ABSTRACT
Learning disabilities represent a major educational/clinical enterprise and a substantive topic of scientific inquiry. Each is supported by extensive human and financial resources. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Ninth Annual Report to Congress, in 1985–86 almost 5% of school children nationally were identified as learning disabled and received special educational services. This figure is in contrast to the next most prevalent categories of handicap, speech impairment (2.86%) and mental retardation (1.86%). It should be emphasized that learning disabilities is the only handicapping condition that increased in prevalence over a 10-year period, the percentages of children identified and served growing from 1.79% in 1976 to 4.73% in 1986.
