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We examined how strongly motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology acted as predictors of learning disabilities (LD). The results from five studies suggested that level of motivation (as shown through self-efficacy, motivational force, task avoidance, goal commitment, or self-concept) was highly accurate in classifying students with or at risk for LD. Metacognition and psychopathology were also strong predictors. Classification accuracy using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves ranged between 77% and 96%. These rates were much higher than the chance-level (i.e., 50%-55%) rates sometimes yielded by cognitive indices. Linear discriminant function (LDF) analysis substantiated classification accuracy. These results suggest that motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology are strong predictors of LD. Understanding the influence of these characteristics may help researchers and practitioners more accurately screen and treat students with LD.

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The general aim of this study was to examine perceptions about autism in regular education (n35) and special education (n29) teachers attending the second year of their in-service training. Data were collected through a series of written questions covering four areas of interest (general information, aetiology, behavioural characteristics, treatment). The analysis of findings revealed some confusion in regard to the causes of the syndrome in both groups of teachers. However, special education teachers were more likely to identify correctly the specific characteristics of autism. Regular and special education teachers also identified different instructional priorities in the treatment of autism. The practical implications of these findings for in-service training are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to asses the time demands placed on mothers of children with Down's syndrome, and the possible relationship between those demands and the stress which the mothers experience. The study sample consisted of 41 mothers of children with Down's syndrome living in Northern Greece and a comparison group of 41 mothers of non-disabled children. Three instruments were used for the data collection: (1) a questionnaire for biographic information; (2) a self-report form assessing the time demands placed on the mothers; and (3) an adaptation of the Clark Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (QRS) for the evaluation of the stress experienced. The results of the present study revealed increased time demands on the mothers of children with Down's syndrome in comparison to the mothers of non-disabled children in terms of recreational/educational activities and total time demands. Furthermore, the mothers of children with Down's syndrome perceived the time they spend with their children less positively than the mothers of the comparison group. In regard to the stress experienced, it appeared that mothers of children with Down's syndrome differ significantly from mothers of non-disabled children, not only on the level of the stress which they experience, but on the activities related to this stress as well.

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The study explored the contribution of two aspects of inflectional morphological awareness, verb inflection and noun-adjective inflection, to word reading and reading comprehension in the Greek language, which is an orthographically transparent language. Participants (120 first graders, 123 second graders, 126 third graders) were given two oral language experimental tasks of inflectional morphological awareness. Furthermore, phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, decoding, and reading comprehension were evaluated. It was revealed that noun-adjective inflectional morphology contributed significantly to decoding only in first grade, while verb inflectional morphology had a significant contribution to reading comprehension in third grade. It is interesting that inflectional morphological awareness did not predict reading skills for second graders. Phonological awareness was a firm predictor of word reading in all grades and made a unique contribution in Grades 2 and 3. Finally, in all grades, receptive vocabulary was a steady predictor of reading comprehension, whereas expressive vocabulary predicted only first-grade reading comprehension. It is suggested that inflectional morphological awareness may be an important predictor of early reading in a language with a shallow orthography and a rich morphology.