ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the characteristics of slow learners and the examination will be confined to characteristics which affect their education. The characteristics of slow learners are classified as: impairment or delay in intellectual development; impairment in perception, or in visual-motor-perceptual integration; associated social or cultural disadvantages; and personality difficulties or maladjustment. Early attempts to classify the characteristics of slow learners were strongly influenced by concepts about the genetic basis of intelligence and the results of intelligence and attainment testing, though there was reference to the influence of personality and environmental variables. Dullness was held to be characterized by intellectual deficiency as indicated by the results of intelligence tests; it was held to be almost invariably accompanied by general backwardness. Retardation was defined as a condition of unrealized intellectual ability represented by scores on scholastic tests at a level below the scores on intelligence tests.
