Learning Disabilities: Nature, Theory, and Treatment

626 Pages·1992·22.045 MB·English

by  Kenneth A. Kavale, Steven R. Forness (auth.), Nirbhay N. Singh, Ivan L. Beale (eds.)

Disorders of Human Learning,
Behavior, and Communication
Ronald L. Taylor and Les Sternberg
Series Editors
Nirbhay N. Singh Ivan L. Beale
Editors
Learning Disabilities
Nature, Theory, and
Treatment
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg London Paris
Tokyo Hong Kong Barcelona Budapest
Nirbhay N. Singh, Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia,
Richmond, VA 23298, USA
Ivan L. Beale, Department of Psychology, University of Auckland,
Auckland, NZ
Series Editors: Ronald L. Taylor and Les Sternberg, Exceptional Student
Education, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Learning disabilities: nature, theory, and treatmentiNirbhay N.
Singh, Ivan L. Beale, editors.
p. cm.-(Disorders of human learning, behavior, and
communication)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-387-97590-X (alk. paper)
1. Learning disabilities-United States. I. Singh, Nirbhay N
II. Beale, Ivan L. III. Series.
LC4705.L371991
371.9-dc20 91-14587
With 8 illustrations.
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1992
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without
the written permission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10010, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or
scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication,
even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names,
as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used
freely by anyone.
Production managed by Ellen Seham; manufacturing supervised by lacqui Ashri.
Typeset by Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Chai Wan, Hong Kong.
9 8 7 fi 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-9135-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-9133-3
001:10.1007/978-1-4613-9133-3
We dedicate this book to the women in our lives
for their understanding and unconditional love
Preface
Our aim in editing this volume was to bring together a collection of
chapters that adequately represented the contemporary field of learning
disabilities, to serve as a useful guide to advanced students, and as a
resource for practitioners and researchers. We saw the need for a book
that not only presents the central concerns of the mainstream but also
illustrates a variety of promising approaches to nature, theory, and
treatment.
Just as learning disability is not a unitary disorder, neither is it a unitary
field of study. From the outset, theory and clinical practice have been
characterized by a wide diversity of approaches, many of which have
waxed and waned throughout the decades over which the field has
developed. Particular themes have fizzled out only to reemerge in new
clothes further down the line. The modern result is a field full of
conflicting viewpoints on almost every aspect, from definition and
diagnosis to etiology and treatment. It has attracted on the one hand
excellent scientists and clinicians, and on the other, the worst kind of
charlatans and exploiters of those searching for a magic cure. The field is
too broad and complex for complete coverage to be possible in just a
single volume. Any attempt to do so would result in such an
oversimplification of ideas that nothing useful would be achieved. Instead
we have been selective, choosing according to our own biased views, what
to include in this volume.
Both editors cut their teeth on the experimental psychology of learning,
at a time when theoretical models of learning, with their associated
methods of hypothesis testing, were giving way to the inductive methods
of the experimental analysis of behavior. In the early 1960s the
experimental psychology of learning was being applied to developmental
learning problems, and strong efforts were made to characterize such
problems as resulting from deficits or delays in underlying psychological
processes. Even though the broad learning theories never fulfilled their
promise, this general approach has continued to be applied in learning
disabilities research, and is appropriately represented in some of the
vii
viii Preface
chapters of this book. Learning theory has continued to provide a basis
both for ideas about the nature of learning disabilities and ideas about
remediation.
The emergence of applied behavior analysis from the experimental
analysis of behavior has largely overtaken traditional learning models in
the field of learning disabilities, especially in the remedial area. A
principal reason is that applied behavior analysis is about changing
behavior rather than explaining it. A second reason is that behavior
analysis emphasizes the role of single-subject design in the assessment
and remediation of the individual. It is therefore consonant with the
growing recognition of the uniqueness of each person's learning problems
and responsiveness to particular remedial efforts. Some chapters in this
book illustrate well both present fruits and the future promise of this
approach.
A third general framework for understanding and remediating learning
disabilities has been provided by cognitive psychology, broadly
represented in this book in chapters on metacognitive processes, in
formation processing, neuropsychology, and language. The physiolog
ical basis of learning disabilities is recognized in those chapters dealing
with the genetic and pharmacological aspects, as well as the visual deficit
hypothesis.
This particular selection of topics indicates our attempt to represent
those areas of the whole field that we think the serious student should
know about. No doubt we have neglected themes that others would have
liked to see included, and probably included areas that others would
consider not deserving of a place. We think we have selected themes that
will endure the next decade of development of learning disabilities
research, and will prepare the student for what is to come as well as
placing it in an historical context. We hope that those new to the learning
disabilities field, as well as those already conversant with some aspects of
it, will find this book helpful.
We wish to thank those authors whose work we have brought together,
for entrusting their efforts to us, and for their patience with the editorial
process. Any success is theirs as much as ours. We thank all those others
who have helped us with this project, especially those friends and families
we have neglected in the process. We are grateful to the staff at
