Students considered lazy or daydreamers may in fact be suffering from a learning disorder.

Jimmy needs to try harder. Jimmy must make more effort. Jimmy needs to apply himself more. New research has found that attributions of laziness, reflected in teacher comments such as these, could be masking cognitive, learning, attentional or emotional problems in children. Linda Gilmore of Queensland University of Technology tested 20 children aged 7 to 10 who were regarded as lazy by their parents and teachers and found 17 of them had a range of difficulties, including phonologically-based learning disabilities. Her research, with colleague Gillian Boulton-Lewis, raises questions about why...