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Learning Disabilities

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Describe the impact of philosophy, history, litigation, or legislation on the understanding of learning disabilities (LD), its definition, or identification practices and prevalence. Use specific examples to illustrate your point.

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Through discussion and example, this solution describes the impact of philosophy, history, litigation, or legislation on the understanding of learning disabilities (LD), its definition, or identification practices and prevalence. Use specific examples to illustrate your point. Supplemented with a highly informative article on Learning Disabilities.

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Let's take a closer look. I also attached a research article for further investigation, some of which this response is drawn and referred to in the response below. I also added an extra information section referred to in the response, at the end of this response.

RESPONSE:

If this is for a paper, it will include:

I. Introduction (introduce topic; includes purpose statement: The purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of philosophy,history, litigation, or legislation on the understanding of learning disabilities (LD), its definition, or identification practices and prevalence)

II. Body (e.g. write about the impact of each, as suggested above, but not limited to the above discussion) and,

III. Conclusion (restate purpose statement; sum up main points and draw conclusions).

You will also need to include references.

Now let's take a closer look at information to consider for each section.

1. Describe the impact of philosophy, history, litigation, or legislation on the understanding of learning disabilities (LD), its definition, or identification practices and prevalence. Use specific examples to illustrate your point.

Philosophy has a large impact on the definition of learning disability, which impacts both treatment of the concept off LD and the person who has a LD. Historically, for example, learning disability was considered and classified (defined) as a form of mental retardation. This classification and philosophy carried a lot of stigma and little or not early interventions, as it was considered biological and therefore not treatable (see extra information at the end of this response).

The concept of learning disability emerged as philosophy, theories, clinical findings and theories emerged over time. According to Carlson (2005), "LD is not a new concept involving scholastic difficulties; its roots can be traced back to the early l800s". To support this, Carson (2002) presents examples of historical findings and reports that are still influential today:

? The earliest believed recognized case of LD occurred in 1802 when Franz Joseph Gall-a German-French anatomist and physiologist and Napoleon's surgeon-recognized an association between brain injury in soldiers and subsequent expressive language disorders. The most common forms of LD are dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and short term memory dysfunction (Carlson, 2005,

? In 1822, Gall published a book entitled Sur les Fonctions, in which he outlined his belief the brain was divided into twenty-seven separate "organs," each corresponding to a discrete human faculty. He believed one of those separate organs controlled the memory of things; the memory of facts; educability; perfectibility. Therefore, any imperfection in those processes must be due to a cranial fault (Who, 2005).

? In 1877, Adolph Kassmaul-a German physician-coined the phrase word blindness for loss of ability to read (Hagw & Silver, 1990). The phrase, which is still used today to describe a form of dyslexia known as alexia, refers to a neurological disorder characterized by loss of the ability to read or understand the written word, either totally or partially. Partial word blindness permits the individual to recognize letters, but read only certain types of words (Miller, 2002) (as cited in Carlson, 2005, http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/c3/e4.pdf, attached so see references listed in the reference list).

In the early 1900s - 1920, American psychologists and researchers began to notice work done by their European counterparts who had been focusing on brain-behaviour relationships, as well as learning disabilities exhibited by both children and adults (Hallahan & Mercer, 2000, as cited in Carlson, 2005, http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/c3/e4.pdf).).

Legislature had an impact on our understanding, definition and, especially treatment of LD e.g., special education classes, remedial, etc. beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s. This is when the United States federal government became involved in LD through task forces, legislation, and funding (Hallahan & Mercer, 2001, as cited in Carlson, 2005, http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/c3/e4.pdf).

However, the legislature concerning accessibility to all children also evolved from including only children with mental retardation to those with other learning disabilities (LD), as well as physical disabilities, such as using a wheelchair for ...

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