Learning Disabilities: The Experts Speak Out

Researchers, policy makers, and teacher trainers, who were identified by peers as being on the “cutting edge” of research and programming in learning disabilities, responded to surveys in 1975 and 1981. The “experts” generally endorsed learning disabilities as a viable classification and asserted that learning disabilities are identifiable by specific symptoms or a syndrome of symptoms. Considerable variability in responses was evident with regard to the prevalence of learning disabilities among school age children and the age at which a learning disability can be identified with assurance.