Learning Disabilities Research Studies: Findings From NICHD-Funded Projects

Abstract

Advancements in prevention and treatment of learning disabilities hold the promise of improving the educational, health, social and civic lives of affected children, adolescents, adults, and their families. To meet this promise, a continued, concerted effort is needed to develop and refine intervention approaches targeting struggling or at-risk learners and those identified with a specific learning disability. These interventions will be delivered in diverse settings by practitioners representing a range of disciplines. We need intervention options that address the developmental range of learners from our youngest to older secondary learners and include a sufficient breadth of intervention approaches to be relevant along the prevention to remediation (e.g., general education classroom and special education services in schools) spectrum. This special issue aims to move us closer to that promise by focusing on projects designed to inform intervention development and test specific intervention models for young, struggling learners at risk for or identified with a reading disability.