Diagnosing learning disorders: a neuropsychological framework

Recent years have seen major advances in understanding and treating a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders that affect children's learning and behavior. This authoritative work provides an accessible overview of what learning disorders are, how they develop, and how to diagnose them and intervene appropriately. The second edition has been substantially revised and expanded to bring practitioners fully up to date. Now grounded in a multiple-cognitive-deficit model of learning disorders - unlike the prior edition's modular, single-deficit model - the volume has a heightened focus on evidence-based practice and contains several entirely new chapters.

The book synthesizes current scientific knowledge on such conditions as dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. It offers clear guidance for making sense of a child's impairments and strengths and developing a differential diagnosis based on presenting symptoms, the child's history, behavioral observations, and thorough testing. Issues in defining and validating particular disorders are also addressed. User-friendly features include handy summary tables, in-depth case illustrations that bring the diagnostic process to life, and recommendations for linking diagnosis to effective intervention. In the second edition, new chapters cover intellectual disability, mathematics disorder, developmental coordination disorder, and less well-validated disorders. The cases have been rewritten to incorporate the latest tools and clinical procedures, and a new chapter on controversial therapies separates myths from facts.

This scholarly yet highly practical volume is essential reading for a broad audience of professionals working with children, including school psychologists, neuropsychologists, special educators, child psychiatrists, and pediatricians. Graduate students in these fields will find it an invaluable text. (Publisher).

How learning disorders develop -- Neuropsychological constructs -- Issues in syndrome validation -- Less well-validated learning disorders -- Differential diagnosis -- Dyslexia / with Robin L. Peterson and Lauren M. McGrath -- Speech and language disorders / with Robin L. Peterson and Lauren M. McGrath -- Autism spectrum disorder / with Lauren M. McGrath and Robin L. Peterson -- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder / with Lauren M. McGrath and Robin L. Peterson -- Intellectual disability / with Lauren M. McGrath and Robin L. Peterson -- Developmental coordination disorder -- Mathematics disorder -- Nonverbal learning disability -- Evidence-based practice: barriers and benefits -- Controversial therapies.