Hiding in Plain Sight: The Nature and Role of Theory in Learning Disability Labeling

Abstract

In what follows, I outline the development of learning disability theory through an analysis of efforts to inaugurate viable criteria for identification, attending particularly to internal controversies among leading American learning disability scholars surrounding the new Response to Intervention (RTI) model. Next, I use this analysis as a vehicle to discuss the larger problem with theory in the social sciences and conclude by exploring alternatives to theory as commonly understood.