Learning Disabilities Do Not Go Away: 20- to 25-Year Study of Cognition, Academic Achievement, and Affective Illness

Abstract

This study was undertaken to establish how the current level of cognitive and academic functioning in adults might correlate with the previous testing performed at a small private school in Dallas, Texas, that serves students with learning disabilities. Each of the 40 participants had been evaluated as students 20 to 25 years previously using the standard cognitive and achievement tests accepted in practice during the 1970s. Additionally, the medical director of the school, a neurologist, had evaluated each student for neurologic and behavioral disorders. At the time of follow-up, the participants were administered a battery of intellectual and achievement measures commensurate with the previous testing and a detailed neurologic and neurobehavioral examination was performed. A significant correlation was found between the original and the current test scores, confirming both that learning disabilities persist into adulthood and that children with affective illness have a significant risk for later recurrent affective illness episodes.