1) The document outlines 10 promising research topics related to improving outcomes for students with learning disabilities. These include accurately identifying and classifying learning disabilities, understanding underlying cognitive processes, improving teacher quality, transition to work, interventions in STEM fields, effective writing and language interventions, instructional service delivery models, and practices to improve academic outcomes. 2) For each topic, the document discusses what is currently known and limitations in the existing research evidence, and identifies specific questions that require further study. For example, little is known about practices that work for students who do not respond well to typical interventions. 3) Overall, the document argues more research is needed across many topics to better inform teaching practices and improve academic and

1. Promising Research topics
for Students With Learning
Disabilities?
Sharon Vaughn
Regents Professor
Sharon Vaughn
Regents Professor
University of Texas
With a little help from my friends:
Amory Cable
Jack Fletcher
Doug and Lynn Fuchs
Russell Gersten

2. History of Special Education
 For many students with disabilities,
the initial goal of special education
was to ensure that they were
provided an opportunity to attend
and profit from education (FAPE).
 The history of special education for
students with LD focuses more on
appropriate instruction.

3. “Whereas many typically achieving students can
make up for lost time, learn well independently,
and make up for mistakes made by educators,
special education students cannot. The
influence of research and evidence on decision
making has even greater value for those
students with disabilities who most require
precision in their instructional and behavioral
plans.” (Vaughn & Dammann, 2001, p.27)

4. Research Issue # 10
How do we adequately IDENTIFY and
CLASSIFY students with Learning
Disabilities?
WHY do we care?

5. Accuracy in Classification
Essential:
 Yields validity in the Construct
 Provides for improved treatment
 Issues of identification have long haunted
the field of learning disabilities.

6. What is a Learning Disability?
Is Charlie Brown LD?

7. Hypothetical Classification of
LD: Marker Variables involving:
 1. Word Recognition (Dyslexia)
 2. Reading Fluency
 3. Reading Comprehension
 4. Math Computations (Dyscalculia)
 5. Math Problem Solving
 6. Written Expression (Handwriting,
Spelling, Text Generation?)

8. Low Achievement is
Necessary but Not Sufficient
 Homogeneity is at the level of the academic
skill
 Processing subtypes currently do not explain
independent variability

9. Research Issue #9: Should we
understand underlying processes
in Learning Disabilities ?
The initial work in learning disabilities
attempted to better link the underlying
processes that “caused” the learning disability
with possible cures or “remediation” of those
underlying process disabilities.
 Psychoeducational strengths and
weaknesses
 Concerns with linking process disabilities to
treatment lead to strange and unreliable
interventions

10. Does this mean all work on
process deficits is hopeless?
1. Knowledge about the neurological
underpinnings of learning and LD are not
adequately understood.
2. The measurement needed to identify
specific process disorders in learning has
not been precise.
3. Matching the subtype of a learning
problem with appropriate treatments has
not been successfully conducted.

11. Do process oriented
interventions live on?
Modality-matched and multi-sensory
approaches continue to be used as
interventions for students with LD with no
research to support their use.
Finding from meta-analyses: There is no
empirical support for the use of modality-
matched or multi-sensory approaches for
students with LD

12. Research Issue # 8 How do we
Improve the Knowledge and Skills of
Special Education Teachers
Does Teacher Quality Matter?
What are the Indicators of Teacher Quality?
How do we Measure Teacher Quality?

13. Student Outcomes….
 The ultimate goal of special education is to
improve students social, behavioral, and
academic outcomes
 These outcomes are influenced by
teacher’s practice.
 Influencing teacher’s practice – how to
effectively accomplish this requires further
study.

14. Teacher practice
Student outcomes

15. Research Issue #7 How do we
Improve the Knowledge Based
on Transition to Work?
We need to understand much more about
effective practices for individuals with
learning disabilities as they transition to
work and postsecondary

16.  Students with LD will need access to post-
secondary options
 Investigations on how to effectively
influence access and success in post-
secondary settings are needed.
 Investigations that increase school
retention.

17. Research Issues #6 How do we
provide effective interventions in
STEM?
Students with Learning Disabilities will be
required to meet the increasing demands
of
 Science
 Technology
 Mathematics

18. Increasing knowledge…
In Science, Technology, and Math will
require knowledge of
 effective instructional practices for
improving concept learning to mastery,
 effective instructional practices for
accessing general education curriculum
related to higher level thinking in
ALGEBRA and SCIENCE

19. Research Issue #5 What writing
interventions are effective?
How to improve students’ written
composition including knowledge of:
 Effective practices for written expression
across genres
 Effective practices for basic writing
elements such as
handwriting/keyboarding; spelling

20. In particular,
We need RIGOROUS, long term studies of
effective practices in written composition
and the elements of writing.
Noteworthy is the need to look at effects
over time and to examine transfer.

21. Research Issue #4 What
language interventions are
effective?
What practices are associated with
improved outcomes in expressive
language development and listening
comprehension for students with
language/learning disabilities?

22. What do we know?
 We know exceedingly little from rigorous
studies of effective practices for improving
expressive and receptive language
outcomes for students with
language/learning disabilities.

23. More research is needed
 To identify effective language intervention
practices for complex syntax, curriculum
related vocabulary, receptive language
and pragmatics (social communication)
 To identify effective service delivery
models
 To examine optimal treatment dosage
 To assess generalization and
maintenance effects in longitudinal studies

24. Research Issue #3 How do we
effectively deliver instructional
services?
What practices are effective for
teaching students who are
learning disabled and English
language learners?

25. Much of what we know about teaching
students who are both learning disabled
and English language learners has been
adapted from the less-than-adequate
research base on ELLs without disabilities.

26. Instructional practices
for ELLs
Instruction practices for
students with LD
Instruction for English Language Learners
with LD
?

27. Research Issue #2: Models of
Service?
How Effective are various service
delivery models for meeting the
needs of students with Learning
Disabilities including: Resource
Room models, Inclusion, and
Response to Intervention?

28. Improving our understanding of practices
associated with effective outcomes for
students with learning disabilities based on
the type of delivery service provided is
required.

29. Research Issue #1 What
Practices Improve Academic
Outcomes for Students with LD ?
When students fail to respond to traditionally
effective instructional practices in reading,
math, spelling, and writing --- what
intensive interventions are associated with
effective outcomes?

30. What do we know?
 We have learned much in the last 2
decades about teaching students with
learning difficulties.
 We know considerably less about teaching
students whose response to typically
effective practices is low/very low.

31. What types of interventions
hold promise for students
with LD?

32. What types of interventions hold
promise for students with LD?
Academic Difficulty
Intervention

33. We need studies to demonstrate support
for:
Controlling task difficulty (e.g., sequencing
examples and problems to maintain high
levels of success and matching task
difficulty with student abilities and
emerging skills) is associated with
improved academic outcomes.

34. The effectiveness of various group sizes in
teaching students with LD:
one on one
very small group (n=3)
small group (n=5)
large group ……
We need research that documents:

35. We need research that
 Better informs special education teachers
on all practices related to effectively
teaching students with learning disabilities
And
 Preparing them for success post
secondary
AND
 Preparing them for academic and social
success

36. Thank YOU!!!!