As yet however there remains limited published data into the effectiveness of teaching rebound therapy. This paper reports upon a pilot study, which specifically evaluates the effectiveness of teaching Rebound Therapy to children with PMLD in the first weeks of their ability assessment at school. The data were collected at a school in which Rebound Therapy was well established but to be taught for the first time using the Windstrada scheme. The data comprised observations and field notes of taught, weekly sessions, collated assessments completed by the teachers and interviews with staff. While the assessments and data indicate that by engaging in Rebound Therapy the children within the PMLD group all improved in their coordination and confidence, it seems clear that longer term research is needed to help establish this positive intervention in the educational setting.

This present study concentrates on the organizational implication the Iranian students with learning difficulties (LD) experience when they write an English essay. Particularly, the present study aims at exploring students 'structural problems in EFL essay writing. A mixed method research design was employed including a questionnaire and a semi-structured in depth interview. Technical Data Analysis of findings exposed that students experience a number of difficulties in the structure of EFL essay writing. Discussion and implications of these findings are presented respectively.

The work of two paediatric nurses working full-time in special schools was monitored over a full school year. Most of their time was spent on routine tasks with small numbers of pupils who required enteral feeding and suctioning. They were also responsible for administering medications to around 1 in 6 of the pupils. Both nurses had an involvement in staff training and health promotion classes; more so in one school than the other. In two similar schools which did not have a nurse, the routine tasks were done mainly by teachers or assistants ...

- by Roy McConkey
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- Nursing, Health Promotion, Special Education, Health inequality

The effectiveness of using the reading racetrack drill and practice intervention on the sight word acquisition and fluency of 15 elementary students was examined in two separate experiments. A multiple baseline design across participants was used. The participants were 15 third and fourth-grade students attending a public (n = 10) or parochial (n = 5) elementary school. Participants included children receiving special education services in a resource room, services for learning difficulties, and those in a general classroom setting. Reading racetracks IS a novel approach which employ error correction, timing, and drill and practice procedures. This strategy also utilized drill and practice probe sheets that resemble an automotive racetrack. The results indicated that during the reading racetrack intervention all of the participants more than doubled their correct rate in oral reading. There was also a marked decrease in the number of errors made by each of the participants in this study. The implications of employing reading racetrack procedures for practitioners are outlined.

- by Lisa Rinaldi and +1
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- Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Elementary School, Error Correction

This study was part of a larger research program designed to investigate how effort interacts with strategy use to mediate the academic performance of successful students with learning disabilities (LD) and how teachers' and students' perceptions influence these relationships. The sample consisted of 46 students with LD and 46 matched students without LD and their seven teachers from Grades 6-8. A self-report survey was used to obtain an index of students' perceptions of their effort, strategy use, academic struggles, and academic competence. Our findings indicated that students with LD with positive academic self-perceptions were more likely to work hard and to use strategies in their schoolwork than were students with LD who had negative academic self-perceptions. Teachers viewed students with LD who had positive academic self-perceptions as working equally hard and attaining similar levels of academic competence as their peers without LD. In marked contrast, students with LD who had negative academic self-perceptions were judged by their teachers as making limited effort in school and achieving at a below-average level in comparison with their peers. Findings suggested a cyclical relationship between students' self-perceptions and their teachers' judgments and supported the notion of a reciprocal strategy-effort interaction.

- by sabi ali
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- Learning Difficulties, Learning Disabilities, Disabilities, Learning

