Sociodemographic risk factors and WISC-IV cognitive profile in children with specific learning disorder: a case-control study

Specific learning disorder (SLD) stems from genetic, environmental, and cognitive factors; however, their relative contributions and the diagnostic validity of cognitive measures remain unclear. This case-control study compared 35 children aged 8–12 diagnosed with SLD according to DSM-5-TR criteria with 35 healthy controls of comparable age and sex. Sociodemographic characteristics, developmental history, and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–IV (WISC-IV) profiles were examined using t-tests, chi-square analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, and Firth-penalized logistic regression. Children with SLD scored significantly lower on all WISC-IV indices, with large effect sizes (Cohen’s d = 0.84–1.39). These differences were maintained after adjusting for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Among the four factor indices, the Working Memory Index had the highest discriminatory power (AUC = 0.805). Four independent predictors—age at first sentence production, a family history of SLD, maternal education below college, and the absence of regular extracurricular activities—explained 78.0% of the variance and yielded an 88.6% classification accuracy. These findings indicate that genetic predisposition, environmental disadvantage, and early language delay converge in SLD risk and support working memory assessment as a clinically useful diagnostic indicator.