Relationships among academic, neuropsychological, and intellectual status in subtypes of adults with learning disability

Abstract

A study was conducted of 102 adults with learning disability for the purposes of (1) contrasting a rule-based with an empirical method of classification into subtypes based on academic achievement levels in reading and arithmetic; and (2) examining cognitive profiles obtained with the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) associated with each of the rule and empirically based subtypes. Both similarities and differences were found between classification methods. Both methods indicated that specific reading disability was associated with the most impaired cognitive profiles of the three subtypes identified. However, they did not agree concerning cognitive profiles of subtypes, characterised by a specific arithmetic deficit or a global deficit. It was found that both the Lurid-Nebraska and WAIS-R profiles distinguished among subtypes more by pattern than by level of performance.

Neuropsychological Differences Between College Students with Learning Disabilities and Those with Mild Head Injury

“…In the case of the students with LD, as expected, tests of language ability and psychomotor speed were the best discriminators between the subjects with LD and the controls. The present findings would confirm those of other studies showing that the cognitive characteristics of LD are not necessarily outgrown by adolescence, but may persist into adulthood (Goldstein, 1990;Goldstein et al, 1993;McCue & Goldstein, 1991;Spreen, 1987;Spreen & Haaf, 1986). These results also support the work of Reiff and deFur (1992) and others (Axelrod & Zvi, 1992;Cordoni et al, 1981;Morris & Walter, 1991), who studied college students in particular and found that students with LD continued to experience difficulties in selected academic areas.…”

“…The choice of the various tests reflects findings related to MHI (Kane, 1991;Miller, 1986) and LD (Goldstein, 1990;Goldstein, Katz, Slomka, & Kelly, 1993;McCue & Goldstein, 1991;Rourke, 1989). Because MHI research indicates that the deficits often increase as a function of task complexity or demand (e.g., Gulbrandsen, 1984), we selected relatively complex neuropsychological measures within each functional domain.…”

“…The heterogeneous nature of the LD group is indicated by the lack of significant discrepancies between Verbal and Performance IQs. Subsequent analyses of the individual profiles using the criteria developed by Rourke (1989) and modified by Goldstein et al (1993) indicated that 16 students had a Type 1, or global, learning disability, 16 had a Type 2, or nonverbal, learning disability, and 3 had a Type 3, or reading and spelling, learning disability.…”

A Comparison of WAIS-R Profiles in Adults With High-Functioning Autism or Differing Subtypes of Learning Disability

“…Individuals with acquired academic deficits (e.g., acquired alexia) were excluded. This sample was utilized in several other studies (Goldstein, Katz, Slomka, & Kelly, 1993;Katz, Goldstein, Rudisin, & Bailey, 1993) where more detail concerning the establishment of the diagnoses is provided. To summarize, all participants met both DSM-III-R and State of Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation requirements for an LD diagnosis.…”

Identifying Needs-Based Groupings Among People Accessing Intellectual Disability Services

“…Moving from ASD with a range of intellectual ability to focus exclusively on ID, Goldstein, Katz, Slomka, and Kelly (1993) derived three clusters from 102 sequential adult referrals for ID assessment/treatment (mean age 24.6 years). Referrals were all made for some form of employment support which, in conjunction with a mean IQ of 88 in the sample, again suggests relatively high functioning and a likely lack of generalizability.…”