A Distinctive Growth Cure for a Group of Children with Academic Learning Problems

An examination of physical growth was made for 46 school-aged twin children reported as having academic difficulties. Compared with matched controls, these children were found to have had a relatively slower rate of gain in weight during the first two years of life. Chronic or acute disease did not seem to account for the downward deflection in growth. The results suggest that appraisals of children with learning disabilities take into account deflections from growth parameters. I n recent years the growing concerns about academic failures have led to an increased interest in developing systematic procedures to identify, prior to formal schooling, those children who are "at risk " for experiencing difficulties with academic work. Toward this end, Matheny, Dolan, and Wilson (1976) examined the preschool developmental histories of an index group of 46 children identified b