The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents

Speed of responding in different domains (handwriting, coding, naming, and simple text reading) was compared in two samples of adolescents with learning disabilities. In both samples, speed measures were significantly interrelated. Slowness was more characteristic of students with generalized basic skill deficits (reading, spelling, and arithmetic) than of those with single achievement deficits. Phonological decoding skill and naming speed (sample 2 only) were not correlated. Poor decoders were poor word list readers, whether or not slow namers, whereas slow namers were poor in arithmetic and were slow readers, whether or not poor decoders. The relation between slow naming/reading and weakness in arithmetical calculation merits further study in learning-disabled students. It is suggested that slowness impedes automatization in reading, spelling, and arithmetic.