Workshop Opportunity: The Characteristics, Assessment, and Diagnosis of Learning Disabilities

Robert L. Mapou, Ph.D.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
8:30 am – 12:30 pm

About the Program
Over the past 10 years, neuropsychological research on learning disabilities in older adolescents and adults has advanced to the point where it is now possible to specify the components of an evaluation that are crucial for diagnosing reading, writing, mathematics, and nonverbal learning disabilities. Within this same time period, there has been a parallel development of guidelines for assessment and documentation of learning disabilities, including those that are language based, in adolescents and adults.

This workshop will integrate these two important knowledge bases by providing an overview of assessment and documentation of learning disabilities in older
adolescents and adults. The material will be geared toward those who evaluate or treat individuals with learning disabilities, who review evaluation reports, who
refer individuals for evaluation, and who are involved in educational and occupational intervention and planning.

Topics will include:
• Current definitions of learning disabilities
• Learning disability subtypes supported by research
• Summary of research on adult learning disabilities
• Neuropsychological evaluation
• Documentation requirements of standardized testing agencies, colleges, and
universities
• Documentation under 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and criteria changes
based on the 2008 ADA Amendments Act
• Accommodations and interventions
• Case example of a college student with dyslexia

Attendees will
• Identify the research basis for assessment of learning disabilities in older
adolescents and adults, including hose with language difficulties
• Outline the most common types of learning disabilities in older adolescents and
adults, and the components of assessment needed for diagnosing language learning
disabilities
• Examine the requirements for testing and agency/university documentation
guidelines for assessment of language learning disabilities in postsecondary
education students and test candidates;
• Identify acceptable accommodations and interventions for individuals in school or
the workplace with language learning disabilities.


About the Presenter
Dr. Robb Mapou is a clinical neuropsychologist in independent practice with William Stixrud, Ph.D. and Associates, LLC, Silver Spring, MD, where he specializes in the evaluation of adolescents and adults with learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). From 1996 to 1999, he was the Neuropsychology
Director for the Centers for Neuro-Rehabilitation,Bethesda, MD, where he worked with individuals who had suffered brain injuries.

Dr. Mapou was on the board of directors of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology from 2002 to 2007 and served as President from 2004 to 2006 and Vice
President from 2002 to 2004. He holds faculty appointments in the Department of Neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Mapou has published and presented widely on topics of adult learning disabilities and ADHD, neuropsychological assessment, cognitive and behavioral effects of traumatic brain injury, the neurobehavioral effects of HIV disease,
and other neuropsychological issues.

His new book, Adult Learning Disabilities and ADHD: Research Informed Assessment, was published by Oxford University Press in October 2008. He is currently working on a chapter on dyslexia in adults for the Casebook of Clinical Neuropsychology, to be published in 2009 by Oxford University Press.