Important+Contributors

Important Contributors to Learning Disabilities

 As previously mentioned in the History of LDs page, the history of learning disabilities was said to have began in 1802 with Franz Joseph Gall. Gall was a German physiologist and anatomist that conducted studies on the localization of mental functions in the brain. He believed the brain could be divided into 27 separate “organs,” which theoretically match up to a discrete human ability. Supposedly those separate organs could control the memory of facts, the memory of things, the perfectibility and educability. (LD, 2012)



 Throughout the years learning disability would be called several names, from mental retardation or mental handicap to word blindness, brain injured or even cerebral dominance. It wasn’t until April 6, 1963 (LD Report, 2007) that Dr. Samuel Kirk a special education professor from the University of Illinois first used the phrase ‘learning disability’. Dr. Kirk was speaking at a conference in Chicago to a group of concerned parents regarding the suggested learning disabilities. The key term from then on would be widely recognized as describing children who have difficulties in the development of communication, speech, reading, and language skills. The inspiration that followed Kirk’s speech; lead to the establishment of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA). (LD, 2012) Since that time, the United States Federal Government became more involved in education, especially learning disability notions.

