Learning Disabilities and Presumed Central Nervous System Dysfunction

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Abstract
Although learning disabilities have historically been presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction, it has only been within the past decade that this origin has been acknowledged in a consensus definition. Based on the 1981 National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) definition, a modified definition proposed by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Interagency Committee in 1987 included the statement that learning disabilities are “… presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction …” This article provides an overview of the literature in support of this notion and focuses on the postmortem and neuroimaging studies that provide the most provocative evidence of a neurological conceptualization of learning disabilities. Although relatively few in number, these studies suggest that significant advances may be forthcoming in integrating neuropsychological evidence of the deficits that characterize various subtypes of learning disabilities with technological advances in brain research such that a more accurate understanding of the neurological basis of learning disabilities may emerge.