Year: 2010
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND & AIMS: We tested the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) hypothesis that so-called specific developmental disorders are marked by a pattern of specific discrepant achievement, and an alternative hypothesis that children with these disorders show a pattern of relatively pervasive low achievement. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Children with a diagnosis of Mixed Receptive Expressive Language Disorder (RELD; n = 21) were compared with children with no previously suspected disorder but low standard language scores ( < 80; n = 22) selected from a representative sample, and children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD; n = 20) were compared with children with no previously suspected disorder but low standard motor skills scores (n = 28) selected from a representative sample. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Children with diagnosed disorders were more pervasive underachievers. The RELD group obtained lower scores on measures of verbal comprehension, emotion understanding, theory of mind, working memory and response inhibition; the DCD group obtained lower scores on measures of perceptual organization, verbal comprehension, receptive and expressive language, and visual inspection time. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: We conclude that relatively pervasive underachievement distinguishes disordered from normal low achievers.
Authors: Murray Dyck, Jan Piek
Institutions: Griffith University, Curtin University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2000759501