Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Whether any of the learning disabled child's unique ability patterns, learning styles, and behavioral attributes become assets or severe liabilities depends on the nature of the school tasks helshe is expected to accomplish and the settings in which the child studies, lives, and plays. By successfully matching the nature of our learning tasks, teaching strategies and interpersonal interactions to children's strengths and weaknesses, we can do much to enhance their learning and life adjustment. This multidimensional, interactional perspective of learning disabilities originated with our field's pioneers, whose influences live on throughout our current theories, research, and practice. As then, we must now seek unity in our diversity. Much can be learned from different theoretical perspectives, as each adds meaning to observations, guides research and programming efforts, and systematizes knowledge about the complexities that characterize the learning disabled.