ABSTRACT
Oftentimes, there are a few words or a phrase that describe the prevailing wisdom of a field or a movement, and those words shape conventional wisdom and practices. In the field of learning disabilities not quite a half-century ago the phase was, “Don’t worry he (or she) will outgrow it.” Thus, the promises of pediatricians and specialists created a mind-set in professionals, individuals with learning disabilities, and their parents that their learning disability was only temporary, a bump in the road of development. In the formative years of the learning disabilities movement, the focus was school-age children, and primarily those who were in the elementary grades. It was almost as if learning disabilities in adolescence and adulthood did not exist.
