Learning Disability Discrepancy Formulas: Their Use in Actual Practice

Commonly accepted definitions of learning disability require the presence of a significant discrepancy between a child's potential and his/her achievement. Eight commonly used “discrepancy” formulas were applied to the IQ and achievement scores of a sample of 92 potentially learning disabled youngsters. Extremely variable results were found depending on the formula used. Implications of these findings for actual practice are suggested.