Immediate recall fo semantically varied "sentences" by learning-disabled adolescents

The immediate recall of 20 semantically and syntactically varied sentences was assessed and compared for 30 learning-disabled and 30 academically achieving adolescents. Learning-disabled adolescents repeated significantly fewer of the sentences verbatim than their achieving age peers. They exhibited significant reductions in the recall of sentences which violated semantic (selectional) rules, contained correctly and incorrectly sequenced modifier-strings, contained a random word-setting, or were syntactically complex. Perseveration errors occured more frequently among the learning-disabled adolescents than among the achievers and inter-sentence perseverative errors were exhibited only by those who were learning disabled. The rank order of difficulty for the sentences agreed for the two groups, suggesting primarily quantitative reductions in the immediate recall by the learning-disabled adolescents. The findings suggest that learning-disabled adolescents depend heavily upon semantic aspects for language processing, experience immediate memory and sequencing problems for modifier-strings, and exhibit a prevalence of interfering perseverative responses.