A solid, emerging research base exists to inform how we provide meaningful access to the general education curriculum for students with learning disabilities (LD). For example, the presentation of challenging content to academically diverse learners can be demystified using content enhancement techniques. Additionally, a range of strategies can be taught to enhance reading comprehension and expressive writing abilities. Examples from several lines of research in comprehension and writing are used to highlight the underlying features of these empirically based approaches and to introduce the reader to the history of this expanding body of research.

This study presents the educational and career goals and perceptions of supports and barriers related to these goals as described in semistructured interviews of 16 students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds attending 9th grade at an urban public high school in a large Northeastern city. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR) methodology (C. E. Hill et al., 2005), the authors identified categories and subcategories to students' perceptions of barriers and supports. The findings highlight students' understanding of how their proximal contexts serve potentially as both supports and barriers. Implications for educational and career interventions are discussed.

R ecognition of learning disabilities (LD) and emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) as life-long conditions (Carson, Sitlington, & Frank, 1995;Polloway, Smith, & Patton, 1984;Unger, 1997) has led to interest in the experiences of students in secondary school and beyond. Profiles of successful adults with LD or EBD have shown that either disability can have negligible effects after leaving school. At least in the case of learning disabilities, the resolve and skill of individuals can help to compensate for potentially negative consequences of the condition (Reiff, Ginsberg, & Gerber, 1995). The severity of a disability is also likely to influence experiences (Reiff et al.;Sitlington & Frank, 1990), as are the ways in which it is manifested (Gerber, 1998). In some instances, the severity or manifestation of the disability becomes reduced as adolescents mature into adults (Reis, Neu, & McGuire, 1997). But still, overall evidence of the life experiences of adults with LD or EBD reflects limited quality in relationships and socialization, economic independence, and academic achievement (admittedly, such data are skewed in representation because, typically, only those who present difficulties become identified as having the disabilities).Young adults (approximately aged 16-21) with LD or EBD are generally dissatisfied with their own preparedness for independence. Many report lacking confidence in their academic and work skills, self-esteem, and control of their lives

The American Psychiatric Association's proposed definition of specific learning disability ("specific learning disorder") for the DSM-5 reflects current thinking and best practice in learning disabilities. It continues the core conceptualization of learning disability (LD) as well as proposes identification criteria to supplant the discredited aptitude-achievement discrepancy formula. Improvements can be found along with long-standing and new controversies about the nature of LD. The proposed definition both provides a model of a currently acceptable definition and reflects critical issues in the operationalization of LD that the field continues to neglect.