Learning disabilities: Frustrating headway

I have worked with kids who have learing disabilities, including ADD/ADHD. We exercise their brains, by working on core cognitive functions. I provide a licensed program which does a pretty good job at improving cognitive functioning. However, I'm always on the look-out for potential break-throughs and improvements.

So, I recently went to an on-line data-basis, which provides the theses of any Canadian student between 1995 and 2002. So I searched for "learning disabilities" as my keywords.

Now I know why this field hasn't progressed all that rapidly. I couldn't find one abstract, of the 79 or so, which seemed to deal with cognitive exercises. A great many dealt with the social aspects of ADD of having a learning disability eg "ADD in the classroom - a study of teacher responses", or "Peer interaction and learning disabilities", or "Measurement of the WISC-II test - it's accuracy in NVLD learning disabilities".

No one - or very few - of the university types seem to get down into the "down and dirty" of looking at what type of cognitive exercises are having the best affect on children with learning problems. They're studying the heck out of the peripheral issues that arise from these problems, but practically ignoring the problems themselves. Maddening and frustrating.


... another random musing