Perspectives on Learning Disabilities
edited by Robert J.Sternberg and Louise Spear-Swerling,1999, Boulder Colorado
80301-2877, Westview Press.

There are many approaches the study of learning disabilities vying for public attention and, by extension, the public dollar. The three perspectives in this text are biological, cognitive and contextual. The point of the text is not to present theories in opposition but rather to investigate how these three approaches can complement one another.

Sternberg in the concluding chapter lists fifteen point of general agreement and three major points of disagreement. His co-editor, Louise Spear-Swerling in answering the question, ‘Can We Get there from here?’ optimistically suggests that it is possible to provide better instruction for LD students by providing ‘multiple tiers of intervention that does not require pigeonholing them into invalid categories but at the same time recognizes individual differences in children’s instructional needs’. The need for careful discrimination in providing appropriate interventions is one of the recurring themes of this text.

For example, if phonological and phonemic awareness training is essential for all students to achieve success in learning to read, how much is required to achieve success for those with apparently severe disabilities? Joseph Torgenson’s chapter is particularly helpful in answering this question.

The LD field is an enormously complex and far-reaching industry. While the many interests are far from reaching accord, it seems that the debates are at least becoming more civilized with some agreement evolving on critical issues. Whether this growing consensus can transfer onto practice is quite another issue.

(Available through the Low Incidence Library.)