Subtyping children's learning disabilities with neuropsychological, intellectual, and achievement measures

The present study was an effort to subtype children's learning disabilities empirically. A review of the literature was presented with a focus on current and historical subtyping attempts. A cluster analysis was performed on 1,144 school-age learning disabled children who had completed extensive neuropsychological, intellectual, and achievement measures. Four interpretable clusters emerged which were seen as (1) Verbal-Sequential-Arithmetic Deficits, (2) Motor Speed and Cognitive Flexibility Deficits, (3) Mixed Language/Perceptual Deficits and (4) No Deficit Subtype. Not only did these clusters indicate unique profiles for each subtype across the sample, but developmental differences were also apparent between all four clusters. The current investigations suggested the utility of an empirical-neuropsychological approach to subtyping children's learning disabilities, while also portraying the importance of neurodevelopmental considerations of subtypes.