Understanding Learning Disabilities: International and Multidisciplinary Views

The authors of the papers presented in this volume are either members of the International Study Group on Special Educational Needs or their representatives. This is a small seminar, convened by invitation, involving participants from the United Kingdom, North America, Europe and New Zealand. The membership is multi-discip- linary and all the participants have a professional interest in some 'aspect of special educational needs. Several historical patterns played a part in the development of the seminar, one being the evolution in England and Wales of special education legislation growing out of the Warnock Committee Report. This legislation, in turn, has been influenced by the special education developments in the United States which led to the passage of "The Education of All Handicapped Children Act," Public Law 94-142, in 1975. A second theme, leading to the development of the seminar, was the growing interest internation- ally in learning disabilities and the establishment at the University of Southampton in England of the Learning Disabilities Unit headed by Colin Stevenson. Discussions in 1979 and 1980 held at conferences of the Association for Citizens with Learning Disabilities, the Orton Dyslexia Society meetings and elsewhere led to the proposal for a small international seminar, meeting annually, which would be concerned with research and education in the area of special educational needs. The Lord Renwick, then Chairman of the British Dyslexia Associ- ation, and Colin Stevenson took the initiative in proposing that an International Conference be held at the University of Southampton.

Table of Contents:
I Medical Aspects-Introduction.- 1. Medical Trends and Issues in Learning Disabilities.- 2. A Cohort Study of Special Educational Needs in Ten-Year-Olds in the United Kingdom.- 3. How Impaired are Children who Experience Persistent Bilateral Otitis Media with Effusion?.- 4. A Review of Current and Future Directions in Biomedical Research in Learning Disabilities.- II Some Psychological Issues-Introduction.- 5. Diagnosis for Learning in Children with Special Needs.- 6. Dissociation of Reading and Spelling Behavior.- 7. Visual Factors in Dyslexia: An Unresolved Issue.- 8. Some Clinical Aspects of the Dyslexia Phenomenon.- III Helping Learning Disabled School Children-Introduction.- 9. Issues in the Educational Programming for Learning Disabled Children.- 10. Behavioral Aspects of Educational Difficulties.- 11. Meeting Diverse Needs in the Classroom: The Barking Reading Project.- 12. Some Aspects of Classroom Behavior and Interactions of Slow Learning Pupils in the Junior School.- 13. Action Research for Dyslexic Pupils: Parents as Full Partners.- 14. The Writing to Read System and Reading Difficulties: Some Preliminary Observations.- IV Helping College Students and Adults-Introduction.- 15. Vocational Rehabilitation and Learning Disabilities: The Camel's Nose is Getting under the Edge of the Tent.- 16. Learning Disabled College Students: Identification, Assessment, and Outcomes.- 17. Programs and Problems in the Field of Adult Rehabilitation.- V Some National Perspectives-Introduction.- 18. The Danish Approach to Special Education.- 19. A Swiss Viewpoint of Neuropsychology and Special Education.- 20. The Specific Reading Difficulty versus Dyslexia Debate in the United Kingdom.- 21. Legasthenia in German Speaking Countries: Concept and Research in Reading-Writing Difficulties.- 22. The Study of Dyslexia in Czechoslovakia.- 23. Therapeutic Care of Children with Reading and Writing Difficulties in Poland.- Postscript.- Drake D. Duane and Che Kan Leong.