Error Monitoring of Schoolwork by Learning Disabled Adolescents

Abstract

Considerable current research and theory regarding learning disabilities concern the role of possible attentional deficits. Critical among the many sources of information in the learning situation is the correctness of the learner's own response — monitoring one's own errors provides the basis for their elimination. Using a sophisticated research paradigm, described in some detail, the authors examine how learning disabled children notice their own errors compared to the process used by their normal-learning peers. — G.M.S. Monitoring on some school-related tasks (editing, writing, spelling, and synonyms) was studied in learning disabled and normal adolescents. Signal detection was used to conceptualize the monitoring process. While learning disabled and normal students appeared to use similar and appropriate criteria for detecting errors in externally generated material, the learning disabled students were less willing to call an element an error in material they produced themselves. It is suggested that external monitoring done by the teacher while the student is doing his work teaches monitoring better than correcting errors after the work is completed.