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Recent consensus reports concur in suggesting major changes in the federal regulatory approach to the identification of learning disabilities (LD). These reports recommend abandoning the IQ-discrepancy model and the use of IQ tests for identification, and also recommend incorporation of response to instruction (RTI) as one of the identification criteria. These changes are also recommended to states in the current reauthorization of the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). While not mandatory, states that follow these recommendations will experience major changes in identification and treatment of students served under the LD category. This paper reviews the basis for these recommendations, summarizing four recent consensus group reports on special education that concur in suggesting these changes. Seventeen commonly asked questions about these changes are presented, with responses. In order to ensure adequate instruction for students with LD, it is essential that identification practices focus on assessments that are directly related to instruction, that any services for students who are struggling prioritize intervention over eligibility, and that special education be permitted to focus more on results and outcomes and less on eligibility and process. Identification models that incorporate RTI represent a shift in special education toward the goals of better achievement and behavioral outcomes for students identified with LD, as well as those students at risk for LD.

The epidemiology of oral candidal carriage and infections in diabetic patients is complex and includes species which have not been previously reported in this group of patients. The development of oral candidosis in insulin-treated diabetes mellitus patients is not the result of a single entity, but rather, a combination of risk factors.

The primary objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of 8 putative periodontal pathogens in subjects with early-onset periodontitis (EOP) and to evaluate the microbial differences between localized and generalized forms of this periodontal disease condition. Thirty-one females and 11 males with a mean age of 30.3 (s.d. 4.0) years were examined. Seventeen subjects had generalized (GEOP) and 25 had localized early-onset periodontitis (LEOP). Subgingival plaque samples were assayed using PCR which provided subject prevalence data for the pathogens; Bacteroides forsythus 78.6%, Treponema denticola 88.1%, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans 19.0%, Porphyromonas gingivalis 16.7%, Prevotella intermedia 40.4%, Prevotella nigrescens 61.9%, Eikenella corrodens 42.3% and Campylobacter rectus 92.8%. Only 3 healthy sites harbored one or more of these periodontal pathogens. Seven of the 8 subjects positive for A. actinomycetemcomitans had LEOP. P. intermedia was present in 58.8% of GEOP compared with 28% of LEOP subjects (p=0.046). At 82.4% of GEOP sites P. nigrescens was present while this bacteria was detected at 52% of LEOP (p=0.044). P. gingivalis was isolated from 22.6% of females but no male subjects (p=0.084). C. rectus was recovered from all female subjects compared to 72.7% of males (p=0.014). A. actinomycetemcomitans (37.5%) and C. rectus (86.5%) were more frequently identified in non-smokers compared to 7.6% and 68.8% of smokers, respectively (p <0.05). Microbial associations coincided with the clinical division of the cases into LEOP and GEOP in 83% of the subjects.

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