Source Monitoring in Children with Learning Disabilities

The results of a recent study by Lorsbach, Melendez and Carroll‐Maher (1991) suggest that children with learning disabilities may possess a general deficit in remembering the source of their verbal memories. The purpose of the present study was to examine further whether children with learning disabilities possess a general deficit in source monitoring and whether such a deficit is independent of performance on a recognition memory task. Children with learning disabilities and nondisabled children were presented with a series of incomplete sentences once or twice in either a listen‐listen (external source monitoring) condition or a think‐listen (reality monitoring) condition. Following the presentation of the study‐list, subjects were presented with the terminal nouns of the preceding sentences and asked to make old/new recognition judgments, as well as source attributions. Although children with learning disabilities were deficient in both forms of source monitoring, they did not differ from nondisabled children in their recognition performance. The results suggest that children with learning disabilities possess a general deficit in verbal source monitoring.     

Comparison of visual-spatial performance strategy training in children with Turner syndrome and learning disabilities.

This study examined the effects of a verbal mediation strategy on three groups of subjects who had visual-spatial deficits. Thirteen females with Turner syndrome, 13 females with nonverbal learning disabilities, and 14 males with nonverbal learning disabilities, who ranged in age from 7 to 14 years, were taught via a cognitive behavioral modification approach to verbally mediate a spatial matching task. Pretest and posttest performance differences on parallel forms of a visual-spatial orientation task were examined. All three groups showed significant improvement in visual-spatial task performance after the training. There were no significant differences in the degree of improvement among the three groups. The results suggest that children with Turner syndrome may benefit from problem-solving strategy training in a manner similar to children with nonverbal learning disabilities.     

非言语型学习障碍儿童的视觉空间认知特点研究

本研究采用本顿视觉保持测验(VRT)对23名非言语型学习障碍儿童(NLD)、23名言语型学习障碍儿童(VLD)和46名普通儿童的视觉记忆、视觉空间结构、视觉运动进行了对比研究,旨在探讨非言语型学习障碍儿童(NLD)视觉空间认知的特点.结果表明:无论是临摹图形还是延迟回忆图形,NLD儿童的正确得分均落后于VLD儿童和普通儿童,出现的错误主要是变形、位置错误和大小错误.提示NLD儿童表象存储能力较差,难以把握事物的整体特征和局部特征,控制能力差,存在精细运动协调能力的缺陷.     

Imagery deficits in nonverbal learning disabilities

This study reports the observations gathered from 11 children referred to consulting services because of learning difficulties at school and diagnosed with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). These children had an average verbal IQ, but a WISC-R performance IQ lower than the verbal IQ by at least 15 points and experienced difficulties especially in mathematics and drawing. The children completed a battery of four tasks requiring visuospatial working memory and visual imagery: a memory task composed of pictures and their positions (Pictures task), a task that required them to memorize the positions filled in a matrix (Passive Matrix task), a task that required them to imagine a pathway along a matrix (Active Matrix task) and a task that required them to learn groups made up of three words, using a visual interactive imagery strategy (TV task). In comparison to a control group of 49 children, children with NVLD scored lower in all the tasks, showing deficits in the use of visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. By contrasting subgroups of children of different ages in the control group, it was possible to show that some tasks did not show a clear developmental trend. Thus the deficits shown by the children with NVLD cannot simply be attributed to a developmental delay of these children, but seem to reflect a more severe disability.     

Metaphoric competence in children with learning disabilities

Metaphoric competence was examined in two groups of children with learning disabilities and one group of nondisabled peers ranging in age from 9-0 to 11-0 years. There were five girls and seven boys in each group. One group of students with learning disabilities had a history of spoken language impairment and the other group did not. Subjects were administered three verbal metaphor tasks (comprehension, preference, and completion) and a visual metaphor task, the Metaphor Triads Task (MTT). The three verbal metaphor tasks were administered in three contexts: (a) sentence, (b) story, and (c) story plus visual (pictorial) support. The group with a history of language impairment consistently performed more poorly on the metaphor tasks than the group without a history of language impairment, who, in turn, performed more poorly than the nondisabled children on all but the MTT. Context variations had no effect on children's performance. Theoretical and clinical implications will be discussed.     

近年来国内学习障碍儿童认知特征研究综述

学习障碍已成为当今学龄儿童常见的问题,并引起国内外各界研究者的高度重视。本文从视觉-空间认知缺陷、言语理解表达不足、注意集中困难、汉字再认困难、抽象信息的感知、加工处理能力受损几个方面对近年言语型学习障碍儿童认知特征的研究进行了分析,并从视觉-运动和空间认知障碍、神经心理缺陷、精神运动能力及性格、行为缺陷、社会认知缺陷几个方面对非言语型学习障碍儿童认知特征的研究进行述评。     

Perception of gated, highly familiar spoken monosyllabic nouns by children with and without learning disabilities

A forward-gating procedure employing highly familiar monosyllabic words was used in auditory testing of age- and gender-matched children with learning disabilities and normally achieving children aged 8 to 11 years. The portion of the word presented, or "gate," was longer on each successive trial. Nondisabled children identified an average of one more word than the children with learning disabilities, but the mean duration required for word identification did not differ between groups. Better receptive vocabulary scores were associated with identification of words at shorter durations only among the children with learning disabilities. The two groups of children had similar numbers of different meaningful-word and different non-word incorrect responses. The children with learning disabilities exhibited poorer fine-grained auditory discrimination than a control group of nondisabled children. The study concluded that auditory closure skills for the gating task were as good among children with learning disabilities as among nondisabled children, but that sensory discrimination problems may contribute significantly to the learning difficulties of the former group.     

