Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & objective: Anxiety disorder is one of the most common psychological distresses in children with Learning Disabilities (LD). The purpose of this study was to compare the symptoms of anxiety disorders in children with LD and normal children.
Methods: The research employed a causal-comparative design. Convenience and random sampling methods were used to recruit 132 learning- disabled and regular education children in equal numbers respectively. The participants in the experimental and control groups were matched in terms of gender, academic grade, and residence. The research instrument was the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (Birmaher et al, 1999). Independent T-Test and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were used to analyze the data.
Results: Descriptive Results indicated that the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety disorders was 28.8% and 10.6% among children with LD and normal children, respectively. Results of Independent T-Test showed that the mean of anxiety disorders in children with LD was higher than that of normal children (p<0.01). The results revealed that the means of Somatic Symptoms or Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder and School Avoidance in LD children were higher than those of regular education children (p<0.01).
Conclusion: It is suggested to pay close attention to high prevalence of anxiety disorders.