| While the Rorschach Inkblot Method is frequently used to assess the emotional status and personality functioning of children with learning disabilities, little is known about the ways in which a specific learning disability affects children's scores on various Rorschach indices. This study sought to answer three questions regarding the use of the Rorschach Inkblot Method for the assessment of learning disabled children. The first question addressed whether a pattern of scores exists within the Rorschach Cognitive Triad and Interpersonal clusters that would assist an examiner in the identification of a language-based, non-specific, or nonverbal learning disability subtype. The second question addressed whether students with perceptual difficulties, namely nonverbal learning disabilities, were more likely to appear pathological on the Rorschach not because of their personality characteristics but because of their perceptual difficulties. The third question addressed whether the Rorschach profiles of students with learning disabilities differ from students who do not have a learning disability. It was hoped that answering these questions will lead to improved treatment recommendations and outcomes for teaming disabled students. The Rorschach was administered to forty learning disabled students categorized into one of three subtypes based on their Verbal IQ - Performance IQ discrepancy: language-based learning disability (N = 10), non-specific learning disability (N = 20), and nonverbal learning disability (N = 10). Analysis of the Cognitive Triad and Interpersonal variables did not yield supporting evidence that the Rorschach could differentiate between the learning disabled subtypes. Data also indicated that the Rorschach does not over-pathologize the nonverbal learning disabled student. Finally, there was evidence that learning disabled students scan more hastily and haphazardly, impose poorer form quality, and are more likely to give simplistic responses than the normative sample of children in the Comprehensive System (Exner & Weiner, 1995). |
