Cognitive Strategies Used by Learning Disabled Children

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Abstract
The maturity and style of problem solving of learning disabled children was compared to that of children not learning disabled. Of the LD group, those labeled as hyperactive were compared with those without such a label. Thirty-one children participated in the study. Each child was administered several tests of intellectual functioning, conceptual tempo, conservation, and conceptual strategy, the emphasis being on assessment of their cognitive style rather than on their acquisition of new information or the use of attentional skill. Teachers rated each child on a variety of behavioral, emotional, and social scales. Results indicated that LD children performed less well than the non-LD children on tasks requiring internal strategies or plans. With one exception, hyperactive and nonhyperactive LD children performed similarly; the hyperactive LD children did use a less mature strategy than the nonhyperactive LD children in one conceptual style task. Across groups, children with more behavioral problems also were children who used less mature cognitive strategies.