عملکرد توجه در افراد جوان با ناتوانی های یادگیری

The Test of Everyday Attention (TEA) was used to assess visual selective attention, attentional switching, sustained attention, and auditory–verbal working memory in students with nondyslexic learning disability (LD group) and matched controls. The group comparison revealed a significantly weaker performance in the LD group. Analysis of subtest-specific scaled scores further indicated great individual differences in the performance pattern. Thus, in each student with LD, we found normal performance in at least two subtests, while other subcomponents where severely impaired. The study supports the idea of differential attention deficits in the learning disabled, and suggests individual patterns of “strengths and weaknesses.” Taking the relationship of attention and learning into account, this finding is important with respect to the design of individual learning programs and the teaching techniques chosen for the acquisition of skills and knowledge.