Abstract:

The category of learning disability includes dyslexia (reading disorder), dysgraphia (writing disorder) and dyscalculia (counting disorder), which can also occur together (Chordia et al. 2020, Fletcher et al. 2019, Benz and Powell 2020). Learning disorders cause problems in certain subfields of learning and occur with normal or above average intelligence (Şahin et al. 2020). In Hungary, students with learning disabilities account for nearly half of the students with special educational needs, who study almost 100% in an integrated manner (Hegedűs 2023). This is why it is important to study this group, despite the fact that they participate in performance measurements in a much smaller proportion (Leroy et al. 2019). School performance is influenced by many factors, such as the teacher, the student composition of the school, family background etc. (Stienstra and Karlson 2023, Rolleston and James 2015).

Research questions:
- What is the competence result of reading comprehension and mathematics for children with different types of learning disabilities?
- What are the differences in student achievement based on different types of learning disability by preservice?
- What is the impact of development sessions and talent management on the reading comprehension and competence results of students with learning disabilities?

In our research, we analyzed the 6th grade database of the 2019 National Competency Assessment. The database contains the data of a total of 99 615 students, of whom the number of children with learning disabilities is 1 771 (1.78%). In the database, we distinguished the categories of learning disability: dyslexia (118 capita), dysgraphia (397 capita), dyscalculia (138 capita), those where two learning disorders occur together: dyslexia and dysgraphia (783 capita), dyslexia and dyscalculia (20 capita), dysgraphia and dyscalculia (67 capita), and finally the group where all three learning disorders occur together (248 capita). We combined the school maintainer variable and created state, church, foundation and other categories. More than 80% of students with learning disabilities study in public institutions. In our study, we used a two- and multi-dimensional cross-tabulation analysis for the categorical variables, during which the Chi-square test was used. For continuous variables, one- and multi-dimensional ANOVA analysis was performed, where the standard deviation was displayed in several cases. The more learning disabilities a child has, the lower the competence result in reading comprehension and mathematics will be. In most learning disability categories, the reading comprehension and math results of children studying in church institutions are better, but the family background index of children in these institutions is better. Both competence results of children who participate in developmental activities at school are lower than those who do not. The reason for this is that the developer teachers may not have sufficient capacity, so they can only handle the more serious cases. The results of children participating in gifted care are better, especially the results of reading comprehension, which may be due to selection. Overall, it can be said that learning disabilities make it difficult for children to perform at school and the necessary conditions for their care are not always given, so this group of students should be given more attention and help to ensure that they have adequate care and achieve success at school.

Keywords:

Hungary, student performance, learning disability, school maintenance.