Relationship between social perception and peer status in children with learning disabilities

This study was undertaken to examine the social perceptual skill deficit theory in explaining the low peer acceptance of children with learning disabilities. The quality of tests measuring social perception was also examined. Thirty 9- to 12-year-old children with learning disabilities and a matched control group were given two measures of social perception: a laboratory task and a behavior rating scale. The behavior rating scale was completed by the children's teachers. In addition, the Peer Acceptance Scale (Bruininks, Rynders, & Gross, 1974) was administered to assess peer status. Results showed that the children with learning disabilities differed significantly from their nondisabled peers on each of the three measures-the children with learning disabilities obtained lower social perception and peer acceptance scores. However, the relationships between sociometric status and social perception varied as a function of task. A small but significant correlation wa found between the behavior rating scale and peer status. The laboratory task was not correlated with either the behavior rating scale or peer status. Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric properties of laboratory versus naturalistic measures of social perception and the importance of establishing the external validity of social skill measures by correlating them with outcome measures such as peer status.     

Visual discrimination of letter-like forms and its relationship to achievement over time in children with learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to better understand whether visual discrimination abilities are related to reading intelligence and other achievement areas in children with learning disabilities and normally achieving children. Children with visual discrimination problems were identified using the Gibson letter-like visual discrimination task. This task was given to a large sample of children with learning disabilities as well as a sample of normally achieving children. All children were followed throughout elementary school. Results indicated that children with learning disabilities who had visual discrimination problems at 6 or 7 years of age performed more poorly in reading and general achievement over the elementary school years in comparison to the other children with learning disabilities and compared to normally achieving children. Discussion centers around the importance of this skill for reading.     

学习障碍儿童的认知特征及教育矫治

学习障碍已成为当今学龄儿童常见的问题,并引起国内外各界研究者的高度重视。言语型学习障碍的认知特征及影响因素主要表现在视觉一空间、语言、抽象信息等方面;非言语型学习障碍儿童认知特征及影响因素主要表现在视觉和空间、性格和行为、社会认知等方面。对学习障碍的教育矫治需要学校、老师和家长的共同努力。     

An analysis of WISC-R factors for gifted students with learning disabilities

Intellectual patterns of gifted students with learning disabilities were studied to determine cognitive factors characterizing these children. Twenty-four gifted children with learning disabilities (LD) and a control group of nondisabled gifted children were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) (Wechsler, 1974). While differences between the two groups on individual subtests were examined, a comparison of broader factors was emphasized in discovering cognitive patterns that might suggest effective intervention. Experimental and control performances were compared on 14 factor scores, using cognitive classification systems of Bannatyne (1971), Kaufman (1975), Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer (1946), and Wechsler (1974). Gifted students with LD were more reliant on verbal conceptualization and reasoning than the control students. They also demonstrated deficiencies in short-term auditory memory and sound discrimination. The gifted group with LD exhibited the Organic Brain Syndrome factor (Wechsler, 1974) to a significantly greater extent than did the control group.     

The Relationships among Verbal Skills of Primary School Students with Specific Learning Disabilities and a Typically Developing Comparison Group

The relationships among verbal skills of primary school students with learning disabilities and a typically developing comparison group were studied and compared with written tasks carried out in Estonian classrooms. Word defining, categorising/justifying, guessing, and memorising tasks were used. The participants were 251 students in Grades 2–4; of these, 163 were described as achieving normally and were in regular education classrooms, and 88 were diagnosed as having specific learning disabilities and attended special schools or classes for students with specific learning disabilities. Except for performance on the memorising tasks by grade, all the scores were better in upper grades. Children with learning disabilities performed less well than the children in the typically developing comparison group on all the tests. Associations between the results of various tests were stronger in the typically developing comparison group than in the group of children with learning disabilities.     

The influence of instruction modality on brain activation in teenagers with nonverbal learning disabilities: two case histories

Teenagers with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) have difficulty with fine-motor coordination, which may relate to the novelty of the task or the lack of "self-talk" to mediate action. In this study, we required two teenagers with NLD and two control group teenagers to touch the thumb of each hand firmly and accurately to the fingertips of the same hand, in an order specified by verbal or tactile instruction. Brain activity patterns (measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging) suggest that unlike control participants, the NLD participants used internalized speech to facilitate the novel task only when instructions were verbal. NLD participants also showed activity in a more widely distributed network of neural structures. These findings provide preliminary evidence for remediation strategies that encourage internal speech.     

