The license plate test performance in Canadian adolescents with learning disabilities: A preliminary study

Abstract

Accurate identification of symptom exaggeration is essential when determining whether data obtained in pediatric evaluations are valid or interpretable. Performance validity measures identify performance patterns that are implausible if the test taker is investing full effort; however, it is unclear whether or not persons with preexisting cognitive difficulties such as Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) might be falsely accused of poor test motivation due to actual but impaired reading, processing or memory skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the newly developed License Plate Test (LPT) performance in students with identified SLD providing good effort, to examine the influence of severe reading or learning problems on LPT performance. Participants were 29 students with SLDs aged 11–14 years (M = 12.1), who completed psycho-educational assessments as part of a transition program to secondary school. Results indicate that recognition memory measures on the LPT were insensitive to cognitive impairments in these children; all students achieved scores of 80% or higher on these tasks. Performance was more variable as test demands of the LPT increased, and the difference between performance on easy and hard subtests was related to greater difficulties with working memory. These results provide preliminary data regarding how children with SLD perform on the LPT, allowing for development of appropriate cut scores to maximize sensitivity and specificity of this test for use with child and adolescent populations.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• assessment
• learning disabilities
• validity tests

Notes

1 The Ontario Ministry of Education classifies individuals as Learning Disabled as “having a learning disorder evident in both academic and social situations that involves one or more of the processes necessary for the proper use of spoken language or the symbols of communication, and that is characterized by a condition that: (1) Is not primarily the result of impairment of vision, impairment of hearing, physical disability, developmental disability, primary emotional disturbance, or cultural difference; (2) results in a significant discrepancy between academic achievement and assessed intellectual ability, with deficits in one or more of the following: receptive language (listening, reading), language processing (thinking, conceptualizing, integrating), expressive language (talking, spelling, writing), or mathematical computations; and (3) may be associated with one or more conditions diagnosed as: a perceptual handicap, a brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia.” (Taken from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/adaptivetech/Special_Ed/Communication_Exceptionality/Learning_Disability/index.html.)