Despite decades of research, it has been difficult to achieve consensus on a definition of common learning disabilities such as dyslexia. This lack of consensus represents a fundamental problem for the field. Our approach to addressing this issue is to use model-based meta-analyses and Bayesian models with informative priors to combine the results…

This chapter is a companion to Chapter 2 in this text, "The Reading Side." As such, a brief overview of the contemporary findings pertaining to written expression will be presented. This will include a brief discussion of definitional issues, two key conceptual models for written expression, underlying cognitive functions, and related…

The present study seeks to evaluate a hybrid model of identification that incorporates response to instruction and intervention (RTI) as one of the key symptoms of reading disability. The 1-year stability of alternative operational definitions of reading disability was examined in a large-scale sample of students who were followed longitudinally…

Critiques a recent article by Hynd and Hynd ("Reading Research Quarterly," 19, 1984) and questions the usefulness of invoking neurological concepts in either the definition or diagnosis of dyslexia. (HOD)

The paper develops the phonological-core variable difference model to conceptualize differences between dyslexic and other poor readers. The model highlights the importance of viewing the concept of dyslexia as the outcome of the application of an arbitrary criterion in a continuous distribution. (Author/DB)

Data from the Connecticut Longitudinal Study were used to compare two definitions of reading disability: a discrepancy-based model and a low reading achievement model. Children (n=415) satisfying each definition in second grade were compared retrospectively in kindergarten and prospectively in fifth guide. Findings suggest more similarities than…

This paper discusses distinguishing learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from each other and from other problems of childhood; a new conceptual model and working definition for reading disability; distinction between the psychological construct of "attention" and ADHD, the disorder; and the need for a…

This book examines critical issues in classification and definition of learning disabilities; the development of theory in learning disabilities; the development of cognitive, developmental, and educational models of learning disabilities; and social and public policy in learning disabilities. After an introductory chapter by G. Reid Lyon and…