Springer-Verlag for their support and encouragement, to Carol Adams,
Christopher Lavach, Trudy McDaniel, Ashvind Singh, and Subhashni
Singh for assistance in the preparation of the indexes, and to our diligent
secretaries who make us look more efficient and productive than we
really are. Finally, we thank those teachers, clients, and colleagues who
got us interested in this field in the first place.
Nirbhay N. Singh
Ivan L. Beale
Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII
Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Xl
Part 1 Nature
1 History, Definition, and Diagnosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Kenneth A. Kavale and Steven R. Forness
2 An Alternative to the Food Processor Approach to Subtypes of
Learning Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Linda S. Siegel and Jamie Metsala
3 Educational Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Ennio Cipani and Robert Morrow
4 Psychosocial Characteristics of Learning Disabled Students. . . . 96
Ruth Pearl
5 Metacognition........................................... 126
Katherine A. Larson and Michael M. Gerber
6 Adults with Learning Disabilities .......................... 170
Henry B. Reiff and Paul J. Gerber
Part 2 Theory
7 Neuropsychological Theories of Learning Disabilities. . . . . . . .. 201
W. Grant Willis, Stephen R. Hooper, and Brenda H. Stone
8 The Visual Deficit Hypothesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 246
William Lovegrove
ix
x Contents
9 Phonological Deficits in Dyslexia: A "Sound" Reappraisal of
the Verbal Deficit Hypothesis? ............................ 270
Charles Hulme and Margaret Snowling
10 The Inactive Learner Hypothesis: Myth or Reality? .......... 302
Elizabeth J. Short, Christopher W. Schatschneider, and
Sarah E. Friebert
11 Genetics............................................... 327
Jim Stevenson
12 Information Processing Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 352
Robert T. Solman and Keith E. Stanovich
. Part 3 Treatment
13 Behavioral Approaches ................................... 375
Nirbhay N. Singh, Diane E. D. Deitz, and Judy Singh
14 Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches in Reading and Written
Language: Developing Self-Regulated Learners. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 415
Karen R. Harris, Steve Graham, and Michael Pressley
15 Computer-Assisted Instruction: Potential and Reality. . . . . . . .. 452
Kathryn G. Karsh and Alan C. Repp
16 Pharmacological Intervention ............................. 478
Michael G. Aman and Johannes Rojahn
17 Remediation of Psychological Process Deficits in Learning
Disabilities ............................................. 526
Ivan L. Beale and Lynette J. Tippett
18 A Commentary on Learning Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 569
John W. Lloyd
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 587
Subject Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 613
Contributors
Michael G. Aman, Ph.D., The Nisonger Center for Mental Retardation
and Developmental Disabilities, and Department of Psychology, The
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1205 USA
Ivan L. Beale, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Ennio Cipani, Ph.D., Department of Special Education, University of the
Pacific, Stockton, California 95211 USA
Diane E. D. Deitz, Ph.D., Department of Counseling, Educational
Psychology and Special Education, Northern Illinois University,
DeKalb, Illinois 60115 USA
Steven R. Forness, Ph.D., UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Los
Angeles, California 90024 USA
Sarah E. Friebert, Ph.D., School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve
University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 USA
Michael M. Gerber, Ph.D., Department of Education, University of
California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106 USA
Paul J. Gerber, Ph.D., School of Education, Program of Special
Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
23284-2020 USA
Steve Graham, Ed.D., Department of Special Education, University of
Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 USA
Karen R. Harris, Ed.D., Department of Special Education, University of
Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 USA
Stephen R. Hooper, Ph.D., Clinical Center for the Study of Development
and Learning, and Department of Psychiatry, University of North
Carolina, School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 USA
xi
xii Contributors
Charles Hulme, D.Phil., Department of Psychology, University of York,
Heslington, York YOl 5DD, England
Kathryn G. Karsh, Ed.D., Educational Research and Services Center,
Inc., DeKalb, Illinois 60115 USA
Kenneth A. Kavale, Ph.D., Division of Special Education, The University
of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52240 USA
Katherine A. Larson, Ph.D., Department of Education, University of
California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106 USA
John Wills Lloyd, Ph.D., Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and
Special Education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-2495 USA
William Lovegrove, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of
Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia 2500
Jamie Metsala, Ph.D., Centre for Applied Cognitive Science, The
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V 6
Robert D. Morrow, Ed.D., Department of Special Education Studies,
University of the Pacific, Stockton, California 95211 USA
Ruth Pearl, Ph.D., Department of Educational Psychology, University of
Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60680 USA
Michael Pressley, Ph.D., Department of Special Education, University of
Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 USA
Henry B. Reiff, Ph.D., Department of Education, Western Maryland
College, Westminster, Maryland 21157 USA
Alan C. Repp, Ph.D., Educational Research and Services Center, Inc.,
DeKalb, Illinois 60115 USA
Johannes Rojahn, Ph.D., The Nisonger Center for Mental Retardation,
and Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio 43210-1296 USA
Christopher W. Schatschneider, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 USA
Elizabeth J. Short, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 USA
Linda S. Siegel, Ph.D., Department of Instruction and Special Education,
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto, Ontario M5S
1V6
Judy Singh, M.S., School of Education, Division of Educational Studies,
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23284 USA