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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
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