Consequences

Learning Disabilities

A Learning Disability is a specific problem children might have that affects the way they interpret what they see and hear or how they connect ideas within their brains. Often it is called a specific learning disability because the problem is not a broad developmental disability, but occurs specifically to early reading skills or simple math skills.

Learning disabilities are not limited to skills having to do with written material. Sometimes they have to do with speaking, listening, or reasoning. Common learning disabilities are dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Dyslexia and dysgraphia has to do with the way a child sees words and numbers on the page and includes problems in reading, writing, and spelling. Often the child will reverse or transpose the written characters as he or she sees. Dyscalculia is a problem doing simple addition, subtraction and multiplication.

Children with a specific learning disability are no less intelligent than other children their age. As a matter of fact, there are many children who are classified as “twice exceptional,” which means they are quite gifted, but have a learning disability that can hinder the expression of their giftedness.

Learning disabilities are the result of a different kind of processing that happens in the brain. It is as if something gets lost in the translation from page to brain. It is not something the child can control, nor is it a child being “lazy” or “dumb.” It is just part of the way the child is wired.

The causes for specific disabilities are mostly unknown, although for dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, there is a definite genetic link. Some theories assume that learning disabilities may come from a specific area of the brain, but new research is showing that it has more to do with how areas of the brain communicate with each other.

Most learning disabilities develop before birth while the brain is forming. During pregnancy, many things can affect a developing brain such as drug and alcohol use, complications, infections, and exposures to environmental toxins. Some learning disabilities are a result of complications during delivery. Sometimes brain injury, infection, or poisoning during childhood could result in a disability.

Learning disabilities are often noticed when a child enters school because schoolwork deals with the sorts of activities where the problems occur. Learning disabilities are not something that will go away but that does not mean the disability cannot be overcome.

There are many levels of support in and outside of the classroom. Special education classes can help teach basic skills and strategies, which the child can apply to other areas of school. A child may stay in regular classes but have modifications to the way he or she does school. For example if she has a problem writing down the answers for a test, the child may be allowed to dictate the answers, or take extended time to write the answers, or to draw pictures.

Learning disabilities affect about 1 in 5 children and almost all of these children can find ways around the disability to look forward to a happy and successful life.