Reducing the Number of Students Identified as Learning Disabled: A Question of Practice, Philosophy, or Policy?

Abstract

When children fail to meet standards for achievement and behavior set by a classroom teacher, they may be identified as learning disabled. Recently, because of rising identification rates and evidence of overidentification, it has been suggested that those who fail to meet expectations be accommodated by modifying classroom instruction. The pertinence of such a suggestion may not be recognized, because of the medical model of disability held by most educators. Accommodation to difference is consistent with a minority model of disability. Efforts to reduce the number of students identified as learning disabled would be more successful if they were advocated within a minority view of disability.