Visual and Auditory Learning Processes in Normal Children and Children with Specific Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The study was intended to describe and compare the psychosensory functioning of normal children and children with specific learning disabilities. Each of these children was given an automated battery of 13 psychosensory tests representing various combinations of auditory and visual intra and intersensory conditions for verbal, nonverbal-nonsocial, and nonverbal-social stimuli. On the psychosensory evaluation the learning disability groups made significantly more errors on the verbal psychosensory functions, regardless of the sensory conditions. The learning disability group also performed these tasks more slowly than normal children in nearly every comparison.