Purpose: This study aimed to explore how reading, mathematics, and writing difficulties in students with learning disabilities are structured and whether a general academic factor coexists with domain-specific factors.
Design/methodology/data/approach...
Purpose: This study aimed to explore how reading, mathematics, and writing difficulties in students with learning disabilities are structured and whether a general academic factor coexists with domain-specific factors.
Design/methodology/data/approach: For this study, 60 students with learning disabilities in Grades 2-6 were assessed in reading, mathematics, and writing, and the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and bifactor model analysis.
Findings/Results: The CFA results supported a 6-factor model, demonstrating that the structure of learning disability subtypes can be represented by six correlated latent factors: word recognition, reading fluency, reading comprehension, number sense, computation, and spelling. A bifactor model analysius, based on the 6-factor model, supported the coexistence of a general academic factor as well as domain-specific factors for word recognition, reading fluency, number sense, and computation.
Value: This study attempted to provide evidence that heterogeneity in learning disabilities can reflect the interplay between difficulties in general academic factor and difficulties specific to subdomains of reading, mathematics, and writing. Implications for the definition, identification, and instruction for students with learning disabilities, limitations of this study, and directions for future research were discussed.