LDA

The LDA Research Committee Works to Find Causes of Learning Disabilities

The LDA Research Committee provides a knowledgeable interface between LDA membership and the medical and scientific communities. The Committee monitors scientific and medical literature, research grants, diagnostic methods and biological causes related to learning disabilities. The Committee brings salient information and scientific contribution to the LDA Directors and membership. The Committee also takes LDA concerns and goals which support research and regulations related to the causes of learning disabilities to the scientific community and to federal agencies and members of congress.

Objectives of the Research Committee

• Promote research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of learning and related developmental disabilities
• Monitor the medical and scientific literature related to learning disabilities, their nature, their causes and their prevention
• Develop LDA awareness of new scientific and medical procedures, diagnostic methods and theory for the diagnosis, treatment , prevention of learning disabilities
• Organize symposia bringing important medical and scientific contributors together
• Underscore the efforts of research which contribute to the causes of learning disabilities and with LDA goals by presenting them to federal agencies and the medical community.
• Work toward the establishment of a pro-child national environmental policy based on the findings of the National Children's Study to promote healthy brain development
• Collaborate with other related organizations on issues of common interest and concern

History

John Wacker and Audrey McMahon founded the Research Committee in 1975 as a technically informed support to the LDA Directors and membership. The Committee has been active continuously in presenting annual pre-conference neuroscientific symposia, in writing legislation adopted by congress, and in promoting ongoing interaction with members of congress and federal agency officials, and biomedical researchers working on issues and problems related to learning disabilities and their causes. The Committee has remained a valued stimulus toward keeping the interests of LDA in the minds of legislators, bureaucrats, scientists and allied professionals.

For over thirty years, the Research Committee has taken a very active role in probing the biological basis of learning disabilities, and in keeping learning disabilities in the forefront at the level of the federal government, and in the scientific and medical professional communities. On several occasions, Research Committee members have testified before congressional hearings on needs for environmental toxicant control, early infant assessment for brain disorder, and for neurodevelopmental testing of drugs and chemicals by the EPA and FDA.

Research Committee-sponsored Legislation

With the very able guidance by Lee Foley, the LDA Washington Consultant at that time, the Research Committee on behalf of LDA initiated the legislation that was adopted by congress to mandate that thirteen federal agencies compile and present all research they have supported that relates to learning disabilities. The resulting Interagency Task Force on Learning Disabilities was mandated in 1985 and placed under the direction of Dr. Duane Alexander, Director of the National Institute on Child Health and Development. The Interagency Report grew to a 500-page summary and a subsequent book that summarized the findings and future needs. This material was reported to the public in a 1987, with a two-day public presentation at the National Institutes of Health. Research Committee members were pleased to have the first collection of all funded work on learning disabilities, their characteristics, their probable causes and their course during childhood and into adulthood. The Committee immediately gave the directors of the thirteen participating agencies the task of using that information to formulate recommendations concerning needs for new scientific and medical research on learning disabilities. The Committee then carried this momentum directly to cangress for the mandating of appropriations for the establishment of at least three interdisciplinary grants for research centers studying learning disabilities. Appropriations and grant application review resulted in the funding of the center grants at Yale, Johns-Hopkins and University of Colorado. Appropriations were subsequently allocated for additional programs at Bowman-Gray, Beth Israel/Harvard, University of Houston, and University of Washington.

Research Committee Activities

The Research Committee meets at the annual LDA meeting and reports to the Board quarterly regarding Committee activities, concerns, new medical and scientific developments, and Committee future goals. In addition, the Committee tries to meet once a year in Washington, DC, to visit federal agencies, members of congress, professional societies, and citizen groups that help to achieve goals consistent with those of LDA. Examples of these are visits to key congressional members, to the FDA, the National Institute of Health directors, the national offices of key professional societies, and to directors of several federal agencies dealing with issues education, causes of learning and related developmental disabilities, provision for testing and regulation of lead and chemical toxicants affecting the brain development of the fetus and child, and congress persons and Senators handling appropriations for learning and related developmental disabilities research and services. The Committee meets at other times of the year by telephone conference, as well.

The Committee visits some of the major research centers contributing to our knowledge of the causes, characteristics and possible remediation and prevention of learning disabilities.

Committee Goal

The current, long-range goal of the LDA Research Committee is to promote scientific, professional and legislative interest in known and probable causes of learning disabilities that may lead to knowledge-based prevention and remediation.

Conference Symposia

The Research Committee has produced a medical and/or neuroscientific full day pre-conference symposia during each annual LDA International Conference since 1983. The first symposium was on Prenatal and Perinatal Factors Relevant to Learning Disabilities. Other topics covered include:

• Genetics and Nutrition: Relevance to Learning Disabilities, San Francisco, 1985
• Behavioral Toxicology, New York, 1986
• Food Substances Effects on Brain and Behavior, San Antonio, 1987
• Neuropsychology: Integrating the Disciplines, Las Vegas, 1988
• Research in Infant Assessment, Miami, 1989
• The Center Concept: From Research to Service, Anaheim, 1990
• Brain Imaging and Learning Disabilities, Chicago, 1991
• Developmental Disorders of Preschool Children: Differential Diagnosis and Outcomes, Atlanta, 1992
• Tots and Toxins: Altered Brains, San Francisco, 1993
• The Neurological Basis of Social Competence, Washington, 1994
• Thyroid Function Relevant to Learning Disabilities, Orlando, 1995
• Critical Discoveries in Learning Disabilities: A Summary of Findings by NIH Research Programs, Dallas, 1996
• Neuroimaging in Learning Disabilities and Developmental Disorders, Chicago, 1997
• New Angles on Motor and Sensory Coordination in Learning Disabilities, Washington, DC, 1998
• Chemical Impostors and Child Development: Learning, Behavior and Function, Atlanta, 1999
• The Decade of the Brain: A Retrospective and the Latest Word, Reno, 2000
• Charting the Course for Prevention, New York, 2001
• Genetic and Environmental Factors in Learning Disabilities: Can They Be Prevented, Denver, 2002
• Genetic Vulnerability And Environmental Triggers In Brain Development, Chicago,2003
• The Rising Rates of Learning Disabilities: The Role of Neurotoxicants, Atlanta, 2004
• Beating the Odds - Reducing the Risks, Reno, 2005
• How Today's Environment Affects Tomorrow's Children, Jacksonville, 2006
• Carrying on the Vision: An Update on Environmental Issues, Pittsburgh, 2007

Factors in Learning Disabilities Currently Followed Closely by Research Committee

• Impact of pesticides, environmental and other chemicals including lead and other heavy metals on brain development
• Thyroid hormone disorder in mother, fetus and child
• Medications used in management of learning disabilities
• The effects on brain development by medications used during pregnancy
• National Children's Study