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PART 1 2
When looking at the origin and history of learning
disabilities it is necessary to think about it
from several different perspectives because the
term has different implication based on how it
is defined. This article is going to look at the
term learning disabilities from the three perspectives
of legislation, research and history.
When looking at
learning disabilities from a legislative perspective,
you have to consider both federal and state laws
and rules. In laws regulating learning disabilities
you will find a definition for learning disabilities.
You will also find rules and criteria about how
to implement what has been laid out in legislation.
As states build and maintain a Special Education
infrastructure, they must incorporate the definitions
and criteria. School districts and special education
teachers must follow the law and its regulations
as defined by their State Plan for Special Education.
If there are questions
about what a state has defined in its Special
Education Plan, Guides, Manuals, definitions,
and the State Plan are typically available on
the state’s Department of Education website
or can be accessed from the state for a nominal
fee.
A point, to underscore
for school districts, is that in order for them
to access Special Education funding for serving
children, they must adhere to the state and federal
definitions of learning disabilities. Although
there are numerous clinical and research driven
definitions, these do not meet the criteria defined
in Special Education law and thus, will not qualify
a student for federally funded Special Education
and Related Services.
Clinical and research-based
definitions of learning disabilities are not eligible
to be used by public schools for diagnosing learning
disabilities for a number of reasons. One of those
is that many times these definitions are looking
at only a small segment of learning difficulties
and are not as global as the federal definition.
In addition, the
evaluation instruments used in these clinical
and research studies often do not meet the stringent
standards and criteria set for under federal and
state law i.e., the WRAT-R being used to measure
intelligence. Another issue with using clinical
and research study definitions is that the data
collected in these projects are often times aggregated
and reported as if they are typical of the entire
population of students with learning disabilities
when in reality they are not. Most often these
studies have a very heterogeneous group of subjects
that do not correlate with the large population
of students with learning disabilities.
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Most children with Learning Disability have problems
with reading
