Partitioning and Unitizing in Children with Learning Differences

Seven- to 13-year-old children of average intelligence who were (a) learning disabled (LD, n=42) and (b) not identified as learning disabled (NLD, n=42) were individually tested in a task that investigated the quality of their logical-mathematical structures of thought. Mathematical knowledge was additionally assessed on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised (WJTA-R). Students in both groups generated grouping relationships in their solutions; however, children with LD tended to generate solutions suggestive of less coordinated structures of thought than their same-aged peers with NLD. They also performed significantly below same-aged peers on the WJTA-R, although they achieved approximately at age-level expectancy on this task. For both groups, scores on the WJTA-R were inflated relative to the quality of operational thought structures demonstrated on the task investigating the quality of grouping relationships deduced. Diagnostic and remedial implications are discussed.