Today I would like to present a very general overview of specific learning disabilities what they are and how to think about them in the context of other kinds of disorders you’ll see that I put specific learning.
Disabilities inside an umbrella and my reason for doing that is because the term-specific learning disability is the phrase is an umbrella term within which there are many different types of specific disorders so let’s unpack what we mean by specific learning disabilities in general and then talk a little bit about each of them learning.
Disabilities by definition are disorders and basic psychological processes that involve understanding and using language and by that, we mean the ability to receive process recall, and then communicate that information we do that not in a vacuum but we do in particular kinds of areas within a specific learning disability.
Dyslexia:
Definition and under that umbrella talking about certain disorders that impact reading so for example;
the learning disability in reading is often referred to as dyslexia and dyslexia isn’t just reading words it’s also the ability to understand what you’re reading it’s also the speed and the accuracy with which you read so reading dyslexia-specific learning is in reading.
Dysgraphia:
The writing domain a specific learning disability in writing is often referred to as dysgraphia could be any number of different kinds of things it could mean different things to different people at different stages of their learning disability experience or during their lifetime but it’s not.
Just how they hold a pencil or how they write but it’s also how they organize themselves and plan and edit their writing so it could be anything that falls within that writing domain that expressive language expressive written language domain spelling is also an area very much impacted by learning disabilities in reading and in writing and they’re very much connected in some very important ways and math also a learning disabilities category is often called discount Puglia and dyscalculia.
Oral learning disabilities in math involve not just one thing again it’s not just counting but it could involve the fluidity and flexibility of how it is that a person operates within the counting and numbers domain it could be measurement it could be estimating distances and it could be counting and making money could be understanding patterns and rules working with numbers.
So it could be in several things by the learning disabilities a specific learning disability and math is referred to as discount Puglia learning disabilities are also impacted by the ways that we process information the way we listen to the way we view things that we organize new information as it comes into us in through our senses to our ears.
To our eyes or touch through any number of sensory processes so in the auditory processing domain there are children who have very strong preferences for example;
To have information presented then verbally the way I’m speaking but would have a terrible time if they were in a classroom where the teacher was just writing on the board and not talking out loud so they would have challenges in the auditory or visual processing area depending upon.
Information was presented they would also have difficulty retrieving information that they heard remembering and in processing and then getting that information back and then doing.
Sensory-motor information:
Something with it if they were being taught in a way that wasn’t consistent with the way that they prefer to process information sensory-motor information is important to consider in the learning disabilities domain and under that LD umbrella what we mean by that is fine motor control manual dexterity is involved as well I hand coordination.
Children with disappear often have those kinds of difficulties in sensory-motor integration and then there’s a whole area of social and emotional functioning students with specific learning disabilities are not necessarily those kinds of kids who have difficulties in the social domain but because so many of they often miscue language they often will say something and being something.
Else or they won’t be able to find the right word for a situation they could easily be ridiculed or not understood by their peers often there are some nonverbal cues that they don’t pick up on so they don’t necessarily know when something is appropriate to say or to do and those are the kinds of things that with maturity and practice can be taught to individuals with specific learning.
Self Confidence:
Disabilities self-confidence is something that’s very important if you could have school every day and you are fearful that you’re going to be called on to read and reading is the one thing that you don’t do really well you’re not going to really look forward to sitting in that class where the teacher may very well call on you and your sense of self your sense of empowerment and your sense of confidence may very well be diminished as is the case with many children with learning disabilities.
some students with learning disabilities have helping with transitions moving from one the comfortable situation where they learn the rules where they have those teacher-student relationships when they practice certain things and they know how to accomplish and achieve success moving to a new situation often those kinds of transitions are difficult for students with learning disabilities.
Learning Disabilities Result:
I need to also say that learning disabilities are not the result of poor vision or poor hearing they’re also not the same as children who have difficulties on the autistic spectrum they’re not the same as intellectual disabilities the term we use formerly known as mental retardation, they’re not consistent with or the same as or interchangeable with emotional or mental health kinds of issues emotional disturbance and very importantly learning disabilities are not the result of disadvantage so for example; Cultural environmental or economic disadvantages are not the causes of learning disabilities.
