Prevention Strategies for Students At-Risk for Learning Disabilities

An increase (>150%) in the number of children experiencing learning difficulties is occurring due to changes influencing identification processes within our legislative mandates (Kavale, 2005; Kavale, Holdnack, & Mostert, 2005). There are also federal mandates that set the stage for our current practice changes, a specific learning disability (SLD) definition that has remained unchanged, and new initiatives steeped in older approaches that set the stage for complex interpretations (Kavale, 2005; Kavale & Forness, 2003). Can our current and past approaches foster the development of approaches which will better support our at-risk youth and their experience of learning disabilities? Pertinent questions are (a) who is this group of at-risk individuals? (b) what are the characteristics? (c) what approaches best support and deviate the path from a fully-fledged diagnoses of SLD? and (d) what approaches best support and identify the presence of SLD? This chapter will share the current landscape of practice for supporting students who are deemed at-risk for developing learning disabilities or school failure. The chapter explores the historical perspectives of identification and how they have influenced the change to the current initiative of response to intervention/instruction (RtI), its strengths, and its needs. Patterns across the pertinent issues are discussed.