The Role of Nonspecific Factors in the Task Performance of Learning Disabled Children

A review of recent research on the development of memory, attention, perception, and learning provides support for a new interpretation of the learning disabled child's failure to perform normally in a variety of task settings. Learning failure in these children has often been attributed to the existence of discrete and specific disabilities in a variety of psychological processes necessary for learning. In the context of research from developmental psychology, however, the poor performance of learning disabled children on many tasks suggests that they may not have developed the cognitive and emotional characteristics necessary to adapt to the requirements of a task and to use active and efficient task strategies. This view has important implications for both research and treatment.