Considerable attention and legislation are currently focused on developmental dyslexia. A major challenge to these efforts is how to define and operationalize dyslexia. In this article, we argue that rather than defining dyslexia on the basis of an underlying condition, dyslexia is best viewed as a label for an unexpected reading disability. This…

A broad consensus has been achieved regarding the importance of early primary and secondary interventions for children in academic domains for the purposes of improving overall academic competencies and preventing low achievement that often leads to a diagnosis of specific learning disability (SLD) and long-term special education placement. The…

The article posits that emotionally disturbed (ED) children routinely are diagnosed as learning disabled (LD), a situation deriving from diagnostic problems and inadequacies of definitions. Among suggestions made for special educators are knowing ED and LD definitions, and becoming assertive as evaluation team members. (MC)

An 18-item "Shortened Visuospatial Questionnaire" (SVS) was validated twice, first by verifying that children (ages 8-13) identified with the SVS questionnaire as having visuospatial learning disability (VSLD) (n=54) actually showed visuospatial deficits on psychometric evaluation, and second, by rating with the SVS a clinically identified…

Noting a high incidence of learning disabilities among students with visual impairments, this article compares definitions of the two conditions. Common assessment approaches are discussed and those inappropriate for students with low vision or blindness are identified. Suggested intervention approaches include adaptation of the environment,…