Abstract

It is often assumed that children with learning disabilities (LD) exhibit unique profiles of ability scores that reflect idiosyncratic cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Interpretation of cognitive ability profiles initially focused on visual inspection of subtest scores followed by statistical comparisons to identify significant cognitive strengths and weaknesses. However, subsequent research demonstrated that these subtest profiles lacked sufficient reliability, validity, and diagnostic utility. Profile research typically utilized variable-centered methods, but person-centered methods might be more appropriate. The present study utilized latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered method that is model-based and flexible, with 1,830 school-identified students with LD and 2,200 simulated normative participants. Four broad ability score profiles distinguished by level rather than shape emerged. Thus, this latent mixture model analysis found no mixture of subpopulations, suggesting that WISC-IV score variation was due to underlying continuous latent factors rather than a typology unique to LD.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1919923

Impact Statement

It is often assumed that children with learning disabilities (LD) exhibit unique profiles of ability test scores that reflect idiosyncratic cognitive strengths and weaknesses. However, this person-centered analysis found no profile of ability scores distinctive of children with LD. These results suggest that cognitive test scores may vary due to underlying continuous latent factors rather than a typology unique to LD.

摘要

人们通常认为有学习障碍 (LD) 的儿童表现出独特的能力得分概况，反映了特殊的认知优势和劣势。认知能力概况的解释最初侧重于对子测试分数的视觉检查，然后进行统计比较以确定显着的认知优势和劣势。然而，随后的研究表明，这些子测试配置文件缺乏足够的可靠性、有效性和诊断效用。概况研究通常使用以变量为中心的方法，但以人为中心的方法可能更合适。本研究利用潜在概况分析 (LPA)，这是一种以人为中心的方法，基于模型且灵活，有 1,830 名学校认定的 LD 学生和 2,200 名模拟规范参与者。出现了四种按水平而不是形状区分的广泛能力得分概况。因此，这种潜在的混合模型分析没有发现亚群的混合，这表明 WISC-IV 评分变化是由于潜在的连续潜在因素而不是 LD 独有的类型。

本文的补充数据可在线获取 https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1919923

影响陈述

通常假设有学习障碍 (LD) 的儿童表现出独特的能力测试分数概况，反映了特殊的认知优势和劣势。然而，这种以人为中心的分析没有发现 LD 儿童的能力得分特征。这些结果表明，认知测试分数可能由于潜在的连续潜在因素而不是 LD 独有的类型而有所不同。