A Comparison of Formal Features of Written Language of Learning Disabled, Low-Achieving and Achieving Secondary Students

This research was published by the KU Center for Research on Learning, formerly known as the University of Kansas Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities.The written language characteristics of 26 learning disabled (LD), 26 low-achieving (LA) and 26 achieving (ACH) students in grades 7 through 10 were measured using paragraph-writing and topic-sentence tasks. findings indicated that only spelling discriminates LD--students from the pool of low-achieving students demonstrating average intellectual functioning. Results further disclosed that LD students differ from achieving students on four formal features of written language