LD-LA, Learning disAbilities, Learning Abilities, is a six tape video series, with topics including reading, dyslexia, phonemic awareness, multisensory instruction, dyscalculia or math disabilities and ADD/ADHD. Participants include Reid Lyon, Louisa Moats, Marilyn Adams, Martha Denkla, Barbara Wilson, Joyce Steeves and Nancy Mather. The series draws on current research from the National Institutes of Child Health, to help improve the understanding and teaching of all students at risk of not learning to read or do math.

The message in the LD LA videotape series is that we must no longer accept the failure of some children to learn reading and writing. About twenty per- cent of schoolchildren do not intuitively grasp the connection between the written signs and the language in their heads.

Researchers have found over the past few years that the children who have the easiest time learning how to read are those who are most aware of language structure. These are the children who can separate words into separate sounds and construct words from sounds and replace one of the sounds in a word to make another word. This is called phonemic awareness.

The methods described in this videotape series are intended to unlock those abilities in children who do not naturally intuit written language. These methods will also help all children read better, particularly those who are now entering school with learning problems that come from a lack of exposure to print.

Topics covered in series:

1. How to recognize and understand learning disabilities

2. Understanding explicit multisensory structured teaching and phonemic awareness

3. Explicit multisensory structured teaching demonstrated in a variety of classrooms, including whole language

4. Helping parents understand advocacy and assessments; improving parent-school communication

5. How ADD/ADHD connects to LD

6. The problem of dyscalculia and math disabilities

The video series also makes very clear that the systematic teaching of language structure is an essential ingredient to the success of "whole language", particularly if taught in the early grades.