Sunday, December 12, 2010

IQs Corner Book Nook: Essentials of SLD identification & Human Intelligence

Just in time for the holidays. Two books to purchase for your family and friends---i.e., if they are interested in research on human intelligence and contemporary research and issues surrounding the identification of individuals with specific learning disabilities.

Within the past month I've received two free copies of the following books. I've only had time to thumb through them, so I cannot comment in detail about their strengths, limitations, etc. They are both placed on my ever increasing stack of "books to read when I have time." [Hint to publishers--the sooner you get these in e-pub format, especially for my iPad, the sooner I will likely fine time to read them :) ]




First is Human Intelligence by Earl "Buzz" Hunt. Dr. Hunt has a long resume in the field of human intelligence research. This appears to be a capstone summary of his take on human intelligence from his decades of scholarly study. No doubt I will eventually find it as a useful secondary reference resource book for quickly finding summaries and explanations of many issues in the field of intelligence.




Next is the edited Essentials of Specific Learning Disability Identification. Dr. Dawn Flanagan and Dr. Vincent Alfonso (leaders and advocates of the "Cross-Battery approach to cognitive assessment) edited this collection of diverse perspectives on how to identify SLD. I am impressed with the stable of authors who contributed chapters. They represent most of the big names within their respective cognitive and SLD research and theory sandboxes. I did skim the preface by Dr. Cecil Reynolds and know that I will also suffer some of the same cognitive dissonance he describes as the various authors present different methods for conceptualizing and operationalizing LD. This is not a criticism by Dr. Reynolds--just the astute conclusion that this book reflects that "state-of-the-art" of the research and thinking by many of the major players in the field of SLD...and as a result, there are differences in approaches. That being said, clearly this book appears to be an excellent source for those looking to capture the essence of where the field of SLD is---with all the various players and flavors.


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