Learning disabilities (LD) refers to a group of disorders that affect a broad range of academic and functional skills including the ability to speak, listen, read, write, spell, reason and organize information
What Are Learning Disabilities?
Learning disabilities means a learning problems that can cause a person to have difficulty acquiring certain skills like writing, reading, maths, listening, speaking reasoning etc. Learning disability does not inculde learning problems that are primarily the result of Visual, hearning, motor disabilities, mental retardation etc.
Learning disabilities are not emotional disturbances, intellectual disabilities, or sensory impairments.
Inspite of average or above average intelligence and adequate schooling some children lag behind in their academic skill acquasition.
According to Sheldon Horowitz, “A learning disability is a Neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store and respond to information”.
This disorder is called ‘Specific Learning Diabilities’. These academic skill acquasition processes are –
- Attention
- Perception
- Memory
- Logical thinking
This deficiency in understanding or using language, spoken or written may be manifested in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write spell or do mathmatical cakculations.
Diagnosis or symptoms of Learning disabilities
Learning disabilities are not due to impairments in vision, hearning, motor disabilities, emotional disorders, mental retardation, global developmental delay.
Nor due to enviromental factors such as deprivation, abuse, inappropriate or inadequate instruction, lack of motivation, cultural or economic disadvantage or linguistic diversity.
Hence it should distinguish it from any other co-existing condition such that as developmental coordination disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) or anxiety.
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Classifications of learning disabilities
Internstional classification of disease ( ICD-10, WHO 1994) describes learning disabilitites as ‘Specific developmental Disorders of scholastic skills( SDDSS).
Categories of specific scholastic disorders–
- Specific reading disorder
- Specific Spelling disorder
- Specific Disorder of airthmatical skills
- Mixed disorder of Scholastic skills. – Reading , Writing , Airthmatic skills
Causes of Learning disabilities
Most learning disabilties do not stem from a single specific region of the brain , but from difficulties in bringing information together from various regions.
Genetic influnces – Expert have noticed that learning disabilities tend to run in families and they think that heredity could play a role.
Enviromental impacts – Infants and young kids are susceptible to enviromental toxin.
Brain development – Some expert think that learning disabilities can be traced to brain development, both before and after birth. Today a leading theory is that learning disabilties stem from subtle disturbances in brain structures and functions.
Prenatal causes
Complicated – pregancies, Prematurity, Low birth weight, Rh- incompatibilites, Maternal endocrine disorders, Radiation, Accidents during pregnancy, Maternal age, Consumption of drugs, alcohol, tobacco.
Postal Causes
Head injury, Lead poisoning, Nutritional defects, Biochemical factors, Deprivation of sensory stimulation, Genetics factors.
There were ‘possible causes’.
Common types of specific learning disabilities
- Significant problems in Reading – Dyslexia
- Significant problems in Writing – Dysgraphia
- Significant problems in Maths – Dyscalculia
- Significant problems in motor skills – Dyspraxia
- Dyslexia (Reading Disability) – It is an impairment in brain’s ability to translate written images received from the eyes into meaningful language.
- Dysgraphia (Writing Disability) – It is a learning disability resulting from the difficulty in expressing thoughts in writing & graphing. • Impaired written language ability may include – impairments in handwriting, – spelling, – organizations of ideas & composition.
- Dyscalculia (Math Disability) – Impaired in math calculation ability cause – difficulties in learning math concepts (such as quantity, place value, & time), – difficulty memorizing math facts, – difficulty in recognizing mathematical signs, – difficulty organizing numbers, & – understanding how problems are organized on page.
- Dysphasia (language disability) ‐ Language and communication learning disabilities involve the ability to understand or produce spoken language.
- Dyspraxia or motor learning difficulties & developmental coordination disorder (DCD) – Motor difficulty refers to problem with movement and coordination or gross motor skills.
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – Children with ADHD often have problems sitting still, staying focused, following instructions, staying organized, and completing homework.
Important Solved questions for all teaching exams
- Which of the following is an example of a Specific Learning Disability? – Dyslexia
- Which of the following is an example of an intellectual disability? – Mental Retardation
- The child who cannot differentiate ‘saw’ between ‘was’ and nuclear and unclear, he is …………. suffering from – Dyslexia
- Where was the first test for dyslexia developed?– America
- Learning disability ? – It is a variable state.
- Learning disability children generally show?– Perceptual disorder
- The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act has been enacted in the year ? – 2016
- Orthopedically impaired children are likely to have ? – Dysthymia