Strategy Choice by LD Children with Good and Poor Naming Ability in a Naturalistic Memory Situation

Abstract

The strategies chosen by two subgroups of second-grade LD children with short-term memory problems, but with differences in naming facility, were compared to the strategies chosen by same-age and younger nondisabled children in a real-life memory situation. The LD subjects with poor naming abilities demonstrated selected strategy failures; their strategies were interpreted to reflect a compensatory approach to the task. The LD subjects with good naming abilities demonstrated more generalized strategy failures, resembling those evidenced by younger nondisabled learners. Both groups of LD subjects were more proficient in spontaneous production of memory strategies that made minimal demands on verbal coding processes than strategies that made heavy demands on verbal representation and control. The results indicate that the LD children were not inactive; however, the strategies they favored tended to be less effective than those used by same-age, normal-learning children.