This paper examines cognitive processing problems associated with attention deficit disorders (ADD) and their relationship to learning disabilities in elementary and secondary students. Children with ADD, medicated (N=20) and unmedicated (N=21), were compared on the Raven test of Progressive Matrices and other tests with children who had been referred for assessment of learning disabilities (LD) and who were either identified (N=16) or not identified (N=11). Discriminant function analyses were conducted to determine the cognitive/educational profile which differentiated among the four groups studied. Grouping nonmedicated ADD subjects with LD subjects proved effective, indicating a need for special education programming appropriate to both groups. The nonmedicated ADD group demonstrated weaknesses in word attack (decoding) calculations and verbal working memory. Similarities and differences among nonmedicated ADD and LD subjects are discussed. Includes 46 references. (PB)