Learning Disabilities

In this research review of basic issues in learning disabilities, definitions, possible causes, prevalence, and identification of learning disabilities are discussed. Characteristics of learning disabled individuals are considered under five headings: perceptual and perceptual-motor disabilities, problems with attention and hyperactivity, cognitive disabilities, social and behavioral problems, and academic disabilities. In general, the learning-disabled individual seems to be a passive, inactive learner who lacks or does not use the strategies for attacking academic problems that the non-handicapped commonly use; in addition, the learning disabled are best thought of as a heterogeneous, rather than a homogeneous, group. Several options are available for administering the education of the learning disabled. One of the most widely utilized instructional arrangements, mainstreaming, may be made more effective by the use of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model, teacher consultants, cooperative learning, and peer tutoring. Several promising, but not well-known, instructional techniques may improve education of the learning disabled; these include reciprocal teaching, self-monitoring of attention, metacognitive self-questioning training, and the keyword mnemonic technique. (JDD).