A Longitudinal Study of LD Children's Self-Evaluations

Abstract

Developmental patterns of school-identified learning disabled (LD) and normally achieving (NA) students' responses to the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (PCSC) were investigated in this longitudinal study. Relative to the NA group, LD children were more negative about themselves; however, their self-evaluations did not become more negative over a two-year interval. Analysis of response patterns across PCSC subscales suggested that most of the LD sample was not appropriately characterized by persistent, globally negative self-evaluations. A subgroup of LD children who were very negative about themselves at both test administrations was identified. The characteristics of this subgroup were subsequently examined.