During the early years of schooling, children face many problems such as difficulty in reading, remembering spellings, doing maths or the common mistake of writing 'b' instead of 'd' or '6' instead of '9',etc. Gradually, most children overcome these teething problems and move on with their education. However, for some children, these problems persist. If their specific problem is not recognized and attended to, they have to face the embarrasement of low academic performance and scoldings from parents and teachers.
Learning Disability (LD) is a disorder that affects people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up in many ways - as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control, or attention.
The broad spectrum of Learning Disabilities includes the following limitations:-
Developmental Speech and Language Disorders: It's a pleasure to see a child mispronouncing words or using wrong words. Adults often laugh at the child's mistakes and at times fail to notice that the child may be actually suffering form a disorder. This category includes:-
* Developmental Articulation Disorder - Children with this disorder may have trouble controlling their rate of speech. Or they may lag behind playmates in learning to make speech sounds. For example, a child at age 6 may still say "tycle" instead of "cycle" and "wabbit" for "rabbit". Fortunately, articulation disorders can often be outgrown or successfully treated with speech therapy.
* Developmental Expressive Language Disorder - Some children with language impairments have problems expressing themselves in speech. A child who often calls objects by the wrong names, has an expressive language disorder. A 4-year-old who speaks only in two-word phrases and a 6-year-old who can't answer simple questions also have an expressive language disability.
* Developmental Receptive Language Disorder - Some children have trouble understanding certain aspects of speech. It's as if their brains are set to a different frequency and the reception is poor. There's the toddler who doesn't respond to his name, a preschooler who hands you a bell when you asked for a ball, or the child who consistently can't follow simple directions. Their hearing is fine, but they can't make sense of certain sounds, words, or sentences they hear. They may even seem inattentive. These people have a receptive language disorder. Because using and understanding speech are strongly related, many people with receptive language disorders also have an expressive language disability.
Academic Skills Disorders : It is the tendency of the child to refuse to do whatever is told by his/her elders. The child does not pay any heed to instructions. It is a form of rebel by children.
* Developmental Reading Disorder - This type of disorder, also known as dyslexia, is quite widespread. When we read, we are hardly aware of the complex processes that occurs spontaneously in the brain. Reading requires a rich, intact network of nerve cells that connect the brain's centers of vision, language, and memory.
A person can have problems in any of the tasks involved in reading. However, scientists found that a significant number of people with dyslexia share an inability to distinguish or separate the sounds in spoken words. Rita, for example, can't identify the word "bat" by sounding out the individual letters, b-a-t. Other children with dyslexia may have trouble with rhyming games, such as rhyming "cat" with "bat." Yet scientists have found these skills fundamental to learning to read. Fortunately, remedial reading specialists have developed techniques that can help many children with dyslexia acquire these skills.
However, there is more to reading than recognizing words. If the brain is unable to form images or relate new ideas to those stored in memory, the reader can't understand or remember the new concepts. So other types of reading disabilities can appear in the upper grades when the focus of reading shifts from word identification to comprehension.
* Developmental Writing Disorder - Writing is a skill and so the brain networks for vocabulary, grammar, hand movement, and memory must all be in good working order. So a developmental writing disorder may result from problems in any of these areas. For example, Rahul, who was unable to distinguish the sequence of sounds in a word, had problems with spelling. A child with a writing disability, particularly an expressive language disorder, might be unable to compose complete, grammatical sentences.
* Developmental Arithmetic Disorder - What most of us hated as a child was doing maths! Many individuals have a weak numerical reasoning, but they manage in school and daily life. Arithmetic involves recognizing numbers and symbols, memorizing facts such as the multiplication table, aligning numbers, and understanding abstract concepts like place value and fractions. Any of these may be difficult for children with developmental arithmetic disorders. Problems with numbers or basic concepts are likely to show up early. Disabilities that appear in the later grades are more often tied to problems in reasoning.
Apart from these, there can be "motor skills disorders" and "specific developmental disorders not otherwise specified." They include delays in acquiring language, academic, and motor skills that can affect the ability to learn, but do not meet the criteria for a specific learning disability. Also included are coordination disorders that can lead to poor penmanship, as well as certain spelling and memory disorders.
Often children are scolded for their 'silly mistakes, carelessness and laziness'. But, it could simply be that the child cannot help it. The child's frustration can lead then to other behavioural problems. Learning Disabilities can first be detected by teachers. Lately, many of the primary teachers are given training about this diability.
Learning Disabilities can be dealt with, although they cannot be cured. Recorded tapes of the books, visual aids, computers, new techniques of learning and memorizing words are all available to assist these children. Many individuals with learning disability successfully complete their education and lead normal lives.
Source: NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health, USA)