The purpose of this study was to assess practices of identification and support system of gifted and talented students in primary schools of Awi, East and West Gojjam Zones Amhara Regional State. Gifted and talented learners can make a significant contribution to their schools, preschools and wider community. However, they may also be at significant risk of underachieving and/or not completing secondary education, unless appropriate curriculum is provided to engage and challenge their abilities and develop their talents. To collect data the researchers selected participants with multi-stage sampling techniques in hierarchical order. Firstly, the researchers selected 50 % of woredas from each Zone. Then, from 50 woredas (population), 25 of them were included into the sample. Secondly, the researchers selected 13, 24, 34, primary schools From Awi, East and West Gojjam zones were selected respectively by using cluster-sampling techniques. The researchers were included school principals general education teachers, school principals, and students for each sample schools. Then after, from each sample general primary schools, 420 (25%) teachers were selected from subject teachers and sex by using stratified random sampling techniques from sample schools. gifted and talented students through In order to achieve the objective of the study cross-sectional descriptive survey research design were used. The researchers were used questionnaires and interview. The data were analyzed by both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics (percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, one sample t-test, one- way and two-way analysis of variance) whereas the qualitative data was analyzed through narrative thematic analysis. Low level of awareness towards giftedness and lack of clear and comprehensive identification and support strategies were the problems in the practices of identification and support systems of gifted and talented students. Therefore, promoting awareness of teachers, principals, supervisors through training and develop clear criteria for identification and support strategies of gifted and talented students in primary schools are essential to cater the potential and performance of these learners.

- by Alemihun Fenta
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- Learning Difficulties, Gifted and Talented Education

Th is article examines institutional arrangements, disability constructions, and policy designs in Finland and the United States. In the US disability is constructed from a medical, diagnosis-driven discrepancy model, and politicians operating in an "equal opportunity" and "civil rights" framework shape policy. In Finland, diagnostic labels are rarely used, and students are referred to as experiencing academic diffi culty. Policies are more strongly shaped by educators than politicians.

- by Markku Jahnukainen and +1
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- Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Comparative Sociology, United States

Dwayne is a Grade 6 student who came to Canada from Jamaica at the age of seven. Upon arrival in a new school Dwayne had to adapt to a new culture. In addition, Dwayne was identified as having severe behavioural problems and learning difficulties, and it was recommended within the first month of school that the boy be medicated in order for him to cope. His mother refused. Through interviewing Dwayne's mother and his teacher, a case study details Dwayne's experiences of schooling in as a result of segregation and in a non-segregated classroom setting. The story of Dwayne illustrates how experiences of disablement are interrelated with experiences of migration and racialisation. The article makes a case for understanding inclusive education practice as well as the construction of disability as central to understanding systemic exclusion through special education.

- by Kathryn Underwood
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- Special Education, Migration, Inclusion, Learning Difficulties
- by don leu
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- Literacy, Education, Educational Technology, Digital Humanities

When children experience learning difficulties, an appropriate evaluation of abilities and skills can provide the foundation for an accurate diagnosis and useful recommendations. When comprehensive information about a child's brain-related strengths and weaknesses is necessary to understand potential sources of the problem and implications for functioning, a neuropsychological evaluation is most often the best choice. This paper was written to help parents, educators, health care providers, and third-party payors to understand the nature of neuropsychological assessment and to choose the type of evaluation that will furnish relevant information for the child's educational planning.

- by N. Pliskin
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Difficulties, Health Planning
- by Dan Goodley
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- Sociology, Social Work, Learning Difficulties, Disability and Society

In this article, Dr Amanda Kirby, medical director at the Dyscovery Centre in Cardiff, Rhys Davies, a researcher for the School of Education at the University of Wales, and Amy Bryant, a psychology student at Cardiff University, report on their investigations into teachers' and general practitioners' (GPs') knowledge of six specific learning difficulties. It was hypothesised that the knowledge of both groups would be similar. The recent development of a labelling culture has resulted in confusion over the terms and the actual difficulties encountered by the individual. The authors asked 105 teachers and 105 GPs to define six categories of learning difficulties (dyspraxia; developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD); attention deficit disorder (ADD); deficit in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP); Asperger's syndrome; and dyslexia) on a questionnaire.The teachers gave significantly more correct definitions than the GPs. However, knowledge from both professional groups was limited, with correct responses only demonstrating a cursory awareness. There are implications for both groups of professionals. Teachers will not be able to recognise or accommodate the child with learning difficulties in class if their knowledge is limited. Similarly GPs will find it difficult to detect and appropriately refer children with learning difficulties. Finally, and most importantly, there are implications for the identification and support of the child, in both the short term and the long term, and associated psychological issues such as lowered self-esteem, depression and anxiety. Amanda Kirby, Rhys Davies and Amy Bryant make suggestions for improving the level of knowledge among professionals through training and discuss, in this engaging and frequently amusing article, some of the issues surrounding the current labelling system.

