Learning Re Abled. The Learning Disability Controversy and Composition Studies

Editorial Review

The helplessness I felt in listening to my nephew struggle to recall his brother's name, along with the frustration I experienced in not being able to help some of my students, suggested to me that the theories of writing I had been studying in my own field did not account for all types of errors. I felt there was a gap in composition pedagogy, a crack through which a small, but significant number of college students were falling.

Students with learning disabilities are entering college in far greater numbers than ever before, but most composition instructors have little experience working with these students and current composition theory doesn't offer much help.

In the first comprehensive study to connect composition and learning disabilities, Patricia Dunn both challenges and confirms what many believe about writing. Learning Re-Abled examines the many issues that contribute to the learning disability controversy and provides historical perspectives on LD and composition, showing how the two fields complement and conflict with each other. She discusses disagreements surrounding different educational approaches and makes sense of the claims and counterclaims of the experts.

Learning Re-Abled shows how influential composition theorists fail to account for the struggles some students encounter when faced with written projects. In a section focusing on a student whom she exposed to both whole language and phonics-based instruction, Dunn shows how multisensory links can improve learning. Several other students describe their successes and failures in a linguistic-based academic world; their stories suggest ways in which all educators might rethink their assumptions about teaching and learning. In the final section, Dunn calls for philosophical change and cooperation as well as for a pooling of resources from a variety of fields, urging readers to transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Dunn wrote this book because her years of teaching experience and doctorate in composition studies could not account for the linguistic difficulties some of her students were experiencing-including her own nephew. By reading widely, tutoring, and interviewing LD college students, she came to realize that our educational system can indeed help all students to learn but only if we adopt a much more flexible, creative, and broad minded approach to learning, which she demonstrates in her book.

Learning Re-Abled is a powerful challenge to broaden and enrich the learning of all students and teachers by recognizing ways of knowing that will allow the learning disabled to become re-abled.

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