Early Reading and Math Developmental Trajectories: Examining Influences of Specific Learning Disabilities and Socioeconomic Status

This study examined the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and specific learning disability (SLD) on reading and math developmental trajectories from kindergarten through fifth grade in the ECLS-K:2011 dataset. Using a retrospective classification based on SLD status at the end of fifth grade, we compared reading and math skills at school entry and growth over time between children with SLD ( N = 540) and their peers without disabilities ( N = 8,650). Although most children with SLD were not identified until third grade or later, this group exhibited significantly lower academic skills at kindergarten entry and relatively stable group differences over time. Similarly, children from lower-SES backgrounds had lower reading and math skills at school entry and their growth trajectories were largely parallel to their higher-SES peers. There were few significant interactions between SLD and SES in reading: The effect of SES on reading growth was evident only at the start of schooling, and was larger for students without disabilities than students with SLD. There were no significant SLD × SES interactions in math. Thus, although SLD and low SES were both risk factors for low performance, the intersection of risk did not qualitatively reshape developmental trajectories.