Studying Social Development and Learning Disabilities is Not for the Faint-Hearted: Comments on the Risk/Resilience Framework

Studying social dimensions of learning disabilities is not for the faint–hearted, in light of the multiple and interactive characteristics of these students and their social/cultural environments. Given the allure of the risk/resilience lens to make sense of these complexities, it would be easy to embrace these concepts too hastily. Four questions seem particularly important: What do we mean by risk and resilience factors? How do we characterize learning disabilities as risk factors?“At risk” for what? How should this framework guide intervention efforts? Rigorous thinking about these issues may enhance the promise of risk/resilience models for future research on social development.