ABSTRACT
As a beginning point in our discussion related to the symposium topics, we would like to suggest that major theoretical advances have occurred in our understanding of learning disabilities. The progress we see is reciprocal—in which practical issues of diagnosis and intervention are beginning to become tightly intertwined with theory. Individuals in cognitive science, for example, and learning disabilities, are beginning to profit from collaborative efforts. No doubt, this progress has occurred in the face of difficulties associated with defining and diagnosing learning disabilities. As suggested in the first chapter by Keogh, this is because the integration and evaluation of findings from diverse orientations is complicated considerably when researchers cannot determine whether inconsistent or contradictory results are due to the heterogeneity in the LD sample or to deficiencies in their theories. Given the substantial dilemmas posed by inexact, incomplete and overlapping definitions of learning disabilities, that progress has occurred might be surprising. The following chapters, however, suggest that a much closer connection between the formulations of theory and learning disabilities are occurring. These advances in our conceptions of theories about areas of cognition, and achievement, for example, will, we hope, lead to improved diagnostic practices, which in turn should result in refined subject selection criteria and further theoretical progress. With this as an introduction, we would like to summarize the salient points of each chapter.
