The proposed study has the following objectives: (1) To establish and solidify a network of Zambian and international researchers qualified to design and carry out a comprehensive study of prevalence and etiology of non-specific and specific learning disabilities in Zambia. Specifically, the current proposal capitalizes on already-established collaborative relationships between various members of the team on this proposal and further extends the existing team to ensure that areas of expertise required for the conductance of the future large-scale epidemiological study of learning disabilities are represented on the emerging international group of researchers. (2) To demonstrate feasibility of conducting such a comprehensive epidemiological study of learning disabilities in Zambia. Specifically, we propose a set of 5 small-scale studies: (a) an assessment development and validation study; (b) a pilot epidemiological study of non-specific and specific learning disabilities among children attending schools in Eastern Province; (c) a pilot study of non-specific and specific learning disabilities among out-of-school children living in Eastern Province; (d) a pilot study of nonspecific and specific learning disabilities among street children-orphans of HIV/AIDS epidemic; (e) a pilot study of etiology of non-specific and specific learning disabilities in Eastern Province. (3) To design a large-scale study designed to assess the magnitude and the nature of basic and applied issues related to non-specific and specific learning disabilities in Zambian school-aged children. (4) To integrate the tasks of capacity building, research training, and research conductance on the issues of non-specific and specific learning disabilities within one project aimed at estimating the prevalence and gaining an insight into epidemiology and the etiology of learning disabilities in Zambia.
