Adults with learning disabilities: current and future research priorities

This article presents a review of current research, or what is currently known about adults with learning disabilities. The review is organized under different settings, including the community, postsecondary, and employment environments, and is followed by a review of longitudinal studies. Based on the review of the current status of the literature, research priorities for the 1990s are presented, including (a) identifying and conducting research with specific individuals or samples within the adult (LD) population; (b) identifying successful intervention techniques within the cognitive, social, personal, and vocational domains; (c) conducting research in a variety of environments, including community, employment, and postsecondary settings and across critical periods of an individual's lifespan (such as movement from postsecondary environments into employment and from employment to retirement); and (d) examining alternative methodologies, such as single-subject, case study, group research, and so forth, in future investigations. The priorities are followed by a description and comparison of various research methodologies.