Learning disabilities in children

[Dinesh Reddy]

Children sometimes suffer from developmental delays inherited by parents or acquired by pregnancy and birth related issues. Difficulties with academic achievements are broadly classified under category of learning problems. However, it is often multifactorial involving biomedical, developmental, behavioral, emotional, social, environmental, and family issues. Learning disabilities are manifested in the form of slowness in reading, writing, comprehending and expressing the subject matter. Precisely, there may be one or more associated problems pertaining to the area of reading, written expression, motor skills, mathematic difficulties and communication disorders. Furthermore, some children are more prone to attention deficit, school related anxiety, and behavioral disorders.

Epidemiology of learning disabilities
Learning disabilities appear in combination with an underlying genetic, chromosomal or biochemical abnormality rather than alone. Children must be screened for Down`s syndrome, Fragile-X syndrome, mental retardation,. It is also important to rule out birth asphyxia( a condition where oxygen supply to the brain is blocked for some duration) , head injury at the time of birth, delayed labor or prolonged labor, chronic viral infections, preterm birth( birth of a newborn before 7 months of pregnancy), maternal stress, fetal distress syndrome and cord around the neck.

Symptoms of learning disabilities
Parents often complains poor achievement in scholastic performance; more often not, it is significantly lower than the average performance. However, school performance alone cannot be based to diagnose the condition. Many pupils express perceptual-motor impairments, emotional liability, deficit in speech and language, poor coordination of sensory and motor abilities. Some children are reluctant to attend school regularly as they are being humiliated by the peers and teachers. It is very important to note that, there can be a wide range of cognitive disabilities ranging from mild retardation to above-average intelligence. Few children tend to be phobic as they enter school and they express concern over attending the classes regularly. There is profound damage on the moral and ego aspect of the child because of isolation of the suffered children from normal kids. Nevertheless, each individual differ as some symptoms may not comparatively same as that of an ideal disability case. Few children are good at reading and writing skills but hey fail to attain attention and conc3entration for a brief period of 5-10 minutes. Whereas, a small proportion may express specific learning difficulty in a specific area , for instance, a child may be very good at geometry but poor at arithmetic calculations.
Areas of Learning Disabilities
1. Auditory Perceptual difficulties
Auditory perception is characterized by difficulty to distinguish between 2 or more similar sounds or words. This includes the inability to process the sounds into meaniful words in a timely manner. Some children express words in their own slang which is not enough to be able to followed by others.

2. Visual Perception
Visual perception difficulties involving the clear interpretation of what is seen. This may include problems recognizing and distinguishing between shapes and positions of letters or words. Depth perception may pose a threat to some children as a result of visual perception disorders.

3. Integrative Processing
Integrative processing disabilities means encompassing a varying degrees of inability to sequence a series of events or facts. They express difficulty to comprehend abstract ideas or implied meanings; and organize learned information and apply it to what has been previously acquired.

4. Memory Disabilities
These problems generally affect short-term memory, which stores information that has just been perceived for a brief period before it is either discarded or stored in the long-term memory.

5. Expressive Language
There is a disturbance in the child’s verbal communication depending upon the child's age and the severity of the problem. Language skills in terms of vocabulary, grammatical content, fluency, and language formulation be substantially affected which requires attention of special therapists.

6. Motor deficits
Motor disabilities can affect either gross motor or fine motor muscle groups leading to disorganized bodily movements. A disability affecting the gross motor development can cause children to be clumsy and these kids develop a tendency to fall or bump into things and have difficulty running and playing sports. Fine motor disabilities affect muscles for detailed tasks, such as writing, using scissors, and painting.

Most common learning disabilities in children

1. Dyscalculia
It affects a person’s ability to understand numbers and learn the basic mathematical facts. These children often express difficulty in identifying, memorizing, expressing and demonstrating skills related to math symbols, numbers and expression.
2. Dysgraphia
It is a specific learning disability affecting a person’s handwriting ability and fine motor skills. It is identified based on the illegible handwriting, inconsistent spacing, poor spatial planning on paper, bad spelling, poor punctuation ,difficulty in composing writing.
3. Dyslexia
It is a specific learning disability manifested by difficulty in reading and related language-based processing skills. There are issues relating to reading fluency, decoding, reading comprehension, recalling the information, writing, spelling, and rarely some speech related issues. It is sometimes referred to as a Language-Based Learning Disability.
4. Oral / Written Language Disorder
It is characterized by learning disabilities that affect the individual’s understanding of what they read or of spoken language. The overall ability to express one-self with oral language is impacted.
5. Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities
It is a disorder usually characterized by a significant damage to the higher verbal skills, motor, visual-spatial and social skills. The individual feels difficult to understand signs and non-verbal expression from others.
6. ADHD
It is one of the frontline illness in child psychiatry. This includes difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty in controlling the behavior . Research indicates that about30-50 percent of children with ADHD also have a specific learning disability.
7. Dyspraxia
It is a condition characterized by difficulty in muscle control, which causes problems with movement and coordination, language and speech, . It usually prevails along with one or more conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD.

Protocol for management of childhood disabilities
• For visual related issues, present the material verbally; use gestures and some special writing and speaking recording instruments such as; tape-recorder.
• For auditory perceptual deficits, provide materials in written form; use pictures; provide tactile learning.
• For integrative deficits, use multisensory approaches including print media, audio and visual material
• Never degrade or humiliate the poorly performing kids as it might further damage the self-concept and esteem of the child.
• For motor and expressive deficits, break down skills and projects into their multiple component parts; verbally describe the component parts; provide extra time to perform; allow the child to type work rather than use cursive writing.
• For highly distractible child , provide a structured environment; have child sit in the front of the class; place child away from doors or windows; decrease clutter on his desk.
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