Introduced by S.A. Kirk in the early 1950s, the term "learning disability" was intended to eliminate controversial psychological and neurological labels which had come to be applied to students with reading disabilities, but has itself generated much controversy. The four historical phases in remedial treatment of learning disabilities have included the ideology approach, the analysis of individual learning style (with corresponding rehabilitative treatment), the analysis of the task itself, and a correlation of the latter two phases. Present issues concerning the definition of learning disability include whether the definition ought to be psychometric ("underachievement") or clinical ("perceptual processing deficits"), and whether the diagnosis of learning disability ought to be restricted to students of average measured intelligence or better. Diagnosis should be a progressively analytic process in which assessments are time-efficient, procedures are based on the judgment of a competent diagnostician, and there is a built in provision for review. Teachers are needed with appropriate competencies to detect, diagnose, prescribe, and implement individual corrective and remedial programs, with adequate support available. (DF)