Learning Disability Quarterly

The ability of language learning disabled (LLD) and normally achieving (NA) adolescents to interpret metaphors embedded in semantically appropriate verbal contexts was examined. The effects of response mode (verbal explanation and paraphrase selection), order of response mode, and type of ground (perceptual attributes and psychological characteristics) were also analyzed. Thirty-two male subjects (16 LLD and 16 NA), ages 16 to 18 years, interpreted 24 metaphors in which the task-specific vocabulary was controlled. The LLD subjects provided significantly fewer correct metaphor interpretations than the NA subjects. The magnitude of difference between the LLD and the NLA subjects was twice as large when the initial mode of response was paraphrase selection. For both groups, metaphors were easier to interpret by paraphrase selection than by verbal explanation, and perceptual metaphors were easier to interpret than psychological metaphors, but only in the explanation condition. The two groups' performance showed no striking qualitative differences. The relatively poor performance of the LLD adolescents was not related to general vocabulary knowledge or to knowledge of task-specific vocabulary. The possible roles of impoverished or poorly organized semantic knowledge and of deficient inferential skills in the LLD subjects' poor performance are discussed.

An urban sample of referred and nonreferred Black, Hispanic, and Anglo pupils were assessed with the WISC-R and K-ABC cognitive and achievement scales. Approximately 38% of the Hispanic sample was identified as Limited-English Proficient (LEP). Analysis of various procedures revealed differences in cognitive and achievement performance due to pupils' ethnicity, referral status, and LEP status. Predictive bias was examined using Potthoff's (1966) simultaneous test of regression slopes and intercepts. For both WISC-R and K-ABC IQ measures, a number of regressions on the K-ABC Total and Arithmetic achievement measures evidenced bias across ethnic groups for both referred and nonreferred samples. Bias due to language dominance also was found for WISC-R and K-ABC composite scales. Implications of predictive bias for assessment and placement of minority and LEP children in special education classes are discussed.

Learning disabled adolescents often display deficiencies in problem-solving and interpersonal social skills. These deficiencies tend to pose particular difficulties for successful transitions from the school to work environments. The present 3-year study investigated the impact of a self-management training program for LD adolescents (N = 67 across all three years) who were attending a vocational-technical school. The study specifically examined changes in subjects' problem-solving and job-related social skills. Results showed significant and substantial improvements in LD students who received the self-management training program compared to both LD and non-learning disabled students who were not trained. Implications for enhancing the curriculum for LD adolescents as well as the potential limitations of the findings are discussed.

Comparison of IQ-subtest scores has gained new popularity with the recent introduction of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). The present study addressed questions pertinent to the utility of K-ABC subtests in differentiating LD children from students classified as EMR, SEM, and referred but Unclassified. In addition, it directly compared the efficacy of K-ABC subtests vs. subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) in this task. The sample consisted of 265 children (181 males, 84 females) referred for psychological evaluations; 171 were classified LD. The LD group was further divided into two subgroups: those who showed significant ability-achievement discrepancies (LDdisc; n = 42) and those who did not (LDno; n = 129). Hierarchical discriminant-function analyses showed that subtest scores from both the K-ABC and the WISC-R differentiated the LDdisc group from children in the other categories. However, subsequent classification analyses revealed that neither the K-ABC nor the WISC-R was capable of returning children to their correct placements. Results, therefore, indicate that subtest scores from the K-ABC and the WISC-R were incapable of enhancing the differential classification of LD over rates obtainable on the basis of chance.

This study investigated the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of writing problems in learning disabled adolescents. Twenty-one learning disabled eighth and eleventh graders constituted the target population. The comparison groups included 15 normally achieving eighth graders and a reading-age control group of 23 normally achieving sixth graders. The participants wrote two reportive essays and one argument essay, and answered a questionnaire designed to probe their metacognition about the writing process.

Results indicated that normally achieving eighth graders consistently and clearly surpassed their learning disabled counterparts in both quality and quantity of essay writing. Adult judges rated normally achieving eighth graders' essays to be substantially more interesting, much clearer in communicating the goals, and to contain a substantially more felicitous word choice than those of learning disabled eighth and eleventh graders. Moreover, they wrote longer essays with much fewer spelling errors than learning disabled eighth and eleventh graders. Finally, they possessed more mature and articulate conceptions of the writing task, and were more aware of the relevance of planning and audience in writing.

In striking contrast, the learning disabled eighth and eleventh graders were comparable to the normally achieving sixth graders in their performances across a broad front. This comparability occurred in the three categories of holistic ratings of essays (interestingness, clarity in communication of goals, and word choice), structural ratings of paragraphs, and metacognition about the writing process. Interestingly, learning disabled eighth and eleventh graders were superior to normally achieving sixth graders in length of essays. However, the consistent, broad picture was that the learning disabled adolescents performed at a very similar level to that of younger normally achieving children. These findings permit the conclusion that the learning disabled adolescents in this study showed a developmental delay in the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of writing.