The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities, Second Edition (Facts on File Library of Health and Living) PDF
Preview The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities, Second Edition (Facts on File Library of Health and Living)
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LEARNING DISABILITIES Second Edition THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LEARNING DISABILITIES Second Edition Carol Turkington Joseph R. Harris, Ph.D. American Bookworks The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities, Second Edition Copyright © 2006, 2002 by Carol Turkington All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Turkington, Carol. The encyclopedia of learning disabilities / Carol Turkington, Joseph R. Harris ; American Bookworks.—2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8160-6399-0 (hc: alk. paper) 1. Learning disabilities—Encyclopedias. 2. Learning disabled—Education—United States—Encyclopedias. I. Harris, Joseph, 1951 Dec. 20–II. American BookWorks Corporation. III. Title. LC4704.5.T86 2006 371.9′03—dc22 2005053045 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text and cover design by Cathy Rincon Printed in the United States of America VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS Foreword vii Introduction xi Entries A–Z 1 Appendixes 249 Glossary 277 Bibliography 279 Index 289 FOREWORD r. Sam Kirk may have coined the term learning him as “addled,” “abnormal,” and “mentally defi- Ddisabilities in 1963, but problems in learning cient.” Albert Einstein did not learn to speak until ability have been a part of the human condition for the age of three and was considered by his teachers centuries. Indeed, there is evidence that as early as of possessing “subnormal intelligence.” Even as an 3000 B.C.E., the Chinese recognized differences in adult, Einstein continued to struggle with what we learning ability among individuals and adminis- today would most likely be diagnosed as learning tered standardized tests to differentiate those can- disabilities. Finally, the late vice president Nelson didates who were able to train for trades from Rockefeller had such severe dyslexia that he was those who were not. not able to even read his own speeches: He had to Differences in the ability to learn became criti- commit them to memory. cally important to educators in the West at the Before Kirk, there were as many theories about beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Families learning disorders as there were practitioners. left their farms and came to the cities in search of Physicians emphasized learning disabilities as the better lives and sent their children to school in result of neurological disorders and nervous system hopes that they could eventually obtain the best damage and advised medical treatment. Indeed, jobs. Schools, no longer the exclusive privilege of recent discoveries in the Human Genome Project the middle and upper classes, began to see their have identified possible genetic links to attention enrollments swell. Educators recognized that not deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sev- all students could learn with the same degree of eral learning disabilities. Advances in imaging now success. At the beginning of the 20th century, the allow researchers to view the living brains while first modern tests were developed to identify stu- their owners engage in different tasks, allowing dents with learning problems who needed different them to determine more precisely which areas of educational services. the brain are important to understanding learning The presence of learning disabilities among and learning disorders. In the past, optometrists prominent historical and contemporary figures has saw learning disabilities as deficits in visual percep- helped raise public awareness about learning disor- tion of written symbols and recommended correc- ders and also helped remove some of the stigma tive lenses or ocular training. Speech and language associated with them. For example, the gifted pathologists defined learning disabilities as lan- French sculptor Auguste Rodin’s teachers informed guage-based and recommended language therapy. his parents that he was uneducable. In shame, his Psychologists assumed that learning disabilities parents withdrew him from school and put him to were caused by emotional problems or faulty work. President Woodrow Wilson was nine before learning and emphasized psychotherapy or behav- he learned the alphabet and did not learn to read ioral retraining. Finally, educators saw learning dis- until age 11. Thomas Edison’s teachers referred to abilities as the result of faulty learning abilities or vii viii Foreword mismatches between instruction and students’ American education changed radically for chil- learning styles and recommended diagnostic- dren with learning disabilities and other types of prescriptive teaching that would match instruction handicaps in the mid-1970s. In 1975, President with students’ learning styles. Gerald Ford signed Public Law 94-142 (since reau- Kirk emphasized the role of information- thorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Educa- processing abilities in learning disabilities, and his tion Act, or IDEA). The law provided a legal views on learning disabilities continue to be among definition of learning disabilities that emphasized a the more influential in the field nearly 40 years “severe discrepancy between potential and after he introduced them. His term learning disabil- achievement” in specific academic areas. (The ities replaced more antiquated terms, reflecting recent reauthorization of IDEA has done away more obsolete views of learning, such as: with the discrepancy model in favor of a more process-oriented identification model.) At the cere- • word blindness mony at which he signed the bill into law, Presi- • reading (or math or spelling) retardation dent Ford made