by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: August 15, 2007

Learning disabilities are underlying physical or mental disorders that prevent children, or people in general, from learning as most other people learn. These can be in speaking or in writing, Normally people from birth to death have built in facilities that enable them to listen, to think, to speak, to read, to write and to learn as they grow in understanding and as their needs dictate.

There are, however, learning disabilities that often slow or alter this normal process of learning. They may or not be deficient in intelligence, in fact may be superior in other areas but still have a discrepancy in achievement. Only a professional in clinical psychology or an educational psychologist , or a physician with special training, can determine this.

Determining the severity of the learning disability or if in fact there is one is not easily done. Many times what seems to be a disorder' is only a little lagging behind and when a child does begin to speak, to read, to understand, then they quickly catch up and race on. This is a hoped for situation but it happens far less than is supposed.

As an example, if there exists a familial lagging behind in the so called normal development of a child's ability to form words, if older siblings had the same problem and when they finally start to talk they string their words together and make themselves heard and to this day won't stop talking, then it is reasonable to assume their little sister will do the same, but on the other hand seek help.

Some guidelines in determining are the times skill levels emerge, the sequence they emerge, and the quality of the skill level. As in the above example, the child with a delayed ability to read, was not unaware of the words, but somehow had the uncanny ability to learn the words but not speak them until they could be uses properly. Far from being an abnormality this shows an exceptional ability in reasoning and in comprehension.

Learning takes place when information from what is heard or seen or what is being thought is processed by the brain. If the information is false, in other words if a child (as in dyslexia) sees letters and words upside down, backwards, etc., then this is a learning disability. Special education has in place programs of intervention that can quickly and effectively remedy this situation.

It is advisable to seek help from the school as soon as there appears a problem. Help will be forthcoming because it is a law that every child learn to the best of their ability. If this is not happening, either of the legislative measures, NCLB, (No Child Left Behind); IDEA (Indivudulized Disabilities Education Act) is there to see what the problem is. Check online for more information about what help is out there, if your child is having problems keeping up at school.

Source:
www.ldonline.org/questions/aboutld

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