Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Learning disabilities (LD) need not be defined as such. It is satisfactory to explain what is meant by “learning“ and “disability.” Disability is conceived as a structural disturbance of a particular ability. In principle, LD is a psychological term dealing with many different kinds of psychological traits or processes, and their disturbances, respectively. LD is to be strictly distinguished from more educationally conceived “learning failures,” as well as from more medically/neurologically conceived “dysfunctions” of learning. The label LD cannot be used in clinical practice as a diagnosis, or in research as an independent variable. For both purposes, LD must be specified and/or operationally defined. If a definition of LD (or specific LD) is needed for professional communication, then a more sophisticated definition than those currently in use is needed as a starting point for further relevant discussion.