The National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD 1987) defines learning disabilities as follows: Learning Disabilities is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual, pres...

Of all the problems seen in school-aged children, learning disorders are among the most common. These disorders are first the concern of the school teacher and school psychologist, but many cases get referred to medical specialists of various kinds. Paediatric referral may be initiated because quasineurological syndromes such as 'developmental dyslexia' (Critchley, 1970; Naidoo, 1972) or 'dysca...

PURPOSE There has been renewed interest on the part of speech-language pathologists to understand how the motor system learns and determine whether principles of motor learning, derived from studies of nonspeech motor skills, apply to treatment of motor speech disorders. The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce principles that enhance motor learning for nonspeech motor skills and to examine...

In this paper we highlight why there is a need to examine subcortical learning systems in children with language impairment and dyslexia, rather than focusing solely on cortical areas relevant for language. First, behavioural studies find that children with these neurodevelopmental disorders perform less well than peers on procedural learning tasks that depend on corticostriatal learning circui...