Researching adults with learning disabilities from an adult-development perspective. Journal of Learning Disabilities

As the field of learning disabilities begins to discover the manifold issues of adulthood, there is a need for a framework for studying adults with learning disabilities. Currently, the research on adults focuses primarily on service delivery systems. If a life-span developmental perspective is utilized as a conceptual approach in future research, then the knowledge gained will be more meaningful. Considerations for incorporating such essential concepts as mediating variables, context, and age-span phases into research on adults with learning disabilities are discussed. I n the past few years the field of learning disabilities (LD) has be-gun to direct more of its attention to adults with learning disabilities. This interest was prompted by the increas-ing numbers of students with learning disabilities who are exiting mandated school-age programs. Upon leaving school, students with learning disabil-ities become adults with learning dis-abilities and enter a stage of their live