Cognitive Development in Learning Disabled Boys

To test the generalizability/specificity of a developmental lag in the learning disabled, measures of five cognitive processes — selective attention, verbal rehearsal, conceptual tempo, field articulation, and locus of control — were obtained for learning disabled boys at three age levels (8-, 11-, and 13-year-olds) and a normal control group at the oldest age level only. Trend analyses and correlational findings provided strong support for the developmental lag hypothesis for four of the variables, i.e., all except verbal rehearsal. Comparison of the oldest learning disabled boys with their normal control group revealed slight, but not significant, differences in favor of the normals on all variables. These findings provide evidence that the learning disabled develop most cognitive abilities in a manner similar to that of their non-learning disabled counterparts, though perhaps slightly delayed, and that by adolescence development in the learning disabled approaches that of normals.