Learning Disabilities as a Subset of School Failure: The Over-Sophistication of a Concept

The learning disabilities field has always struggled with practical problems related to definition and operational criteria for identification practices. To a large extent, in spite of attempts to create a more sophisticated category, learning disabilities has become a category of low achievement. We compared two samples of school-age children. Some were identified as learning disabled by their respective school districts; others were low achievers. Few psychometric differences other than selected achievement scores were found between the groups of children. Many of the learning disabled children did not meet federal definition guidelines as we operationalized them, and many low-achieving children were “learning disabled” by these same decision rules. Results are discussed and a conceptual challenge offered to professionals.