Research Initiatives in Learning Disabilities: Contributions from Scientists Supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has been and will continue to be, responsive to the critical research needs in learning disabilities and related disorders. As an index of the heightened research activity in this arena, consider that National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's support for projects related to learning and language disabilities has increased from 1.75 million dollars in 1975 to over 15 million dollars in 1993--a cumulative total of approximately 80 million dollars. Given the significant discoveries made by the program projects, learning disability research centers, and individual research grants supported through these increases, the money clearly has been well spent. Within the past 10 years, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research programs have identified the major cognitive mechanisms underlying dyslexia and other learning disabilities and how the assessment of these mechanisms can help to predict the onset, developmental course, and outcomes of such disorders. Moreover, scientists supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development have contributed substantially to an understanding of how genes, the brain, and the environment interact to produce individual variations in learning. Given this knowledge, we are hopeful that the newly funded treatment/intervention projects will provide guidance with respect to ameliorating the devastating effects of learning disabilities on both children and adults.