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The term “learning disability” was coined in the United States in 1963, informed by neuropsychological models current at that time. These models, derived from observations of adults with focal brain injuries, posited a modular deficit—that is, a deficit in a discrete skill in the context of otherwise normal cognitive and social functioning. The problems of children with learning difficulties, however, are developmental in origin rather than being the effect of a brain injury. Yet the prevailing models today do not reflect the considerable advances in developmental psychology and developmental cognitive neuroscience of recent decades. These suggest that the modular functional organization of the adult brain is constructed through a complex interaction between genes, the brain, and the experiences undergone throughout childhood and adolescence. A developmental perspective has various implications: 1. A learning disorder is a function of the interplay between the child and the environment, not simply a neurological defect within the child; 2. Developmentally based learning disorders are rarely modular, but have more diverse and widespread effects, consistent with our contemporary understanding of functional neural networks; and 3. The manifestations of learning disorders evolve over time and are best understood within the framework of “developmental cascades.” We propose a developmentally informed framework for understanding children who struggle academically and for addressing their educational and psychosocial needs.