Two issues regarding the cognitive skills of learning disabled children are investigated: (1) logical thinking on tasks comprising physical and social materials and (2) the relationship between performance on these two measures. Learning disabled (n = 28) and normal achieving (n = 28) 8- and 9-year-old boys, approximately equated on the variables of IQ, age, and socioeconomic status, were administered three conservation tasks and Flavell's measure of cognitive role-taking. No performance differences were found between the two groups. However, conservation and role-taking ability were significantly related in the normal group but not in the learning disabled group. These results are discussed in terms of the criteria used to identify learning disabled children and the structure of their intellect.
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