a prophetic comment that • Strauss Syndrome Congress would probably never authorize enough • brain dysfunction money to states to fully implement the new • hard-of-learning requirements. He was right. Since that time, many • six-hour retardation parents seeking the range of services they believe • backwardness their children need have found themselves at odds with school district administrators who do not In fact, until recently, there were still pockets in the always have sufficient funding to implement the country where school districts had not come to law. Advocates for students with handicaps, who identify children as learning disabled: If they had foresaw an era when schools and families would adequate intelligence but still had learning prob- work together to provide meaningful special edu- lems, these schools labeled them “brain damaged” cation to children who needed it, saw an adversar- whether or not there was any evidence of neuro- ial process in which parents must fight logical disorders. funding-strapped school administrators for the Problems with identification were not the only very services they consider essential to their chil- obstacle affected individuals faced. Even if they dren’s success. were able to obtain a diagnosis of “learning dis- Politicians frequently fiddle with laws regarding abled,” there were few public schools in the coun- special education because of their ideologies or to try before the 1970s that provided any sort of satisfy special interests to whom they feel some sort special education, much less related services such of allegiance. For example, No Child Left Behind as physical or occupational therapy. Individuals has drastically limited the rights of Individualized with learning disabilities had few of today’s rights Educational Program teams to provide standard- or avenues to appeal schools’ decisions regarding ized testing accommodations to students with their education if they disagreed. learning disabilities or to even exclude such stu- Even as of the early 1970s, in many places in the dents from standardized testing based on unin- country, only the largest school districts had any formed assumptions regarding the appropriateness classes for students with learning disabilities, and of such testing for children with learning problems. those were frequently where schools dumped their The recent IDEA authorization has opened the worst troublemakers. Even if children with learn- door for Congress to limit certain protections chil- ing disabilities were fortunate to reside in an area dren with handicaps formerly had from expulsion in which special education services were available, and has made it more difficult for parents to pursue there were typically long waiting lists for classes their disagreements regarding their children’s spe- that did not always provide the degree of individu- cial education and related services by allowing alized educational programs that students with dis- school districts to sue for recovery of legal fees if abilities enjoy today. parents lose such actions. Foreword ix Carol Turkington and I bring somewhat differ- employed both by school districts and in private ent but complementary perspectives to this book. practice, I am very familiar with the challenges Turkington is a journalist who specializes in med- experienced by people with handicaps and the peo- ical and psychological topics. I am a licensed and ple who love them. I have worked with attorneys certified school psychologist, former school district to help many individuals with disabilities obtain special education director, and college instructor, Social Security Disability benefits and have worked and I have extensive predoctoral and postdoctoral with college counselors who have invariably been training in neuropsychology, special education law, eager to help them obtain appropriate educational and diagnostic testing. As chief psychologist for the accommodations in higher education. I have tried South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, I very hard to lend those perspectives to providing have discovered that our latest information shows helpful information gained from more than 30 that 37 percent of the juveniles coming through years’ experience in special education. my door receive some sort of special education or This book provides entries on a wide variety of related services. I was a second-year graduate stu- terms and concepts related to learning disabilities dent in school psychology when President Ford that Carol Turkington and I hope parents, teachers, signed Public Law 94-142 into law, so I have been physicians, students, and others will find useful. We involved with the implementation of federal spe- have tried to present terms ranging from the basic cial education law from the beginning. I have to the highly technical, from the matter-of-fact to helped school districts and families advocate for the controversial, in a thorough but straightforward children with handicaps: I have sat on both sides of manner that allows readers to decide their positions the negotiating table, representing variously school on those issues for themselves. We have explained districts, families, and state agencies. As a special much of the “alphabet soup,” such as LRE, IEP, PL education director who has built special education 94-142, ADA, and IDEA, that so often confuses par- programs in three school districts and helped write ents. We hope that we have provided information some of the policies and procedures with which that readers will find helpful and informative in school districts must comply in my home state, I their attempts to navigate their way through this am familiar with the challenges that school districts frequently confusing and controversial field. face in implementing unfunded and underfunded mandates. As a school psychologist formerly —Joseph Harris, Ph.D.
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