An Interactionist Approach to Learning Disabilities

Abstract

<p>Traditional approaches to understanding learning disabilities date back to the early twentieth<br />century and are based primarily on medical models. Several useful strategies and techniques<br />emerged from these early models and still influence today’s classrooms. However, there are<br />also disadvantages to traditional approaches in that the models place much of the burden of<br />the disability on the individual. Post-modern and strength-based perspectives on learning<br />disabilities have attempted to account for the drawbacks of traditional models and have<br />re-framed learning disabilities in broader social and cultural contexts. The current paper<br />reviews these three perspectives and offers an alternative approach that attempts to bridge the<br />modern and post-modern perspectives on learning disabilities. The interactionist approached<br />offered in this paper calls for a processural or multi-faceted conception of learning disabilities.<br />Interactionism encourages educators and students with and without learning disabilities to<br />engage differences in ways that explore possibilities for productive and positive learning<br />from each other.</p>