Other than in the title, we have used the term learning disability (LD) throughout this guidebook because it is still the most familiar and widely-used term for denoting specific, neurologically-based learning weaknesses. Recently, however, there has been a trend towards referring to these learning weaknesses as differences rather than disabilities.
In our view, describing the learning capacity of students with LD as different rather than disabled acknowledges the important fact that they are normally intelligent people who have unique patterns of learning strengths and weaknesses. It is our hope that in the near future, the negative and restrictive label of learning disability will be universally replaced with the more positive and accurate term of learning difference.