This study evaluated the internal structure and convergent and discriminant evidence for the Colorado Learning Difficulties Questionnaire (CLDQ), a 20-item parent-report rating scale that was developed to provide a brief screening measure for learning difficulties. CLDQ ratings were obtained from parents of children in two large community samples and two samples from clinics that specialize in the assessment of learning disabilities and related disorders (total N = 8,004). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed five correlated but separable dimensions that were labeled reading, math, social cognition, social anxiety, and spatial difficulties. Results revealed strong convergent and discriminant evidence for the CLDQ Reading scale, suggesting that this scale may provide a useful method to screen for reading difficulties in both research studies and clinical settings. Results are also promising for the other four CLDQ scales, but additional research is needed to refine each of these measures.

- by Richard Boada
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- Psychology, Psychological Assessment, Mathematics, Social Anxiety

Resumen Se revisa el marco teórico de investigación generado en torno a la teoría fonológica de la dislexia evolutiva. Este marco ha habilitado la posibilidad de realizar una identificación temprana de las dificultades específicas de aprendizaje de la lectura y ha justificado su necesi-dad práctica. Cuatro son las aportaciones fundamentales. Primero, la teoría fonológica defiende que la dislexia evolutiva se produce como consecuencia de un déficit fonológico general que afecta a diversos componentes del sistema fonológico, entre los que destacan la conciencia fonológica, la velocidad de los procesos léxicos y la memoria verbal a corto plazo. Segundo, la teoría fonológica ha puesto de manifiesto que la causa primaria de la dislexia está presente desde el periodo embrionario y produce consecuencias sobre el desarrollo del lenguaje oral durante todo el periodo previo al aprendizaje de la lectura. Tercero, la teoría fonológica ha defendido la tesis del lenguaje oral como causa primaria del déficit, y con ello ha revelado las relaciones entre los trastornos específicos del lenguaje y la dislexia evolutiva. Cuarto, la inves-tigación ha mostrado el significativo impacto de los programas de prevención e intervención temprana, lo que obliga a complementar las estrategias reactivas y tardías de diagnóstico, con estrategias proactivas de prevención y/o identificación e intervención temprana. Finalmente, se argumenta que si las causas primeras y los sistemas de prevención e intervención de estas dificultades están directamente vinculados con el desarrollo del lenguaje, entonces la logope-dia debería tener un papel protagonista en la implementación de las estrategias proactivas en el contexto escolar.
readingAbstract This paper presents a review of the research issued from the frame of the Phono-logical Theory of developmental dyslexia. This theory has set up the means to make an earlyidentification of specific learning difficulties in reading, and has provided theoretical support forits implementation. There are four fundamental contributions. First, the Phonological Theoryargues that developmental dyslexia is a consequence of a general phonological deficit thataffects different components of the phonological system being phonological awareness, lexicalprocessing speed and verbal short-term memory the most relevant. Second, the PhonologicalTheory has pointed out that the primary cause of dyslexia is present from the embryonic periodand that it affects oral language development before learning to read. Third, the PhonologicalTheory has considered oral language as the main cause of the deficit, and consequently, hashighlighted the relations between Specific Language Impairment and Developmental Dyslexia.Fourth, since research has proved the significant impact of Programs for prevention and earlyintervention, a clear need for adding proactive strategies of early prevention and/or identifi-cation to the late reactive diagnosis strategies has arisen. Finally, it is argued that if primarycauses as well as prevention and intervention resources are directly attached to language deve-lopment, then, speech therapists should play a main role in the implementation of proactivestrategies in the school context.

