Why can't learning disabled students read?

Jim Williams / March 16, 2006

Americans are generally supportive of "special education." Educating disabled children so they can live independent, satisfying lives appeals to our sense of fairness and shared responsibility.

But too often, special education inflicts harm by keeping children from reaching their potential. Instead of giving these students an extra hand, the special education bureaucracy unnecessarily segregates them while passing them from one grade level to the next, irrespective of how well they've mastered material. The result is a system that creates in these students a crippling sense of helplessness and entitlement. This is certainly the case for the least well-defined subgroup of special ed students, learning disabled (LD).

Though the LD label is used for a wide array of learning problems, there is a thread that ties these diagnoses together: students whose "basic psychological processes," which are required for spoken or written language, are flawed. In other words, students who don't listen, think, speak, or read on grade level are often labeled LD. Any number of disorders can cause a breakdown in listening, reading, or writing. Some, such as acute brain injury, are legitimate medical conditions that require special attention. Too frequently, however, the only problem a child has is that he or she never learned to read and write effectively in the lower grades. (The primary culprit here is trendy, "progressive" teaching methods. See Louisa Moats's Fordham report.) A child with poor reading skills finds learning increasingly difficult beginning

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Why can't learning disabled students read?

International lessons for the gulf coast

Martin A. Davis, Jr. / March 16, 2006