ABSTRACT
The systematic investigation of source-monitoring difficulties provides a useful tool to theorists who are attempting to determine the nature of individual differences in memory. The source-monitoring framework has particular relevance for investigators who study the memory impairments of children who have special educational needs (e.g., mentally retarded, learning disabled, language impaired, etc.). Determining whether a particular handicapping condition is accompanied by either a global or a more specific deficit in source monitoring has theoretical as well as practical significance. At a theoretical level, identifying unique source-monitoring tendencies may serve to provide converging evidence and greater specificity to existing theories that address the cognitive impairments in children with a handicap. At a more applied level, the identification of a specific source-monitoring profile that is associated with a particular group of handicapped children would have diagnostic value, as well as implications for educators, clinicians, and other practitioners who are attempting to design appropriate interventions and accommodations for children within that handicapping condition. For example, knowing that children with a specific language disorder may tend to experience source confusions with verbal information, but not with activity memories, might provide the clinician with greater insight into the nature of a given language impairment.
