Overall The long-range objectives of the Florida Learning Disabilities Research Center are to use a multidisciplinary, multimethod, and multi-level approach to (a) substantially increase replicable knowledge about the nature of learning disabilities; (b) implement this knowledge in tools that potentially can improve the outcomes of individuals with learning disabilities and their families; (c) to do both knowledge generation and implementation in a way that represents the diversity of the populations of individuals with learning disabilities, with particular attention to historically understudied and underserved populations; and (d) to continue our focus on engagement. We will achieve these long-range objectives using tried-and-true methodologies that have been proven to be successful and also innovative methodologies that have yet to be applied to the area of learning disabilities but show promise. The Florida Learning Disabilities Research Center comprises six projects and three cores that address basic and applied research questions about learning disabilities. Project one addresses identification, classification, and risk prediction. Project two addresses forecasting models of how much intervention is recommended for individual students. Project three addresses early development of language and literacy. Project four addresses genetic and environmental contributions to individual and developmental differences from behavior genetic studies. Project five addresses the development of executive functions, language, and literacy for students learning English as a second language. Project six addresses the neurogenetics of learning disabilities. The three cores include an administrative core, an engagement core, and an analytics core.
