Unlike other special education categories defined in U.S. law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the definition of specific learning disability (SLD) has not changed since first proposed in 1968. Thus, although the operational definition of SLD has responded to new knowledge and understanding about the construct, the formal definition…

The policies underlying the specific learning disability (SLD) regulations in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are analyzed. The analysis focuses on the Response-to-Intervention (RTI) provision ("if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention") as a diagnostic model, revealing…

Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is being proposed as an alternative model for making decisions about the presence or absence of specific learning disability. We argue that many questions about RTI remain unanswered, and that radical changes in the proposed regulations are not warranted at this time. Since many fundamental issues related to…

Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is being proposed as an alternative model for making decisions about the presence or absence of specific learning disability. We argue that many questions about RTI remain unanswered, and that radical changes in the proposed regulations are not warranted at this time. Since many fundamental issues related to…

Social skill deficits have become a defining characteristic of students with specific learning disability (SLD). Attempts have been made to enhance social functioning through structured training approaches. The effectiveness of these efforts was evaluated in a quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis), which revealed a "small" effect with…

A meta-analysis of 267 studies conducted between 1950-1980 found that auditory and visual perceptual skills can successfully increase the accuracy of predicting reading achievement, but the magnitude of increases in predictive accuracy was contingent upon the combination of variables studied and was significantly reduced if an IQ score was known.…

The authors of an earlier article, which argued that the social skills deficits typically found in children with learning disabilities (LD) are largely due to the comorbidity of LD with psychiatric disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depressive disorder, respond to a critique that did not find this relationship…

This analysis of the politics of learning disabilities finds that the balance between political and scientific aspects of learning disabilities has been disturbed, with political aspects being overly influential. Discussed in detail are the scientific side of learning disabilities, politics as advocacy, politics as ideology (especially Marxism),…

This rejoinder to commentaries on the authors' original article (EC 630 380) concerning the balance between science and politics in the education of students with learning disabilities first clarifies and expands particular points, then addresses each of the four commentaries individually. The authors urge increasing scientific research and…

A meta-analysis of 53 studies on social skills training of children with learning disabilities found a mean effect size of only 0.211, with few differences among teachers, peers, or children themselves who judged the effectiveness of the training. Discussion focuses on possible links between learning disabilities and social skills that might…

The article presents evidence suggesting a relationship between learning disabilities, brain dysfunction, and cultural-economic disadvantage. The inclusion of disadvantaged children within the learning disability framework of services is recommended. (Author/DB)

LD readers' failures were associated with a greater number of word recognition and vocabulary errors suggesting that LD readers were unable to extract enough relevant information to apply a successful line of reasoning. For related information see EC 132 758-768. (Author)

Meta-analysis was used to arrive at a quantitative synthesis of the results of 94 studies of the validity of Wechsler regroupings for differential diagnosis of learning disabilities. The primary findings indicated that no recategorization, profile, factor cluster, or pattern showed a significant difference between learning disabled and normal…

A case is presented to reveal the existence of a relationship between learning disabilities and cultural-economic disadvantage. Evidence from a variety of sources is presented suggesting that the problem is most properly viewed as a complex interrelationship among the phenomena of learning disabilities, brain dysfunction, and cultural-economic…

This article examines the problem of definition in learning disabilities. It discusses the failure of conceptual definitions to provide a clear idea of what learning disabilities are, examines the true nature of available definitions as stipulative definitions, and notes the difficulty in conceptualizing and implementing operational definitions.…