UNDERSTANDING LEARNING DISORDERS: A DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

Deborah P. Waber, Ph.D.
Associate Professor (Psychology), Department of Psychiatry, Senior Associate, Department of Psychiatry
Senior Neuropsychologist, Learning Disabilities Program, Department of Neurology,
Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

For many pediatric neuropsychologists, learning and attention disorders constitute a substantial component of a clinical practice. Parents want to know "Does my child have a learning disability?" and "What should be done about it?" Despite decades of research and advocacy, there is no consensus about what a learning disability is, how to determine if a child has one, and what to do about it. This workshop offers an alternative, developmental approach to the prevailing view of learning disability as a defect contained within the child. This approach, drawing on Piaget, Vygotsky and Bronfenbrenner, is based on the premise that learning difficulties are a function of the developmental interaction between the child and the world. The workshop will review the current status of the learning disabilities field, provide a novel understanding that integrates developmental psychology, developmental cognitive neuroscience, history and policy, and illustrate through case studies how to apply this approach in neuropsychological assessment. Participants will meet the following learning objectives: (1) Understand current dilemmas in the diagnosis and management of learning disorders; (2) Understand theory underlying a developmental neuropsychological approach to learning disorders; and (3) Appreciate how this approach can be applied in clinical practice.