Recognising learning disabilities in kids

March 14, 2014

KIRTI AGARWAL PASBOLA
When 10-year-old Aditi was asked to read, “Rohan was in the lion’s den,” she read, “Rohan saw the lion dead.” The other children laughed, and Aditi broke out crying.
When 11-year-old Dhruv writes, he leaves out punctuation and spacing between words. His handwriting too is not legible and written work most disorganised, but he has fantastic memory.
Eight-year-old Anushka misses the subtleties of languages such as homonyms (meet Vs meat).
All children are born naturally curious but on an average, at least one out of seven children underperforms at school. This child struggles with school work and avoids it.
Since we are living in an era of cutthroat competition and good education lays the foundation of a successful career, parents and teachers naturally pressurise the child to achieve academically. They end up criticising, scolding, spanking and punishing.
This pressurising leads to emotional and behavioural problems in the child which then become hard to reverse as well as deal with.
Children may become withdrawn and appear to be depressed. They may begin to act out, drawing attention away from their learning difficulty. Problems with self-esteem can arise, peer and sibling interactions can become strained. These children may lose their interest in school-related activities and appear to be unmotivated or lazy. The emotional symptoms are just as important as the academic and require equal attention.
Adults and peers may even label the child as dumb or lazy, but most likely they are neither.
S/He may be suffering from a LEARNING DISABILITY (LD)
Learning disability is when the child is not able to grasp information even after s/he has had several opportunities to learn it.
The child with LD processes information in a different way and not in the conventional way as majority of the children do.
Learning disability is a neurological disorder. To put it simply, it results from a difference in the way a person’s brain is ‘wired’. Children with learning disabilities are as smart as or smarter than their peers. But they may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organising information if left to figure things out by themselves, or if taught in conventional ways. Lack of these skills interferes with academic achievement in a traditional school setup.
Brain processes that are specific to academic learning are affected.
Types of LD
Every academic ability has a corresponding disability.
Dyslexia: A language-based disability in which a person has trouble reading and understanding written words.
Dyscalculia: A mathematical disability in which a person has difficulty solving arithmetic problems and grasping math concepts.
Dysgraphia: A writing disability in which a person finds it hard to form letters or write within a defined space in an organised manner with punctuation and proper spacing.
Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders: Sensory disabilities in which a person has difficulty understanding language despite normal hearing and vision.
Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: A neurological disorder which originates in the right hemisphere of the brain causing problems with visual-spatial, intuitive, organisational, evaluative and holistic processing functions.
Recognising LD
Learning disabilities are difficult to identify in young children and are more apparent in school-age students.
Cause
Cause of learning difficulty is not known. Usually it runs in the family.
Cure and solutions
A learning disability can’t be cured or fixed; it is a lifelong issue. However, the good news about LD is that scientists are learning more every day. Their research provides hope and direction.
If LD is identified and accepted early and the child is provided with the right kind of help, it can give the child a chance to develop skills needed to lead a successful and productive life.
With the right support and intervention, children with LD can succeed in school and go on to successful, often distinguished careers, later in life.
What parents should do
If you suspect that your child has a LD, then —
Have your child evaluated: Trust your instinct! No one knows your child better than you, so if you suspect a problem, speak to teachers and other school personnel, seek information and expert opinions, and do not be afraid to have him or her evaluated right away.
The school or you should get the child evaluated through a licensed educational therapist /psychologist/ special education teacher/ other professionals as appropriate. Since you are one of the best observers of your child’s development, it is important that you be an active participant in the evaluation process.
Understand that
a. LD and intelligence are not related. Children with LD can have IQ scores which are high, average or below average.
b. In fact, children with LD are often highly intelligent, possess leadership skills, or are superior in music, arts, sports, or other creative areas.
Accept: Living in denial makes the problem worse. All parents want the best for their children, and may go through a range of emotions — including shock, disbelief, confusion and frustration — when they find out that their child may have a learning disorder. Parents fear that their child may be ‘labelled for life’ if s/he is identified as having a learning disability.
But what they should do is stay away from ‘denial’. Denial ONLY helps is aggravating the problem.
Only once parents accept that their child has a problem, will they address the problem. Early detection, intervention and remediation will help the child to cope up and blossom.
In fact, parents should experience relief once the diagnosis is made — it’s empowering to know what the issues are, and there are lots of resources in place to help your child reach his goals and plenty of sources of support along the way.
Work as a team to help your child: If the evaluation shows that your child has LD, you should work with a team of professionals, including your child’s teacher, to develop an Individualised Education Programme (IEP).
Talk to your child about LD: Children with LD must be assured they are not dumb or lazy. They are intelligent people who have trouble learning because their minds process information differently. You will be able to talk with your child only if you fully understand it. Be informed. It is important to be honest and optimistic!
Spare children the frustration and failure they experience when they don’t do well in school and don’t know why. You must help your child understand that s/he simply learns differently.
Know and focus on your child’s strengths: Reward his/her strengths. Encourage your child in areas of interest outside the classroom.
Know that you are not alone: Consider that at least 2.7 million children are receiving help in school because of an LD in US alone.
Know your legal rights: Most school examination boards, including CBSE, offer accommodations during board exams to children with LD.
Do not delay: Seeking help — and certainly recognising the early signs of LD — can mean the difference between success and failure for your child in school. When help is delayed, it becomes harder and harder for children to catch up.
Educate yourself: Learn as much as you can about the LD your child is facing. Understand the educational system, work with professionals and learn about strategies for dealing with specific difficulties.
Some extremely successful people with learning disabilities
Albert Einstein couldn’t read until he was nine. Walt Disney, General George Patton, and former US Vice-president Nelson Rockefeller had trouble reading all their lives. Whoopi Goldberg, Pablo Picasso and Charles Schwab and many others have learning disabilities which haven’t affected their ultimate success.
Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone, Richard Branson — a billionaire businessman, Tom Cruise — among the most recognisable actors in the world, including Thomas Edison, struggled with dyslexia.
Agatha Christie — the most famous mystery novelist of her time — had dysgraphia.
Learning disabilities can be difficult to manage, but they don’t necessarily impact a person’s chances of success!
(Please give your feedback to kirtiagarwalpasbola@yahoo.com)
Courtesy:HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

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