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Definitions of Learning Disabilities
The term "learning disability" is most commonly used to describe children who have qualified for special education services under the provisions of IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law defines the term "children with specific learning disabilities" as:
those children who have a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
source: Public Law 101-476, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 1990
This complex definition may more easily understood by looking at a diagram of the structure of the definition.
People with learning disabilities diagnosed according to this definition have rights, services, and accommodations guaranteed to them under the provisions of the:
There are other common definitions of learning disabilities used by other organizations for different purposes: research, teaching, public awareness. Here are three more definitions
National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) - 1988
"Learning disabilities" is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual, presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction, and may occur across the life span. Problems in self-regulatory behaviors, social perception, and social interaction may exist with learning disabilities, but do not by themselves constitute a learning disability. Although learning disabilities may occur concomitantly with other handicapping conditions (for example, sensory impairment, mental retardation, serious emotional disturbance) or with extrinsic influences (such as cultural differences, insufficient or inappropriate instruction), they are not the result of those conditions or influences.
National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) 1993
Learning disabilities (LD) is a disorder that affects people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear, or to link information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up in many ways - as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control, or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and can impede learning to read or write, or to do math.
Learning disabilities can be lifelong conditions that, in some cases, affect many parts of a person's life: school or work, daily routines, family life, and sometimes even friendships and play. In some people, many overlapping learning disabilities may be apparent. Other people may have a single, isolated learning problem that has little impact on other areas of their lives.
The Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities
The Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities, a public awareness campaign funded primarily by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, has worked with a coalition of national organizations to develop the following simple definition:
People with learning disabilities have average to above average intelligence but have trouble learning because their minds process words or information differently.
What are the laws that pertain to individuals with diagnosed learning disabilities?