Is Minimal Strategy Instruction Sufficient for LD Children? -Testing the Production Deficiency Hypothesis

Abstract

To test a production deficiency view of learning disabilities, the performance of learning disabled and normally achieving children given minimal instruction to use organizing strategies was compared to the performance of students engaged only in practice with a free recall task. Groups were selected as having equivalent pretest recall. On a posttest where strategy use was not prompted, the instructed group showed higher levels of strategy use than the control group. No differences were found between learning disabled and normally achieving subjects' strategy use. The instructed group recalled more than the control group. In contrast to predictions based on a production deficiency hypothesis, learning disabled groups recalled less than the normally achieving group. Factors that may have contributed to this finding are discussed.