ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the known and some of the speculative data relating to learning disabilities that the neuroscientist can offer to the educator and to suggest ways in which that information can contribute to education for the future. From the biologic point of view, the academic difficulties seen in children with specific learning disabilities represent only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, the visual peak emerging from a series of underlying hierarchal dysfunctions. The base of the iceberg may be specific genetic influence as yet unknown. There are, however, suggestive morphological and physiological differences in the dyslexic brain, which in their turn influence the way the brain deals with information. The way the brain deals with information may be the abnormality in central nervous processing that makes the acquisition of reading, spelling, writing, mathematics, even speaking and listening difficult. This chapter retraces the hierarchal steps proposed, reviewing evidence for each and showing how each step leads to better understanding of the syndrome we call specific learning disability.
