Are There Cognitive Profiles Unique to Students With Learning Disabilities? A Latent Profile Analysis of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fourth Edition Scores

Abstract

It is often assumed that children with learning disabilities (LD) exhibit unique profiles of ability scores that reflect idiosyncratic cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Interpretation of cognitive ability profiles initially focused on visual inspection of subtest scores followed by statistical comparisons to identify significant cognitive strengths and weaknesses. However, subsequent research demonstrated that these subtest profiles lacked sufficient reliability, validity, and diagnostic utility. Profile research typically utilized variable-centered methods, but person-centered methods might be more appropriate. The present study utilized latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered method that is model-based and flexible, with 1,830 school-identified students with LD and 2,200 simulated normative participants. Four broad ability score profiles distinguished by level rather than shape emerged. Thus, this latent mixture model analysis found no mixture of subpopulations, suggesting that WISC-IV score variation was due to underlying continuous latent factors rather than a typology unique to LD. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1919923 Impact Statement It is often assumed that children with learning disabilities (LD) exhibit unique profiles of ability test scores that reflect idiosyncratic cognitive strengths and weaknesses. However, this person-centered analysis found no profile of ability scores distinctive of children with LD. These results suggest that cognitive test scores may vary due to underlying continuous latent factors rather than a typology unique to LD.