The study explored the differences in the abilities of 20 learning disabled (LD) students (6-8 years old) and 19 normal Ss to perform on listening tasks. In phase I, performance levels were assessed on the Goldman Fristoe Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination and a listening comprehension skill battery (the Durrell Listening-Reading Series, Primary Level, Form EF, Parts I and II). In phase II, Ss' error frequency under varying conditions of rate altered speech was analyzed. Among results were that there was no significant difference in the performance of LD and normal Ss in the assessment testing of auditory discrimination and sentence comprehension, although there was a significant difference in vocabulary understanding; and that there were no significant differences between the number of errors made by LD and normal Ss at the slow or normal rate of speed after controlling for IQ, although there was a significant difference at the fast rate. (CL)