Learning Disabilities: A Framework for Understanding Unexpected Underachievement

Extract

Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention. Jack M. Fletcher, G. Reid Lyon, Lynn S. Fuchs, and Marcia A. Barnes. 2007. New York: The Guilford Press, 324 pp, $38.00 (HB).

Four senior leaders in the fields of neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and special education tackle the complex issue of learning disabilities in Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention. They summarize research conducted over the past 30 years that has contributed to our understanding of how to assess, identify, and treat learning disabilities. Determining the presence of a learning disability is different from measuring the manifestations of brain damage caused by brain injury or disease states that neuropsychologists typically evaluate. Fletcher et al. point out that the construct of a learning disability is a latent variable. It is not observable directly and is consequently difficult to operationally define, identify, and measure. They also show that characteristics associated with a learning disability are dimensional and occur along a continuum. Adding to the intricacy is the difficulty keeping abreast with education policy and knowledge of how federal law drives clinical practice.