Customer Reviews

Learning Mystique

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The only fault I attach to this excellent book is that it was published in 1989. A huge portion of the text is devoted to critiquing the "science" done on learning disorders up to the time of printing. That section is excellent, but in the last 22 years, we've seen the advent and widespread use of more modern imaging techniques (mri, ct, pet...) and we need a good critical review of that work. Granted, the book paints a picture that lets us predict what that research probably looks like, but it is still important. That aside, this is an intelligent, critical evaluation of the field/industry of learning disorders and their treatment. What we see happening in the "science" is not science, it is a desperate scramble to prove a neurological basis for LD, making researchers deaf to evidence to the contrary. Along the way, Coles highlights studies that have shown successful remedial programs for LD as well as a proposal for a more adequate explanation for its cause which does not neglect complex environmental factors. A great book not just for educators or those interested in LD treatment. It is a lesson about critically evaluating research in whatever area (but particularly neurology and psychiatry). Highly recommended.

While the focus is on learning disabilities, which is largely (though not completely) a product of researchers' insistence that they do exist, Cole's larger project seems to be to suggest what the real problems are in educating the 'disabled' and the economically disadvantaged (Coles focuses in particular on early reading instruction). Teachers, administrators, and educational theorists may need to look at themselves rather than blaming students' disabilities for their lack of learning. Administrators and teachers need to throw away their low expectations and make sure teaching is at the level at which a student enters the classroom, however difficult it may be to individualize instruction. Theorists need to accept that direct rather than implicit reading skills instruction is part of what's needed in primary school classrooms. Society in general can help out by spending the money to lower class sizes, especially for kindergarten and first grade, where nearly everyone should learn to read, even the more or less falsely labeled 'learning disabled'.

I bought a second hand book for a really good price. The condition of the book was like new and delivery on my purchase was so quick. I have to say that i am a very satisfied customer.