Chapter 19 - Understanding Developmental and Learning Disabilities within Functional-Systems Frameworks: Building on the Contributions of J. P. Das

Abstract

This chapter honors the contributions of J. P. Das to the assessment of intelligence and diagnosis and treatment of developmental and learning disabilities; it provides an overview of similar research on assessment and instruction for language learning rather than human intelligence, which has been conducted at the University of Washington in collaboration with the second author at the University of California, Riverside. In contrast to the research of Das and colleagues, the research of the University of Washington team has focused primarily on specific learning disabilities differentiated from developmental disabilities. Key to both lines of research is the role of executive functions. Thus, in this chapter, we discuss recent developments in the research on executive functions, ranging from their roles in the supervisory attention of working memory to the cognitive processes that support language learning and use.