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PubMed1989

IQ is irrelevant to the definition of learning disabilities.

The purpose of this article was to examine the logic and the empirical data supporting the proposition that intelligence tests are not necessary for the definition of a learning disability. Four assumptions of the use of IQ test scores in the definition of learning disabilities were examined. These assumptions were (a) IQ tests measure intelligence; (b) intelligence and achievement are independent, and the presence of a learning disability will not affect IQ scores; (c) IQ scores predict reading, and children with low IQ scores should be poor readers; and (d) reading disabled children with different IQ scores have different cognitive processes and information skills. It was argued that IQ scores measure factual knowledge, expressive language abilities, and short-term memory, among other skills, and that because children with learning disabilities have deficits in these areas, their scores may be spuriously low. It was also shown that some children with low IQ scores can be good readers, indicating that low IQ scores do not necessarily result in poor reading. Empirical evidence was presented that poor readers at a variety of IQ levels show similar reading, spelling, language, and memory deficits. On logical and empirical grounds, IQ test scores are not necessary for the definition of learning disabilities.

Achievement↗
PubMed1982

Increased morphological variants in children with learning disabilities.

Previous studies have shown that children with learning disabilities have more morphological variants or anomalies than normal children, suggesting that the morphological and central nervous system effects may be the result of the same prenatal factors. The morphological variants were assumed to have arisen in the first 3 months of prenatal development, which may not be so. We have partitioned variants into those that probably arise early in fetal development ("early" variants) and those that could arise later and could be due to altered growth ("late" variants). There was an increase in both "early" and "late" variants but only that the "late" variants was statistically significant. Although the method of measuring one "early" variant (dermal patterns) was sensitive enough to detect mild disturbances in children with isolated congenital heart disease, such a disturbance was not found in our group of learning-disabled patients. Our findings suggest that the developmental disturbances resulting in morphological variants may act later in prenatal development than was previously believed. This information may be helpful in searching for clues to the etiology of this heterogeneous group of disabilities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

The cerebellar-vestibular basis of learning disabilities in children, adolescents and adults: hypothesis and study.

This paper provides a description of the cerebellar-vestibular-determined (CV) neurological and electronystagmographic (ENG) parameters characterizing 4,000 patients with learning disabilities. Of this sample, 1465 or 36.6% were children, 1156 or 28.9% adolescents, and 1379 or 34.5% adults. Using a set of diagnostic methods and criteria, the incidence of CV-dysfunction in this diverse sample was statistically equivalent to that reported by neurologists and neurotologists in a prior "blind" analysis of 115 dyslexic children. Over 94% of both the learning disabled and the dyslexic samples showed two or more abnormal neurological or ENG parameters indicating a CV-dysfunction whereas less than 1% evidenced hard neurological signs of a cerebral disorder. These and related data suggested that: (1) learning disabilities and dyslexia may be cerebellar-vestibular-based and reflect a single disorder and that (2) the varying academic, speech, concentration, activity, and related symptoms characterizing learning disabled persons seem to be shaped by a diverse group of cerebellar-vestibular-determining mechanisms rather than distinct neurophysiological disorders; also, (3) cerebellar-vestibular dysfunctioning and learning disabilities may secondarily trigger altered and/or compensatory cerebral processing and dominance mechanisms. (4) The cerebral cortex apparently plays a vital, compensatory role in shaping the final symptoms. A cerebellar-vestibular basis of learning disabilities is proposed. This conceptualization is consistent with, encompasses, and/or readily explains most of these clinical diagnostic, therapeutic, and research data as well as the many and varied hypotheses.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

The role of the EEG in the investigation of the child with learning disability.

Electro-encephalograms were recorded in 94 children who presented with learning disability. Abnormalities were found in 71%. Records obtained from age- and sex-matched controls showed a 29% incidence of abnormality. In the learning-disabled group no significant correlation could be demonstrated between abnormalities on the EEG and abnormal perinatal history, behaviour, concentration, perceptual function, co-ordination or 'soft sign'. Routine EEG recording is not recommended in the assessment of a learning-disabled child, but it is of value if the clinical history suggests a seizure disorder.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Learning disabilities in New Zealand: where kiwis and kids with LD can't fly.

Learning disabilities (LD) has never been officially recognized as a category of special education in New Zealand. This article discusses the main reasons for the rejection of the LD category. The education system in New Zealand is described, and the nature of special education is outlined to provide a context for considering LD. Attempts by the parent group SPELD (New Zealand Federation of Specific Learning Disabilities Associations) to have "specific learning disabilities" (SLD) recognized in legislation are discussed, along with reasons for the rejection of these attempts by state education officials. It is concluded that LD/SLD will never be recognized as such in New Zealand. The needs of students with LD may potentially be met by new policies for "high incidence" special needs. But teachers' lack of skills and strategies for working with a range of learning difficulties is seen as an impediment to students with LD being adequately helped in the foreseeable future.

