ABSTRACT
In writing this book, I had to face diffi cult decisions with regard to the terminology I will apply in the discussion of individual differences in cognitive ability and learning. This is because the terms used to describe learning diffi culties vary across and even within contexts. For example, the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5; APA, 2013) uses the term specifi c learning disorder . In the United Kingdom, the term specifi c learning differences is commonly applied in the education sector (see e.g. National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, 2009), whereas the term learning diffi culties is used interchangeably with learning disability in the new Children and Families Act (2014) in the United Kingdom, Australia and many Canadian provinces (Kozey & Siegel, 2008).
