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Applying Objective Diagnostic Criteria to Students in a College Support Program for Learning Disabilities

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Learning Disability Quarterly

Published online on

Abstract

This study examined whether a large group of postsecondary students participating in a support program for students classified as having learning disabilities (LD) met criteria for five objective diagnostic models for LD: IQ-achievement discrepancy (1.0 SD, 1.5 SD, and >2.0 SD) models, a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) model, and an academic impairment model. The participants were 336 postsecondary students enrolled in a private liberal arts college who had been previously classified as having LD prior to entering the program. Results showed that the largest proportion of students met the 1.0 SD (48.8%) and the absolute academic impairment (40.2%) criteria. However, 40.5% of the participants were not classified as having LD by any of the five models. Participants exhibited remarkable variability in their aptitude and achievement scores, with mean composite achievement scores ranging from the very low to the average ranges in reading, mathematics, and writing, depending on the achievement test used. The findings of this study and others suggest that little information about a student’s academic skills is likely to be conveyed by a diagnosis of LD, leading to great heterogeneity in skill levels within LD support programs.