Child↗
PubMed2004

The role of community nurses for people with learning disabilities: working with people who challenge.

The locus of care for people with learning disabilities has transferred from institutional to community-based services. Increasingly people who have learning disabilities and additional challenging behaviours live in community settings. Spearheading the care for these people are community nurses for people with learning disabilities. This study aimed to explicate the role of these nurses in their day-to-day work with people who challenge. Using grounded theory methodology, 22 nurses were selected by theoretical sampling and interviewed. An analytical story and theoretical framework that emerged from the grounded data is presented. It is suggested that this framework has utility for practice.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1984

A developmental study of learning disabilities and memory.

Seven-, ten-, and thirteen-year-old learning-disabled (LD) and non-learning-disabled (NORM) children were presented specially structured lists of 38 words each and tested for free recall. Each list contained only four semantically related words. Two of the four related words were presented contiguously (serial positions 9 and 10) and the other two words were spaced (serial positions 20 and 30). All children recalled disproportionately more adjacent words (item 9 or 10) than any other words. Spaced words (items 20 and 30) were less likely to be recalled by the younger children than by the older children and by the LDs than by the NORMs. These findings provided support for the distinction between automatic and purposive semantic processing. NORMs' recall was governed by purposive semantic processing to a greater extent than was LDs' recall. However, no group or age differences were observed in automatic semantic processing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Educating lay carers of people with learning disability in epilepsy awareness and in the use of rectal diazepam: a suggested teaching protocol for use by healthcare personnel.

A high proportion of people with learning disabilities have epilepsy and often their epilepsy is of an intractable nature. Nurses within the large learning disability institutions are obliged, on a regular basis, to administer rectal diazepam to control these patients' serial seizures. As a result of the "community care" initiative, the process of discharging adult people from institutions into care settings in the community is underway. Consequently, and increasingly, the learning disabled are being cared for by non-medical/non-nursing (lay) community home carers who are required to gain a working knowledge of epilepsy as well as a degree of proficiency in the first aid management of seizures and in the use of rectal diazepam. Medical and nursing staff involved in the care of adults with learning disability are now liable to be approached by lay care organisations for appropriate training. This article, therefore, will outline the training programme employed at Gogarburn Hospital to educate lay community care staff in general epilepsy awareness and in the administration of rectal diazepam to adults with learning disability and epilepsy. This programme could be adapted and implemented by colleagues in their own areas.

Administration, Rectal↗
PubMed1990

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.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Goodness of fit in the home: its relationship to school behavior and achievement in children with learning disabilities.

This study examined whether a "goodness of fit" theoretical model, applied to families with and without children with learning disabilities, would be valuable in understanding the children's performance in school. A home interview was conducted with 63 families with a child with learning disabilities and 53 families with a comparable child without learning disabilities. The mothers were asked to rate how their own child fit into the family's expectations for children. It was found that, for both groups of families, children who were rated as a "poor fit" in the home demonstrated less positive behavior in the classroom and poorer achievement over the elementary school years. There was some evidence that poor fit in the home was even more negatively related to outcomes for children with learning disabilities. Discussion is centered on the importance of this theoretical model for understanding the importance of the home on successful school function.

Achievement↗
PubMed2000

Adolescents with learning disabilities: risk and protective factors associated with emotional well-being: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

PURPOSE: To identify differences in emotional well-being among adolescents with and without learning disabilities and to identify risk and protective factors associated with emotional distress. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of adolescent in-home interview data of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. A total of 20,780 adolescents were included in this study of whom 1,301 were identified as having a learning disability. Initially, emotional distress, suicidal behaviors, and violence involvement were compared among those adolescents with and without learning disabilities using Student's t-test for the continuous or semicontinuous variables and Chi-square for the dichotomous variables. Subsequently, logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify which variables were most strongly associated with risk and protective factors for emotional distress. RESULTS: Adolescents with learning disabilities had twice the risk of emotional distress, and females were at twice the risk of attempting suicide and for violence involvement than their peers. While educational achievement is below that of peers, connectedness to school is comparable. So, too, is connectedness to parents. Connectedness to parents and school was identified as most strongly associated with diminished emotional distress, suicide attempts, and violence involvement among adolescents with learning disabilities. CONCLUSIONS: Given the increased association with emotional distress, suicidal attempts, and violence involvement, clinicians need to assess social and emotional as well as educational and physical functioning of these young people. We also need to be aware of the role protective factors play in the lives of young people with learning disabilities.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1984

WISC-R performance patterns of learning-disabled children from Papago culture.

Examined the WISC-R profiles of learning-disabled children from the Papago culture. A sample of 46 Papagos diagnosed as learning disabled were used in the study. Recategorized scores were subjected to 1 X 3 repeated measures ANOVA, and the differences between mean categorized scores were analyzed by Newman-Keuls tests for simple effects. Analysis of the obtained data suggested that learning-disabled Papago children were not characterized by Spatial greater than Conceptual greater than Sequential pattern because WISC-R performance of these children was found to be similar on Sequential and Spatial categories. Caution in the use of WISC-R profile for differential diagnosis was recommended.

