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First possible reference to SLD
A German neurologist, Adolf Kussamaul, may have been the first to make reference to the condition now known as Specific Learning Disability when he used the term "word blindness" to refer to a person seemingly can't read words in spite of having the sight at speech. -
First possible use of the term Dyslexia
Another German, physician Rudolf Berlin, used the term Dyslexia to again refer to someone who has great difficulty reading while seemingly otherwise having typical abilities. -
Case of SLD Described in Journal
Dr. Pringle Morgan, in a British medical journal, wrote about a 14 year old boy who could not decode words and read them "from birth." He described this boy as being quick and intelligent and stated that he would be the smartest kid in his class if all of the instruction was presented orally. -
First U.S. Report of Childhood Reading Difficulties
The first U.S. report that targeted reading difficulties was published this year. -
First use of the term Learning Disability
Samual Kirk, an educator who had a profound effect on the field of special education, gave a talk at a conference in Chicago where he was the first to use the term "Learning Disability." This term was received very well by the education community was widely used thereafter. -
LDA Began
The Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) started as the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities and was founded in 1964. -
Congress Passes the Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act
This was the first time in federal law there was a working definition of Specific Learning Disabilities and it mandated supports and services for students with learning disabilities. -
PL 94-142 Passed
In 1975 a federal law was passed that mandated a free and appropriate education for all students (FAPE) including students with specific learning disabilities. The law was called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. -
First state Dyslexia Law passed
Texas was the first state to pass a law related to Dyslexia. The law mandated instructional intervention. This carved the path for many other states to do the same. -
IDEA
PL 94-142 was updated and renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Important to note is that the term "disability" replaced the word "handicap." -
SLD Tied to Brain Functioning
There has been much research that ties specific learning disabilities to differences in brain functioning, but Dr. Guinevere Eden at the National Institute of Mental Health and her team were one of the first to do so. -
Response to Intervention described in the Law
When IDEA was reauthorized in 2004, a process where students are provided with interventions before they are identified as being disabled, called Response to Intervention, is described in the law as being both important in the prevention of learning disabilities, but also described as a way to identify students with learning disabilities, as opposed to what historically was referred to as a "discrepancy model" of identification. -
Gene tied to SLD identified
The first time a specific gene was found to be related to learning disabilities by a research team at Yale University.