Analogical problem solving in children with verbal and nonverbal learning disabilities

Analogical reasoning--perceiving similarities in different situations and the transfer of such information--facilitates learning and understanding. However, children with learning disabilities (LD) typically demonstrate deficits in such information processing strategies. In this study, we investigated the analogical problem-solving differences between children with verbal learning disabilities (VLD), nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), or non-LD. Results indicated better recall of component stories by children without disabilities but no significant differences between the NLD and VLD participants. However, the success rate for target problem solving was much lower for the NLD group than for the VLD and non-LD groups. The poor performance of the NLD children may be attributed to some of their characteristic weaknesses, critical for analogical problem solving. Yet the VLD group was significantly weaker in recall than the non-LD group, but this did not hamper their analogical problem-solving abilities. These findings confirm that analogical thinking requires more than memory.