ABSTRACT
The term learning disability is generally applied to children who are doing poorly in school despite average or above average ability level. The latter is generally assessed with an individually administered IQ test. The term learning disability as it is currently used can be traced to the first edition of Sam Kirk's introductory textbook in special education, Educating Exceptional Children. Kirk's description contains the two essential characteristics of learning disability that have survived intact for two decades. They are discrepancy between ability and achievement and specification of appropriate and inappropriate causal mechanisms. Learning disability became a legislative reality in the United States in 1969 with the passage of the Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act. The most important criterion for a diagnosis of learning disability as implied by the identification criteria in Public Law 94-142 is a discrepancy between expected and attained achievement.