Evidence for unexpected weaknesses in learning in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder without reading disabilities

This study examined the mechanisms underlying verbal learning in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), none of whom had reading disabilities. Children with ADHD were compared to typically developing children on both process and product scores from the California Verbal Learning Test for Children. The findings indicated that children with ADHD initially learned the same number of words as controls but showed weaknesses recalling the words after delays, suggesting that children with ADHD are less efficient learners. Regardless of ADHD status, boys and girls performed differently. Boys used semantic clustering less frequently and recalled fewer words from the middle region of the list than girls; girls also outperformed boys in terms of overall performance, despite lower verbal IQ scores. These findings show that children with ADHD can exhibit unexpected weaknesses in learning even without a formal learning disability. Gender differences in verbal learning are also illustrated.     

Working memory in Dutch children with reading- and arithmetic-related LD

The aim of the two studies presented in this article was to examine working memory performance in Dutch children with various subtypes of learning disabilities. The performance of children with reading disabilities (RD) was compared to that of children with arithmetic disabilities (AD), children with both reading and arithmetic disabilities (RAD), and chronological age-matched controls (CA). Measures covered the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the central executive. In both studies, the children with RD showed no working memory deficits whatsoever. Children with AD showed a single impairment on the task tapping working memory for dynamic visual information. Children with RAD performed lower only on the digit span backward task. The failure to replicate the expected working memory deficits in children with reading-related disabilities is discussed.     

小学数学学习障碍儿童刷新能力的发展性研究

本研究探讨了不同年级数学学习障碍儿童和普通儿童刷新能力的差异.研究选取障碍组与对照组被试共87名,采用活动记忆范式,分别对比了普通组与障碍组以及各年级组之间刷新功能的差异.结果发现:普通儿童在刷新任务中的正确率显著高于数学学习障碍儿童,反应时不存在显著差异;两组被试三次刷新任务的正确率低于一次和两次刷新任务的正确率,反应时不存在显著差异;三个年级的所有儿童的刷新正确率随年级升高呈递增趋势,反应时不存在显著差异.本研究认为,数学学习障碍儿童刷新能力发展迟缓是数学学习障碍产生的原因之一.     

Interpretation of emotion from facial expressions in children with and without learning disabilities

The accuracy and time required for children with and without learning disabilities to interpret emotions when restricted to information from facial expressions, and the accuracy of those interpretations, were investigated. Ninety-six children participated; an equal number of males and females were included in both learning categories and age levels. Accuracy and response time on a modified version of Pictures of Facial Affect were recorded for the emotions of fear, sadness, surprise, anger, happiness, and disgust, as well as for the entire task. Three-way ANOVAs revealed children with learning disabilities to (a) be less accurate interpreters of emotion and (b) spend more time identifying specific emotions. Both age and sex influenced response time: Younger subjects required more time to interpret the emotions of fear and anger; males spent more time interpreting happiness. Younger females with learning disabilities displayed difficulty in interpretation, and older children with learning disabilities (particularly males) were rapid, but often inaccurate, interpreters of emotion.     

小学数学学习困难儿童的工作记忆广度研究

对数学学习困难儿童的工作记忆广度进行研究,结果发现数学学习困难儿童在言语和视觉空间工作记忆广度上都显著低于正常儿童,但这种不足主要是一种发展的延迟。对有无伴随阅读困难的数学学习困难儿童进行比较,发现二者的言语和视觉空间工作记忆广度都没有表现出显著差异。     

Working memory performance of Italian students with foreign language learning difficulties

It has been suggested that the ability to learn a foreign language is related to working memory. However, there is no clear evidence about which component of working memory may be involved.Two experiments investigated working memory problems in groups of seventh and eighth grade Italian children with difficulties in learning English as a second language. They were compared with control groups of children matched for age, education, school, and intelligence who differed for foreign language learning ability.Experiment 1 focused on clarifying how modality-specific the memory problem of children with a foreign language learning difficulty (FLLD) is. Verbal working memory tasks (forward and backward digit span) were proposed together with visuospatial working memory (VSWM) tasks. Groups showed a significant difference only in the more passive verbal working memory task, that is, the forward digit span.Experiment 2 focused on clarifying how central the verbal working memory problem of students with an FLLD is. A nonword repetition task and an Italian version of the listening span test were proposed. Groups differed significantly in both tasks. However, differences in the listening span test disappeared when nonword repetition performance was partialed out. It was concluded that a difficulty in learning a foreign language is mainly related to the more passive aspects of verbal working memory, typically associated with the articulatory loop.     

元认知理论与学习不良儿童研究

元认知理论为人们全面深入理解学习不良问题提供了一个新视角,它对理解学习不良儿童的内部加工问题和发展提高学业成绩的教学方法都具有重要意义。元认知是个体在学习过程中主动控制认知过程的高层次思维,它包括两类成分:一类是静态成分,分为知识和动机信念;另一类是动态成分,主要指元认知监测和控制。与一般儿童相比,学习不良儿童在元认知加工方面存在不同程度的缺陷;在具体学科领域,学习不良儿童静态和动态元认知成分也有不同的表现。对学习不良儿童的研究应以服务教育实践为目的,打破纯实验研究的范式,采用不同方法,从不同角度探讨学习不良儿童的元认知发展规律和作用机制。