- by Juan L. Luque and +2
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- Learning Difficulties

Dressing skill is one of the necessary self-care skills that is taught to individuals with autism in order for them to be able to live independently. Typically, developing individuals can acquire dressing skill on their own; however, children with autism have difficulties in learning such skill without systematic teaching. Thus, teaching dressing skill should be one of the basic aims of educational service. To this end, this study investigated the effect of most-to-least prompting procedure on dressing skill of students with austism. Three students with autism aged 8, 10 and 11participated in the study. Multiple probe design across subjects was used to assess the effects of most-to-least prompting on teaching the target dressing skill. The dependent variable of the research is the level of dressing coat with zip and the independent variable is the individual teaching program based on most-to-least-prompting method. First, in order to determine the target skill, skill check lists were prepared. Taking the chosen target skill into consideration, individual teaching programs were prepared. Measurement tool was prepared so that the beginning, teaching, observation and generalization of the data can be collected and related to chosen target skill of the students. During the instruction, full physical prompting, partial physical prompting, verbal prompting and independent performance techniques were used. The results of the study revealed that most-to-least prompting was effective on teaching dressing skill of students with autism and also generalized the skill for different places and people.

- by Elçin Nurçin
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- Special Education, Audiology, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Learning Difficulties

Language needs or special needs? The assessment of learning difficulties in literacy among children learning English as an additional language: a literature review. ... Cline, T and Shamsi, T (2000) Language needs or special needs? The... more

- by Tony Cline
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- Learning Difficulties, Literature Review, Special Needs
- by Lorraine Graham
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- Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Professional Training, Linguistics

Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices test has been extensively used across a wide variety of settings in different countries all over the world as a fair culture measure of non-verbal intelligence. The objective of the present study is to extract norms of the test for Omani children. The test was applied on an individual basis on a random sample of 1042 children from different age groups ranging from 5 to 11 years old. All of the estimated psychometric properties including validity, reliability, and norms indicate that the test could be practically utilized when applied in several situations. The study has a number of implications including that the Ministry of Education may use it to diagnose and detect those children with learning difficulties; the Ministry of Health may use it in hospitals to measure the IQ of certain patients in order to make medical decisions. In addition, researchers in psychological and social areas would be able to conduct studies aiming at measuring th...

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to make the case for the novel use of lesson study (LS) for assessment purposes, in addition to its typical use to develop teaching and for professional development. The specific use of LS for assessment in this paper is for pupils experiencing learning difficulties in order to enhance understanding of their needs. Design/methodology/approach -The paper explains briefly the origins and principles of LS and draws on evidence from various studies for why and how it can be used for assessment purposes.

- by Brahm Norwich
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- Special Education, Teacher Education, Formative Assessment, Learning Difficulties

The present study is based on an investigation in the areas of psychology, pedagogy, and design. It investigated the reading process and reading education strategies of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in order to develop a typographic system to assist pedagogues as they develop educational aids appropriate for a child's reading problems. The study used an interdisciplinary research methodology including a literature study, empirical knowledge, and a survey study. The survey was based on the opinions and experiences of special education teachers. The survey study showed that individuals with autism could have difficulties learning similar
letterforms. According to the combined results of special education teachers' common opinions, legibility studies, and literature study, the prototype of a typeface for individuals with autism and learning disabilities was developed. The Accessible Typeface v.1, v.2, v.3, v.4 v.5 family has been developed with the intention to facilitate learning-to-read and to minimize reading mistakes for individuals with autism and learning disabilities. However, before being implemented, this font family should be tested to conclude whether it is beneficial or not to teach an individual who has autism or learning disabilities in reading.

- by Efecan Serin
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- Learning and Teaching, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Learning Difficulties, Typography

Mathematics is an important subject for every pupil. We learn mathematics since early childhood education, primary school, secondary school, and even in higher education. It is needed in our everyday life, yet there are many pupils who afraid of this mathematics subject. This is happening especially among the dyscalculic pupils. Dyscalculia is a type of learning disabilities as the same categories as dyslexia. However, dyscalculia remains behind dyslexia in terms of research and understanding. Dyscalculic pupils are a group of pupils with special educational needs. More researches in this field are very crucial to be developed. Hence, the purpose of this study is to introduce the symptoms, instruments, diagnosis and interventions of dyscalculia. This introduction of dyscalculia will be explained based on the previous
literature reviews and previous studies. The impact of this study is it will provide a fundamental knowledge for researchers in future researches as well as special education teachers or mainstream teachers to understand about their pupils who might have symptoms of dyscalculia. By this knowledge, they can also learn about some instruments, diagnosis, and interventions to improve the mathematics learning and even reduce the impact of dyscalculia on the pupils.

