This introduction to a series of articles on the scaffolding metaphor in learning disabilities research introduces each article and raises two main concerns: the lack of careful delineation of how scaffolding becomes operational in research studies and constraints in the use of scaffolding arising from communication problems. (DB)

This commentary on C. Addison Stone's paper on the scaffolding metaphor for learning disabilities first suggests the flying buttress, which becomes integrated into a new structure, as a better metaphor. It suggests that scaffolded instruction depends on sophisticated shared assumptions about the conversational process. Evidence that some children…