Child Abuse and Neglect in Children Referred for Learning Evaluation

During the 1977-78 school year, 430 children from the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, were referred to a central school problem clinic for evaluation of learning problems. The proportion of these children (6.7%) who had been independently reported to the state child abuse agency was compared, after age adjustment, to the rate of such reporting for all children on the island and was found to be 3.5 times higher. The types of abuse and/or neglect reported were similar for the children with learning problems and for other island children. These findings strengthen the argument for a link between child maltreatment and developmental disabilities.