The research literature on learned helplessness in exceptional children is reviewed and the authors' efforts to identify and retrain learning disabled (LD) children who have characteristics typical of learned helplessness are reported. Twenty-eight elementary aged LD children viewed as "learned helpless" were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions based on scores on the Intellectual Achievment Responsibility Scale. Results indicated that learned helpless LD children who received attribution retraining became more persistent on unsolvable tasks than did those students who received no attribution retraining, and that significant effects were observed for time on task, internalization of personal responsibility, and performance on the mathematics subtests. (DB)