Learning Disabilities

Individuals with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) display a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. These individuals often experience some impairment of their ability to address social, academic and vocational expectations. Common characteristics seen in children with AD/HD include: difficulty regulating attention, inability to follow through on instructions, school work, chores and/or duties; easily distracted and forgetful; constantly on the go and into everything, or “feels” very restless. Symptoms of these disorders will occur prior to age seven, but are often not readily observed because young children typically experience few demands for sustained attention. The prevalence of AD/HD is estimated at three to five percent of school-aged children.

AD/HD is a neurologically-based disorder that impedes the learning process. Often academic achievement is impaired and devalued, typically leading to conflict with the family and school authorities. An early medical diagnosis is important.

Associated Links

ADHD Awareness

 

Fetal alcohol syndrome/effects (FAS/E) is a neurological disorder caused by significant prenatal exposure to alcohol. The medical diagnosis of FAS is made when there is know, significant prenatal exposure to alcohol and the child exhibits three criteria:

  • Prenatal and/or postnatal growth delay (height and/or weight below the tenth percentile.
  • Central nervous system (brain) involvement (conditions such as head circumference below the third percentile, intellectual impairment, learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity or other neurological abnormalities).
  • Characteristic facial features (short eye slits, flat mid face, long/indistinct space between nose and upper lip, and thin upper lip.

The term possible fetal alcohol effects (FAE) is often used when there is a documented history of significant maternal drinking during pregnancy and some, but not all, of the diagnostic criteria for FAS are present. FAS is not a “milder” form of FAS. For both FAS and FAE there is a continuum of effects on physical development and learning that depends on the amount of alcohol consumed, the timing of the drinking, and other metabolic and genetic factors.

Associated Links

Fetal Alcohol
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder – Canada

 

The term “learning disability” describes a neurobiological disorder in which a person’s brain works or is structured differently. These differences interfere with a person’s ability to think and remember. Learning disabilities can affect a person’s ability to speak, listen, read, write, spell, reason, recall, organize information, and do mathematics.

Because learning disabilities cannot be seen, they often go undetected. Recognizing a learning disability is even more difficult because the severity and characteristics vary.

A learning disability can’t be cured or fixed; it is a lifelong issue. With the right support and intervention, however, children with learning disabilities can succeed in school and go on to successful, often distinguished careers later in life. Parents can help children with learning disabilities achieve such success by encouraging their strengths, knowing their weaknesses, understanding the educational system, working with professionals and learning about strategies for dealing with specific difficulties.

Facts About Learning Disabilities

  • Difficulty with basic reading and language skills are the most common learning disabilities. As many as 80% of students with learning disabilities have reading problems.
  • Learning disabilities often run in families.

Learning disabilities are neurologically based conditions that interfere with the acquisition, storage, organization, and use of skills and knowledge. They are identified by deficits in academic functioning and in processing memory, auditory, visual and linguistic information. These students have trouble taking information in through the senses and bringing that information accurately to the brain. The information often gets scrambled. Individuals diagnosed with learning disabilities have average or above average intelligence. Some examples of learning disabilities include: dyslexia (reading), dysgraphia (writing), and dyscalculia (mathematics). Problems with self-regulatory behaviors, social perception and social interaction may exist with learning disabilities but do not, by themselves, constitute a learning disability.

Learning disabilities are neurologically based conditions that interfere with the acquisition, storage, organization, and use of skills and knowledge. They are identified by deficits in academic functioning and in processing memory, auditory, visual and linguistic information. These students have trouble taking information in through the senses and bringing that information accurately to the brain. The information often gets scrambled. Individuals diagnosed with learning disabilities have average or above average intelligence. Some examples of learning disabilities include: dyslexia (reading), dysgraphia (writing), and dyscalculia (mathematics). Problems with self-regulatory behaviors, social perception and social interaction may exist with learning disabilities but do not, by themselves, constitute a learning disability.

Possible reasonable accommodations applicable for someone with a learning disability:

  • Allow front row seating.
  • Allow the use of tape recorders for taping lectures and discussions.
  • Allow the use of proofreaders to indicate spelling and grammar errors.
  • Allow extended deadlines for the completion of class projects.
  • If the student cannot find someone to take notes, the faculty member may photocopy his/her notes or announce (or have the student announce) to the class the need for a student volunteer to photocopy or make carbon copies of lecture notes.
  • If the student has trouble locating a reader for a class the faculty member or the student should announce to his/her class the need for a paid or volunteer student reader.

Associated Links

National Center for Learning Disabilities
Learning Disability Association of Canada
Learning Disability Association of Vancouver

Posted in Disabilities

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