Self-perceptions, motivation, and adjustment in children with learning disabilities: a multiple group comparison study

This study examined the self-perceptions, motivational orientations, and classroom adjustment of children with learning disabilities (LD), matched-IQ non-LD, randomly selected non-LD, and low achieving children. Elementary-age children (N = 148; 37 from each group) completed domain-specific measures of their self-concepts, perceptions of control, and motivation. Teachers rated children on motivational and competence indices and classroom behavioral adjustment. Comparisons among groups indicated that children with LD were lower in perceived cognitive competence and academic self-regulation relative to the nondisabled control groups, but were comparable to the low achieving children. Children with LD were most likely to perceive academic outcomes as controlled by powerful others. No group differences were found for general self-perceptions of control or competence. Teacher ratings of children with LD were more discrepant from those of comparison groups than were self-ratings of children with LD. The results suggest the need for matched-IQ and low achieving control groups in research on children with LD. The origin and role of both environmental inputs and self-perceptions in the adjustment of students with LD are discussed.     

Comprehension of humor in children with nonverbal learning disabilities,reading disabilities,and without learning disabilities

The normal development of humor in children has been well documented with a predictable course that is tied to social, cognitive, and linguistic development in children. This study explored humor comprehension in children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). Children with NVLD were compared with children with reading disabilities and a comparison group of children with no learning disabilities to assess their comprehension of humor. The humor test was composed of a joke and cartoon section. No group differences in humor comprehension were found when the NVLD group was defined as having visual–spatial and visual reasoning deficits. However, when the NVLD group was divided into children with and without social perceptual difficulties as defined by a direct measure of social comprehension, significant group differences were found in the levels of humor comprehension. These results support the association of humor comprehension with social perception and lend tentative support to the hypothesis that children with NVLD may not be a homogenous group. Future study directions include further exploration into the nature of the association between humor comprehension and social perception as well as closer examination of the heterogeneity of NVLD.     

Conversational engagement of children with learning disabilities

This study was designed to characterize the conversational engagement techniques employed by children with and without learning disabilities while in a dyadic interaction. Engagement was defined and measured in terms of the degree to which utterances provided information and evidenced responsiveness to one's conversational partner. Sixty (30 with learning disabilities and 30 nondisabled) 9- to 13-year-old subjects participated. Analyses indicated that the subjects with learning disabilities (LD) could and did employ engagement-related techniques similar in levels of sophistication to those of their nondisabled peers, although they did so less consistently and frequently. Further, the relationship between affective measures and the engagement-related techniques used by the subjects with LD differed markedly from those of the nondisabled subjects. The results are interpreted from a motivational standpoint and suggest that future research should focus on the knowledge and application of engagement-related techniques of the children with LD, across settings and conversational partners.     

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.     

Concerns of families of children with learning disabilities

The purpose of this report is to share the experiences and concerns of a group of parents of children with learning disabilities. Parents of eight different families were interviewed in depth, and seven themes emerged from the interviews. Parents discussed their involvement in their child's education, and their positive and negative experiences with school personnel as well as with seeking other sources of support. They expressed concerns about the social isolation and future well-being of their children with learning disabilities. They indicated many emotional strains from parenting children with learning disabilities, and that there are both positive and negative effects on the families. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.     

The adult outcomes of children with learning disabilities

The results of four follow-up studies of learning-disabled children are reviewed. A comparison of results among the studies and of analyses of individual variation within the studies suggest some factors associated with long-term outcomes. It is argued that in many cases learning disabilities are not a lifelong handicapping condition, especially if adequate treatment is provided during childhood.     

Sustained and selective attention in children with learning disabilities

Sustained and selective attention of 30 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students with learning disabilities (LD) and 20 controls were compared. A continuous performance test (CPT) yielded no differences for students with LD and controls, suggesting similar ability for both groups in sustaining attention and inhibiting impulsive responding. Subjects with LD made more errors than controls on a selective attention task when letter distractors were adjacent to the target letter but not when they were distant, and more correct responses than controls when facilitating letters were adjacent to the target, suggesting that students with LD are less able to narrow the focus of their attention. Longer response times by students with LD indicate that they have slower information-processing skills than controls. Regrouping students according to teacher ratings for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) yielded the customary impulsive response set on the CPT and more errors on the selective attention task, but no differences on response times for students with ADHD. LD students with ADHD made more errors than LD students without ADHD when letter distractors were adjacent to the target letter.     

WISC-III profiles for children with and without learning disabilities

The degree of WISC-III intersubtest scatter was normal and similar for 66 children with LD and 51 children without LD, but the pattern of scores differed. In the 8- to 16-year-old sample, children with LD scored lower on the Freedom from Distractibility Index relative to FSIQ than children without LD. This difference was found in both the ADHD and nonADHD subgroups, suggesting that children with LD may have an attention deficit even if they do not meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. The CAD profile was evident in the mean scores for both the LD/ADHD and LD/nonADHD subgroups, but it was not found among the lowest subtest scores for any of the nonLD subgroups. Though WISC-III profile types were apparent in LD group data, only a minority of individual children with LD actually had these profiles. In the 6- and 7-year-old group, children with and without LD were indistinguishable on the WISC-III, which may reflect the difficulty of ruling out LD at this young age. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Neuropsychological profiles of children with learning disabilities and children with documented brain damage

This study sought to identify clusters or subtypes of children with learning disabilities (LD) and documented brain damage (BD) on the basis of a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Sixty subjects, 24 with LD and 36 with BD, participated in the study. The standard scores for several measures from the Intermediate Battery of the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery and other select measures were submitted to Q-Technique factor analysis for the entire sample. Five clusters were determined. No one cluster was composed exclusively of LD or BD subjects, with the proportions of LD and BD varying considerably from one cluster to the next. There were some qualitative differences between the clusters, while quantitative differences also figured prominently.     

Frequency of adoption of children and adolescents with learning disabilities

Students from three different facilities who were diagnosed as learning disabled were studied to determine the frequency of adoption with this population as compared to the national norm. The frequency of adoption was found to be 4.5 times higher than the norm, that is, 17.3% versus 3.9%. The possible reasons for this high incidence are discussed.     

Numerical competence in young children and in children with mathematics learning disabilities

A longitudinal study was conducted on 82 children to investigate, firstly the numerical competence of young children and the predictive value of (pre)-numerical tests in kindergarten, and, secondly, whether children's knowledge of the numerical system and representation of the number size is related to their computation and logical knowledge and to their counting skills. In an additional cross-sectional study on 30 children with a clinical diagnosis of mathematical learning disability (MLD) of 8,5 years, age- and ability-matched with 2 × 30 children the same parameters of numerical competence were assessed. The longitudinal data showed individual differences in numerosity, as well as the relationship between a delay in arithmetics in grade l and problems on numerosity in kindergarten. In the cross-sectional results some evidence was found for the independence of numerical abilities in MLD-children. About 13% of them had still severe pre-numerical processing deficits (in number sequence production, cardinality skills and logical knowledge) in grade 3. About 67% had severe difficulties in executing calculation procedures and a lack of conceptual knowledge. A feature of 87% of the MLD-children was severe translation deficits, with a significantly worse knowledge of number words compared with the knowledge of Arab numerals. Finally a severe deficit in subitizing was found to be present in 33% of the MLD children. On a group level the processing deficits were linked to understanding numerosity, since the ability-matched younger children and the MLD-children had the same pre-numerical and numerical profile. Implications for the assessment of mathematical disabilities and the value of TEDI-MATH® as an instrument in this process are discussed.