3-086 - Specificity in Learning Disorders: Cognitive Profiles and Self-Concept

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

There is ample evidence that learning disorders are caused by several cognitive deficits: Lower intelligence, short-term and working memory deficits, visual and phonological information processing deficits, slow processing speed and other cognitive factors are being discussed with regard to their significance for learning disorders. In recent years there is a growing body of evidence for specific causal factors underlying specific learning disorders (for example, specific working memory deficits are associated with dyslexia, dyscalculia or mixed disorders of scholastic skills; Schuchardt, Maehler, & Hasselhorn, 2008).
In this symposium, we focus on the specificity of learning disorders in primary school children from three perspectives: First, the distinctiveness of cognitive profiles (concerning phonological awareness, naming speed, working memory, and verbal as well as visual short-term memory) in children with various subtypes of learning disorders is analyzed using latent class analysis. Results reveal specific cognitive profiles for some subtypes, and considerable overlap for others. Second, a closer look on mathematical difficulties yields insights into specific working memory deficits (visual-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop sensu Baddeley, 1986) with regard to different mathematical domains (arithmetic, geometry, word problems). Third and beyond the cognitive profiles, domain-specific vs. domain-general self-concept deficits of children with various subtypes of learning disorders are being analyzed, and again results show clear specificity of self-concepts. The discussion will concentrate on consequences for diagnosis and intervention especially against the background of the novel classification system DSM-5 that gave up the conceptualization of learning disorders as distinct diagnostic entities.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Chair

• Claudia Maehler, University of Hildesheim

Discussant

• Karin Landerl, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

Individual Presentations

• Profiling Cognitive Strengths and Weaknesses in Children with Learning Disorders: A Latent Class Analysis - Presenting Author: Janin Brandenburg, German Institute for International Educational Research; Gerhard Büttner, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany; Marcus Hasselhorn, 1) German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Germany

• Phonological loop and visual spatial sketchpad: Relations to mathematical difficulties and to different mathematical domains - Presenting Author: Dietmar Grube, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg; Jenny Busch, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany; Claudia Schmidt, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany

• The Academic Self-Concept of Children with Learning Difficulties: A Developmental Perspective - Presenting Author: Claudia Maehler, University of Hildesheim; Kirsten Schuchardt, University Hildesheim