Related Experiment Videos
Minor physical anomalies: relation to later achievement
1Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22903.
Insights
A congenital factor contributing to distractibility in children is linked to learning disabilities. This factor, identifiable early in life, may stem from information processing deficits affecting attention and schema formation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Many school-age children exhibit distractibility, a trait often associated with learning disabilities.
- A congenital factor influencing distractibility has been identified and linked to academic achievement and learning disability.
- This congenital factor can be assessed early in life via a brief examination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the nature of a congenital contributor to distractibility in children.
- To investigate the relationship between this congenital factor, information processing, and learning disability.
- To examine potential indirect effects on learning through peer relations.
Main Methods:
- Assessment of a congenital contributor to distractibility from neonatal to early school-age periods.
- Evaluation of information processing characteristics, including attention waning and schema formation.
- Analysis of the association between the congenital factor and peer relations.
Main Results:
- A congenital contributor to distractibility is identifiable early in life.
- This factor appears related to information processing defects, such as altered attention patterns.
- The congenital characteristic may also impact learning disability through its association with peer relationships.
Conclusions:
- A congenital factor influencing distractibility is a significant consideration in understanding learning disabilities.
- Information processing deficits, evident from infancy, may underlie this congenital contributor.
- The interplay between congenital distractibility, peer relations, and classroom engagement warrants further investigation.
Abstract:
A substantial number of school-age children with learning disability are characterized as being distractible, and there is a congenital contributor to distractibility that has shown relation to school achievement, and to learning disability in particular. This congenital contributor can be assessed at any time from the neonatal through the early school-age period by a 10-minute examination. It seems likely that the basis for the congenital contributor to learning disability is an information processing defect that appears as early as the first year of life in the form of a rapid waning of attention when tired, an overly slow waning when in a rested state, and a failure to form cognitive schemas from perceptual input in either case. The congenital characteristic could also affect learning disability by its association with less than optimal peer relations. The latter could, in turn, affect the child's link to the classroom learning situation.