The main goal of the present study was to shed further light on the psychological characteristics of children with different learning disability profiles aged between 8 and 11 years, attending from third to sixth grade. Specifically, children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), reading disabilities (RD), or a typical development (TD) were tested. In all, 15 children with NLD, 15 with RD, and 15 with TD were administered self-report questionnaires to assess different types of anxiety and depression symptoms. Both NLD and RD children reported experiencing more generalized and social anxiety than TD, the NLD children reported more severe anxiety about school and separation than TD, and the children with RD had worse depressive symptoms than those with NLD or TD.

Dyslexia is a permanent condition characterized by reading difficulties that include inaccurate or slow and effortful word reading, poor decoding, and poor spelling abilities. People with dyslexia may have psychological and psychopathological issues such as low self-esteem, poor resilience, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. They may also develop social problems and emotional issues, as well as low academic and social self-efficacy. The present study aimed to assess the psychological features of a sample of 28 Italian university students with dyslexia, comparing them with a control group of typically-developing students matched for gender, education, and academic discipline, to enhance our knowledge of dyslexia outcomes in an Italian setting. The results show that university students with dyslexia experience higher levels of somatic complaints, social and attentional problems, lower self-esteem, and higher depression scores than controls, while no difference emerged between the two groups’ resilience scores. In conclusion, the present findings suggest that university students with dyslexia report more psychological issues than students without dyslexia and could benefit from intervention to improve their psychological and physical well-being.