LANGUAGE DISORDERS AND LEARNING-DISABILITIES IN SCHOOL-REFUSING ADOLESCENTS

Objective: We undertook this study to test the hypothesis that school- refusing adolescents hospitalized on an inpatient psychiatric unit hav e more language and learning disabilities than diagnosis-, age-, and s ex-matched psychiatric controls. Method: The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised (WJTA-R), the WISC-R, the Adolescent Language Scr eening Test, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised, and the Test of Language Competence (TLC) were given to a group of we ll-characterized, primarily depressed school refusers and matched pshy chiatric controls. Results: We found that school-refusing adolescents had significantly lower WISC-R verbal intelligence scores, lower Math and Written Language subscale scores on the WJTA-R, and lower scores o n the TLC than nonrefusers. School refusers were found to have a signi ficantly higher incidence of both language impairments and learning di sabilities than controls. Conclusions: We infer that academic and comm unicative frustration and the adolescent's resulting inability to meet the academic and social demands in the school environment may play a role in the etiology of school refusal.