An Abstraction Test for Normal and Learning Disabled Children

Abstract

The performance of 18 neurocognitively impaired learning disabled children on visual abstraction was compared to that of 20 intact learning disabled controls and 20 normals. The normals were matched for age and IQ to the imact LD group. The Abstraction Test for Children was specifically developed and standardized as the measure of abstraction. To control for IQ differences between groups, a difference of differences method was employed. The result indicated that, relative to IQ, neurocognitively impaired LD children are not specifically deficient in abstraction. Lastly, it was found that Block Design and abstraction are not highly correlated in the LD population, suggesting that these two constructs are relatively independent of one another in atypical populations.

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