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Gender Differences in Intelligence, Language, Visual-Motor Abilities, and Academic Achievement in Students with Learning Disabilities

A Review of the Literature

Susan A. Vogel, PhD, is professor and head of the Department of Special Education, Eastern Michigan University. She received her PhD in communicative disorders from Northwestern University in 1971. The founding editor of Learning Disabilities Focus, she also serves as a consulting editor for the Journal of Learning Disabilities and several other journals, and is on the board of directors of the Orton Dyslexia Society and the advisory board of HEATH (Higher Education and Adult Training for People with Handicaps). Her research interests focus on oral and written language disorders and gender differences in individuals with learning disabilities, with special attention to adolescents and adults in college and beyond. Address: Susan A. Vogel, PhD, Department of Special Education, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197.

A substantial body of research confirms higher verbal ability in normally achieving females and higher visual-spatial and mathematical abilities in normally achieving males. However, the specific nature of these differences varies by age, specific measure, magnitude, and variability within the groups. Re-analysis of earlier research showed that, although differences in visual-spatial ability were larger than verbal ability differences, gender differences did not account for more than 1% to 5% of the group variance. In the population with learning disabilities (LD), research must be interpreted cautiously because LD samples were drawn mainly from the system-identified population and may reflect selection bias. Findings indicate that system-identified females with LD are lower in IQ, have more severe academic achievement deficits in some aspects of reading and math, and are somewhat better in visual-motor abilities, spelling, and written language mechanics than males with LD. In mathematics, however, it is difficult to document consistent differences in computational skills in the elementary school ages. More consistent findings, however, indicate superiority in mathematical reasoning in males with LD. A limited number of studies on research-identified samples indicate that findings from studies of school-identified LD samples must be interpreted cautiously because females with LD identified in the schools may not be representative of females with LD in general.

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 23, No. 1, 44-52 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/002221949002300111


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