Learning Disabilities: Article Summaries & Information

What constitutes a learning disability?

According to the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD), "Learning disabilities is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical skills. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual and presumed to be due to a central nervous system dysfunction, and may occur across the life span. Problems in self-regulatory behaviors, social perception, and social interaction may exist with the learning disabilities but do not, by themselves, constitute a learning disability. Although learning disabilities may occur concomitantly with other disabilities (e.g., sensory impairment, mental retardation, serious emotional disturbance), or with extrinsic influences (such as cultural differences, insufficient or inappropriate instruction), they are not the result of those conditions or influences."

For additional information on how learning disabilities are diagnosed, please visit the NJCLD web site at http://www.ldonline.org/njcld.

What research exists about extended time on tests for students with learning disabilities?

The following articles have been summarized to provide information about extended test time for students with learning disabilities. This list is not exhaustive. For additional details of the studies, the readers should obtain the actual articles.

Weaver, S. M. (2000). "The efficacy of extended time on tests for postsecondary students with learning disabilities." Learning disabilities, 10, 47-56.

Extended time on tests is a frequently used accommodation for postsecondary students with learning disabilities. University and community college students both with and without learning disabilities were administered the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory under the following timing conditions: timed, extended time, and untimed. Statistical analysis revealed that students with learning disabilities showed significant gains in test scores over students without learning disabilities when given extended time or untimed testing conditions.

Runyan, M. K. (1991). "The effect of extra time on reading comprehension scores for university students with and without learning disabilities." Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24, 104 - 108.

Thirty-one students attending the University of California were administered the Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension and Reading Rate Test under timed and extra-time conditions. Of this sample, 16 students had diagnosed learning disabilities and 15 students were identified as normally achieving. Percentile ranks were obtained for both reading rates and comprehension scores under timed and extra-time conditions. The major findings of this study were that normally achieving students performed significantly better than students with learning disabilities under timed conditions but when students with learning disabilities were given extra time, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. In addition, normally achieving students did not perform significantly better with extra time.

Alster, E. H. (1997). "The effects of extended time on algebra test scores for college students with and without learning disabilities." Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30, 222-227.

Forty-four community college students with learning disabilities and forty-four community college students without learning disabilities each took an algebra test under timed conditions and a comparable test under extended-time conditions. The results were that: (i) the students with learning disabilities scored lower than the students without learning disabilities under timed conditions, (ii) the scores of the students with learning disabilities improved under extended-time conditions, and (iii) the scores of the students with learning disabilities under extended-time conditions did not differ significantly from the timed or extended-time scores of the students without learning disabilities.

Hayes, F. B., Hynd, G. W., & Wisenbaker, J. (1986). "Learning disabled and normal college students' performance on reaction time and speeded classification tasks. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 39-43.

Groups of 24 learning disabled and 24 non learning disabled college students were presented with a series of four tasks involving visually presented stimuli and classification tasks. Response time was measured for each subject. The results showed that learning disabled students were slower and had more variability on the classification tasks than the non learning disabled students. However, the two groups did not differ on the visual reaction time test. Differences are suggested to be due to central nervous system dysfunction among the learning disabled.

How can high school students with learning disabilities prepare for the transition to college?

The following paper provides advice for high school students with learning disabilities in preparation for college.

Barr, V. M., Hartman, R. C., & Spillane, S. A. (1995). Getting ready for college: Advising high school students with learning disabilities. Washington, DC: Heath Resource Center of the American Council on Education.

High school students with learning disabilities who are considering pursuing college are encouraged to pursue this goal. In order to be successful, this paper addresses developing self knowledge, understanding legal rights and responsibilities, transition planning for college, and the college application process. Additional resources are also included.