Characteristics of Children Labeled and Served as Learning Disabled in School Systems Affiliated With Child Service Demonstration Centers

Intake placement data were collected from the files of 1,966 students labeled and served as learning disabled in Child Service Demonstration Centers (CSDC) in 22 states. The information included achievement and IQ data, age, and grade. The mean age was 11.83 years and the mean IQ was 92.5. There appeared to be a lack of consistency in the characteristics of students labeled learning disabled. Younger students were much less severely underachieving than were older students. Significant differences were found among CSDCs in mean IQ and in the percentage of students meeting an arbitrary criterion of severe discrepancy. In addition, 54% of the CSDCs included students whose IQs were at or below 69. The results seem to indicate that a heterogeneous, ill-defined population of students is being labeled as learning disabled.