Arizona↗
PubMed1980

[Learning disability: problems of definition and subject description (author's transl)].

There have been many discussions about both the term "learning disability" and the population group afflicted with this problem, which do not have a solid basis of understanding. This can be attributed to sevral factors, in particular: a) The term "learning disability" has its origin in school organisation and is somewhat clearly defined only within that framework and related fields. Hence, it is difficult to apply this term to other areas. b) In most cases, the term "learning disability" is used to describe highly heterogeneous phenomena, which are attributed to manifold and complex causal factors of mostly unknown origin. The following article discusses the difficulties arising in connectin with the use of this term. In addition, the term is studied from the educational, psychological, sociological and medical viewpoints. It seems to be necessary and useful, particularly with a view to the appropriate special educational and rehabilitative measures, to subdivide this heterogeneous disability group - as it can be found today in special schools for the learning disabled - into partial grous with different learning and performance levels.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Self-image and people with learning disabilities.

Self-image arises from a complex interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This article explores the importance of people with a learning disability attaining a positive self-image. It discusses the effect of society's perception of people with learning disabilities, and questions the willingness of the community to accept such people in a non-judgmental way. It argues that staff caring for this client group have a vital role to play in how people with learning disabilities are perceived by others and discusses the effects that a market philosophy (Fromm, 1978) and the popular media have on society regarding people with learning disabilities. Self-worth is important to everyone; however, the article concludes that a person with a learning disability is seriously disadvantaged in this respect. This aspect of care therefore requires insight, support and skills on the part of those healthcare professionals caring for this client group.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1994

An Italian perspective on learning disabilities.

The authors' experience derives from over 10 years of study of the neuropsychological characteristics of children with learning disabilities (LD) who were referred to a public children's hospital. Some sociocultural and linguistic aspects of children with learning disabilities in Italy, and in particular in the northeastern Friuli-Venetia-Julia region, are described. The role of bilingualism and the type of grapheme-phoneme correspondence in "standard" Italian are discussed in relation to learning disabilities. Legislative aspects, the roles of the school, hospitals, public field services, and private institutes, as well as the concern of parents of children with LD, are alos taken into account. According to the authors, Italy's major deficiencies with respect to the question of learning disabilities are (a) lack of a systematic study of the problem in order to increase general knowledge, (b) insufficient training of teachers and rehabilitators, and (c) inadequate legislation.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Cross-cultural working in community learning disabilities services: clinical issues, dilemmas and tensions.

BACKGROUND: People with learning disabilities from minority ethnic communities face many layers of disadvantage. Providing services that are culturally appropriate and sensitive can be difficult. METHOD: Through the use of clinical examples the issues, tensions and dilemmas raised for a community learning disabilities team in attempting to provide culturally sensitive services in an increasingly multicultural environment are discussed. Ways in which good practice can be more closely achieved are debated. CONCLUSIONS: Conflicts between the principal service values of individuality, choice, promotion of mental health and normalization, whilst also respecting the beliefs and values of other religions and cultures, can raise tensions and dilemmas for learning disabilities services. The importance of sensitive and appropriate service configuration, sharing of good practice, and good staff training are emphasized.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Education students' overestimation of the prevalence of learning disabilities.

A number of studies have suggested that educators overestimate the prevalence of learning disabilities in the schools. In this study, we found that 339 first- and second-year education students estimated the prevalence of learning disabilities to be four times higher than the upper limits of prevalence established by experts. Given that mislabelling students as 'learning disabled' may have negative consequences for them, the meaning, etiology, and prevalence of students' learning problems should be addressed by training institutions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Development and psychometric properties of the Glasgow Depression Scale for people with a Learning Disability. Individual and carer supplement versions.

BACKGROUND: There is no reliable and valid self-report measure of depressive symptoms for people with learning disabilities. AIMS: To develop a scale for individuals with learning disability, and a supplementary scale for carers. METHOD: Items were generated from a range of assessment scales and through focus groups. A draft scale was piloted and field tested using matched groups of people with or without depression, and their carers. The scale was also administered to a group without learning disabilities for criterion validation. RESULTS: The Glasgow Depression Scale for people with a Learning Disability (GDS-LD) differentiated depression and non-depression groups, correlated with the Beck Depression Inventory - II (r=0.88), had good test-retest reliability (r=0.97) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.90), and a cut-off score (13) yielded 96% sensitivity and 90% specificity. The Carer Supplement was also reliable (r=0.98; alpha=0.88), correlating with the GDS-LD (r=0.93). CONCLUSIONS: Both scales appear useful for screening, monitoring progress and contributing to outcome appraisal.

Adult↗