ABSTRACT
MacMillan and Siperstein provide a compelling analysis of how and why schools identify students as learning disabled, and they compare this to the differences in the manner in which researchers identify learning disability (LD). The richness of their perspective, which incorporates historical trends in the fields of learning disabilities and mental retardation, helps us understand how the seemingly imprecise definition of LD used by the schools evolved and developed and how it differs from researchers’ definition of LD, and offers a suggestion for resolving this incongruity. Throughout the text, the authors adopt a dispassionate yet thoughtful tone as they discuss the complexities, confounds, and discrepancies of the diagnosis and education of students with LD faced by educators and researchers today.
