Mr. Fuchs and three other researchers reviewed 168 studies from 16 journals on learning disabilities and reading published from 1975 to 1996. It seems like the practitioners are doing the right thing by identifying kids who are performing worse in reading. Mr. Fuchs said the research undercuts the belief among politicians and some school officials that learning disabilities are just an excuse for poor performance, or in some cases, a means to obtain unnecessary accommodations, such as extra time to take tests. He believes that the differences in scores are related to learning-disabled students' deficiencies in automatic word recognition. Normally developing readers progress quickly to automatically recognizing familiar words from having to sound them out, but that transition is difficult for learning-disabled students, he said.
Some researchers remain skeptical, however.
Mr. Vellutino, who had not reviewed Mr. Fuchs' findings, conducted research published in 1996 that showed that most of the students identified as reading-deficient had quickly improved their skills when they received intensive instruction. The new findings come as state and federal lawmakers are growing increasingly skeptical of the learning-disabled designation in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Mr. Fuchs emphasized that his research does not address whether learning-disabled students have unique physical characteristics, or whether they need qualitatively different types of instruction in school.