Learning Disabilities in Preschool Children

Abstract

Interest in learning disabilities in young children stems in part from the recognition that development is malleable in the early years, that appropriate services may alleviate or at least moderate the severity of problems, and that secondary, compounding problems may be prevented. Accumulating findings from numerous studies document real, and sometimes dramatic, gains in young children’s cognitive and educational competencies as a result of early intervention. The Perry Preschool Project, for example, is a longitudinal study carried out over 20 years. Compared to control peers, in adolescence the children who received early intervention had fewer subsequent special educational needs, fewer delinquencies, and in general were educationally and personally more competent (Berruta-Clement, Schweinhart, Barnett, Epstein, & Weikart, 1984).