- by Soo May Yoong
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- Mathematics, Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Learning Disabilities

Turner syndrome is a common genetic disorder associated with select deficits in executive functions, working memory and mathematics. In Study 1, we examined growth trajectories of skills in these areas, from grades 1 to 6, among girls with or without Turner syndrome. Rates of growth and performance levels at 6th grade, on an untimed math achievement test, did not suggest that girls with Turner syndrome have math learning difficulty (MLD). However, analyses did reveal lower efficiency on timed executive function tasks, among girls with Turner syndrome, who traded accuracy for speed under mild to moderate working memory demands. In Study 2 we compared numerical processing skills of 6th graders who had either Turner syndrome, MLD, low math achievement, or typical achievement in math. A numerical decomposition task revealed numerical processing deficits for the Turner syndrome and MLD groups, relative to typically achieving students. The relative difficulties in how numerical processing vs. working memory demands affected performance accuracy differed among groups, with the former demands leading to more performance difficulties in the Turner syndrome group. Our findings support the notion that girls with Turner syndrome recruit different strategies than their peers during allegedly basic numerical processing, that numerical processing deficits vs. executive function deficits underlie their difficulties with mathematics, and that math difficulties among these girls may not be apparent on untimed tests. These finding have implications for a possible manifestation of MLD.

- by Michèle Mazzocco
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- Psychology, Learning Difficulties, Working Memory, Learning Disabilities

Children's symbolic number sense was examined at the beginning of first grade with a short screen of competencies related to counting, number knowledge, and arithmetic operations. Conventional mathematics achievement was then assessed at the end of both first and third grades. Controlling for age and cognitive abilities (i.e., language, spatial, and memory), number sense made a unique and meaningful contribution to the variance in mathematics achievement at both first and third grades. Furthermore, the strength of the predictions did not weaken over time. Number sense was most strongly related to the ability to solve applied mathematics problems presented in various contexts. The number sense screen taps important intermediate skills that should be considered in the development of early mathematics assessments and interventions.

- by Chaitanya Ramineni
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- Psychology, Mathematics, Learning Difficulties, Numeracy

h i g h l i g h t s Studies on instructors' difficulties in teaching students with disabilities are limited. This qualitative study employs interviews to explore science instructors' barriers. The study reports first-order (external) and second-order (internal) barriers. Complex interactions between first-order and second-order barriers are discussed. The need for effective professional development models is highlighted.

- by Dan Goodley
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- Social Work, Learning Difficulties, Models, Support

Neurodiversity is an umbrella term, including dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyscalculia, autistic spectrum and Tourette syndrome. The increasing number of students with learning difficulties associated with neurodiversity entering higher education (HE) poses a shared and growing challenge internationally for teachers and institutional leaders. This narrative synthesis draws together a corpus of international literature on how neurodiverse students experience higher education and the ways in which higher education institutions respond to the cluster of neurodiverse conditions. A systematic review was carried out to search, retrieve, appraise and synthesize the available evidence to provide an original contribution to the literature and significant insights of worth to higher education internationally. An inclusive approach to data extraction was used to ensure that all the relevant studies were included. All stages of the review process, including the initial search, screening, sample selection and analysis, are described. Three main themes and 11 subthemes were identified. Although the majority of publications focus on either dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder, or ADHD, some common themes are evident in student experience across learning difficulties associated with neurodiversity. Although support services and technologies are available to meet students' specific needs, there is an apparent dislocation between the two. Fear of stigmatization and labelling worsens the divide between what is needed and what is available to ensure neurodiverse students' success in higher education, where good intentions are evidently not enough. Higher Education Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

- by Mehmet Karakus and +1
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- Autism, ADHD (Psychology), Higher Education, Autism Spectrum Disorders

We examined the claim that children with autism have a "weak drive for central coherence" which biases them towards processing information at an analytic rather than global level. This was done by investigating whether children with autism would rapidly and automatically enumerate a number of dots presented in a canonical form, or count each dot individually to obtain the total. The time taken to count stimuli was compared across three participant groups: children with autism, children with moderate learning difficulties, and normally developing children. There were 22 children in each group, and individuals were matched across groups on the basis of verbal mental age. Results implied that children with autism did show a tendency towards an analytic level of processing. However, though the groups differed on measures of counting speeds, the number or children showing patterns of global or analytic processing did not differ significantly across the groups. Whether these results implicate a weak drive for central coherence in autism, which is both specific to, and pervasive in the disorder, is discussed.

