Verbal Deficit

Originally published in 1981. Verbal deficit theories try to account for differential educational attainments in linguistic terms, suggesting that children reach varying levels of success in school as a result of their ability or inability to express themselves, and relate this to social class. This critique considers such theories, especially in the form propounded by Bernstein, primarily from a sociolinguistic viewpoint but with special attention to the historical and educational context behind the theories. It claims that verbal deficit theories are not only unscientific and non-linguistic, but are educationally damaging as well, and proposes instead a linguistic ‘difference’ theory.

Originally published in 1981. Verbal deficit theories try to account for differential educational attainments in linguistic terms, suggesting that children reach varying levels of success in school as a result of their ability or inability to express themselves, and relate this to social class. This critique considers such theories, especially in the form propounded by Bernstein, primarily from a sociolinguistic viewpoint but with special attention to the historical and educational context behind the theories. It claims that verbal deficit theories are not only unscientific and non-linguistic, but are educationally damaging as well, and proposes instead a linguistic ‘difference’ theory.

The category of learning disabilities continues to be among the most contentious in special education. Much of the debate and dissent emanates from a lack of understanding about its basic nature. The failure to evolve a comprehensive and unified perspective about the nature of learning disabilities has resulted in the concept being lost. The loss is best illustrated through the failure to answer this seemingly simple question: What is a learning disability? Using historical, empirical, theoretical, conceptual, and philosophical analyses, this volume explores a number of problems and issues facing the field of learning disabilities. The chapters cover historical influences, definitional problems, primary characteristics, assessment practices, theoretical development, major themes, research and measurement models, and long-term outcomes. The goal is to explicate the nature of learning disabilities by analyzing what it was supposed to be, what it has become, and what it might be. A predominant theme running through this text is the necessity for the field of learning disabilities to regain integrity by recapturing its essence.

Understand the why behind diseases and disorders and how it affects what you do in everyday practice with Goodman and Fuller’s Pathology Essentials for the Physical Therapist Assistant, 2nd Edition. This reader-friendly book serves as both a great learning guide and reference tool as it covers all the pathology-related information that is most relevant to what you, the future or practicing physical therapy assistant, need to know. Each chapter takes a well-organized approach as it defines each pathology disorder; describes the appropriate physical therapy assessments, interventions, guidelines, precautions, and contraindications; and rounds out the discussion with relevant case study examples based on established practice patterns. This new edition also features new critical thinking questions and clinical scenarios on Evolve which bring the material to life and help you see how the information in the book can be applied to the day-to-day work of a physical therapist assistant. PTA-specific information and reading level provides easy-to-follow guidance that is specific to the role of the PTA in managing patients. Special Implications for the PTA sections offer a starting point when addressing a particular condition for the first time. Medical management section addresses diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for each condition discussed. Easy-to-follow, consistent format features a well-organized approach that defines each disorder followed by sections on clinical manifestations and medical management. More than 700 full-color images help reinforce understanding of disease conditions and general pathology principles. Coverage of basic science information and the clinical implications of disease within the rehabilitation process gives readers a solid background in common illnesses and diseases, adverse effects of drugs, organ transplantation, laboratory values, and much more. Terminology and language from the Guide to Physical Therapy Practice is used throughout the text to familiarize readers with the standardized terminology that’s used in practice. Abundance of tables and boxes organize and summarize important points making it easy to access key information. Twelve e-chapters offer supplemental information in the areas of behavioral issues, the gastrointestinal system, vestibular disorders and more. NEW! Clinical scenarios on the Evolve companion website look at patients who have variety of comorbidities and the many factors to consider when evaluating and treating. NEW! Critical thinking questions on the Evolve companion website help users apply the knowledge gained from the text. NEW! Vocab builders set the stage by framing upcoming information in the text.

This highly readable volume illuminates the interplay among biological, psychological, and social-contextual processes in the development of such prevalent problems as depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, dyslexia, and autism. Leading developmental scientist Bruce F. Pennington explains the variety of methods currently being used to investigate the mind-brain connection, including behavioral and molecular genetics, studies of brain structure and function, neuropsychology, and treatment studies. Shedding new light on where mental disorders come from, how they develop, and why they are so common, the book also examines the implications for treatment and prevention.

Brain damage can cause memory to break down in a number of different ways, the analysis of which can illuminate how the intact brain mediates memory processes. After first considering the problems involved in assessing memory, this book provisionally advances a taxonomy of elementary memory disorders and, for each in turn, reviews both the specific processes that are disrupted and the lesions responsible for the disruption. These disorders include short-term memory deficits, deficits in previously well-established memory, memory decifits caused by frontal lobe lesions, the organic amnesias, the disorders of conditioning and skill acquisition. Particular attention is paid to the organic amnesias, about which we know the most, and to the contributions of animal models to our knowledge. Andrew Mayes argues that the memory deficits found in several neurological and psychiatric syndromes comprise co-occurring elementary memory disorders. Finally, he outlines the implications of his taxonomy for our understanding of normal memory. A wide audience of researchers and students will find Human Organic Memory Disorders a helpful guide to a complex problem area.

Recognizing the characteristics of children with learning disabilities and deciding how to help them is a problem faced by schools all over the world. Although some disorders are fairly easily recognizable (e.g., mental retardation) or very specific to single components of performance and quite rare (e.g., developmental dyscalculia), schools must consider much larger populations of children with learning difficulties who cannot always be readily classified. These children present high-level learning difficulties that affect their performance on a variety of school tasks, but the underlying problem is often their difficulty in understanding written text. In many instances, despite good intellectual abilities and a superficial ability to cope with written texts and to use language appropriately, some children do not seem to grasp the most important elements, or cannot find the pieces of information they are looking for. Sometimes these difficulties are not immediately detected by the teacher in the early school years. They may be hidden because the most obvious early indicators of reading progress in the teacher's eyes do not involve comprehension of written texts or because the first texts a child encounters are quite simple and reflect only the difficulty level of the oral messages (sentences, short stories, etc.) with which the child is already familiar. However, as years go by and texts get more complex, comprehension difficulties will become increasingly apparent and increasingly detrimental to effective school learning. In turn, studying, assimilating new information, and many other situations requiring text comprehension -- from problem solving to reasoning with linguistic contents -- could be affected. Problems with decoding, dyslexia, and language disorders have attracted more interest from researchers than have specific comprehension problems and have occupied more room in specialized journals. Normal reading comprehension has also been a favorite with researchers. However, scarce interest has been paid to subjects who have comprehension difficulties. This book is an attempt to remedy this situation. In so doing, this volume answers the following questions: * Does a reading comprehension problem exist in schools? * How important and widespread is the problem? * Is the problem specific? * How can a reading comprehension difficulty be defined and identified? * Does the "syndrome" have a single pattern or can different subtypes be identified? * What are the main characteristics associated with a reading comprehension difficulty? * When can other well-identified problems add to our understanding of reading comprehension difficulties? * Which educational strategies are effective in preventing and treating reading comprehension difficulties? * What supplementary information can we get from an international perspective?

Originally published in 1977, this book considers the role language plays in psychological development. It tries to avoid general discussions of "language and thought", an approach already sufficiently developed by philosophers and (although somewhat less) by psychologists. Instead it attempts to focus specifically upon what we can learn about the topic from available research findings at the time. Theoretical considerations are developed only when necessary to clarify an issue or to facilitate the integration of presented material. The aim of the work is simple – to share with the reader the author’s thoughts and understanding of available knowledge of the role of language in mental development.