The Nature of Learning Disabilities

Critical Elements of Diagnosis and Classification

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.