Abstract

Eighty subjects with Learning Disability (LD) and 350 normal children of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade, matched for school level, were compared as speaker and listener skills using a referential communication task. Reading speed and vocabulary level, both in production and in comprehension, were evaluated as control measures on alll subjects. The results show that listener performance in the 3rd grade was significantly poorer in LD children compared to normal children, whereas in 4th and 5th grades LD children reached the same performance of matched control, in comprehension as well as in production. In the 6th grade learning disabled subjects's comprehension was poorer again, showing a certain level of instability in their communicative performance.