- by ΕΙΡΗΝΗ ΛΥΚΟΥ-ΧΑΪΔΗ
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- Mathematics, Education, Autism, Learning Difficulties

Adult patients who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have provided valuable information about events and family dynamics that are frequently associated with BPD. Clinicians who work with children are frequently aware of family or individual characteristics that may put a child at risk for developing BPD. Such situations frequently involve attachment issues with the child's caregivers and can include sexual abuse, divorce, alcoholism/substance use, illness/ death, and neglect. Child characteristics such as learning difficulties and temperament may also predict BPD. Yet, many children are resilient and seemingly unaffected by these events or situations, especially when early intervention may prevent development of BPD.

The purpose of this article is to present a system, referred to as the Integrative Training Design Matrix (ITDM), for streamlining the design of instructional environments in a way that integrates the instructional design elements commonly discussed in the scientific literature. This system expands the use of job-analytic information to better link needs assessment to the design of instructional environments. Specifically, the ITDM shows how determining an instructional objective's standing along four training issues-extensiveness of training, location of training, nature of transfer performance, and learning difficulty-yields a comprehensive plan for designing instructional environments. These plans involve design elements such as trainee-to-trainer ratio, feedback delivery, hands-on practice, modeling, structure of practice, amount of training, meaningfulness, pre-and post-training interventions, and general training methods. The ITDM then shows how organization and person analyses can be targeted to support these design elements.

Neurodiversity is an umbrella term, including dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyscalculia, autistic spectrum and Tourette syndrome. The increasing number of students with learning difficulties associated with neurodiversity entering higher education (HE) poses a shared and growing challenge internationally for teachers and institutional leaders. This narrative synthesis draws together a corpus of international literature on how neurodiverse students experience higher education and the ways in which higher education institutions respond to the cluster of neurodiverse conditions. A systematic review was carried out to search, retrieve, appraise and synthesize the available evidence to provide an original contribution to the literature and significant insights of worth to higher education internationally. An inclusive approach to data extraction was used to ensure that all the relevant studies were included. All stages of the review process, including the initial search, screening, sample selection and analysis, are described. Three main themes and 11 subthemes were identified. Although the majority of publications focus on either dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder, or ADHD, some common themes are evident in student experience across learning difficulties associated with neurodiversity. Although support services and technologies are available to meet students’ specific needs, there is an apparent dislocation between the two. Fear of stigmatization and labelling worsens the divide between what is needed and what is available to ensure neurodiverse students’ success in higher education, where good intentions are evidently not enough.

- by Genoveva Amador Fierros
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- Psychology, Autism, ADHD (Psychology), Higher Education

Since spoken language is the most important channel of communication, it is supposed to be the first skill to master when learning a language. However, in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, learners encounter various problems limiting their abilities. One of the remarkable phenomena in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning is the inability of most students to utter English correctly and fluently. The present study investigates the difficulties that hamper high school students from pronouncing English vocabulary and simple sentences correctly and fluently. This research was carried out in an attempt to assess the English course outcomes that were reflected in learners disabilities of correct and fluent English pronunciation. The data were collected through surveying second-year high school students’ responses to two instruments. A questionnaire was addressed to a sample of 100 Saudi male students from 4 secondary schools, and semi-structured interviews with 5 students from the population were conducted to provide deeper diagnosis regarding problems of English pronunciation. In order to provide further details about the subject studied, analyses of the syllabi are presented. The study recommends remedial pronunciation activities, practice of confusing words, and phonics practices throughout the course.

- by IJELS AIAC and +1
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- Learning Difficulties, Pronunciation, Obstacles, Arab Students