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, the...