Part 3: Smart Kids and Learning Disabilities

The last few days, I've been writing about learning disabilities.

Part One discussed the usual academic, remedial approaches to learning struggles.

In part Two, a loose definition of a learning disability was discussed.

Today's article is about some of the symptoms that you may see that may indicate a learning disability.

Sometimes, learning disabilities are blamed on lack of motivation, immaturity, or behavior problems.  I like to talk about a person becoming "de"motivated rather than "un"motivated.  By that, I mean that if what your child is expected to accomplish is difficult to achieve, and this level of  difficulty lasts all day long, and it is ongoing every day,  it would be very hard to stay motivated for very long.   So I like to qualify the learning struggle by whether or not the problems are significant and ongoing and are historical with learning the basic skills like reading, writing, and math.  When those things are in place, he/she may have a learning disability.

Here are some of the things a parent or teacher may observe that may indicate a learning struggle, especially if seen on a fairly consistent basis:

1. difficulty recalling facts/vocabulary words/spelling words
2. taking excessively long to complete homework or tests
3. unable to stay focused on a task for a reasonable length of time
4. easily distracted
5. difficulty doing two things at once
6. frequently asking to have things repeated
7. difficulty with reading comprehension
8. difficulty with organization; either physical organization or cognitive organization (getting thoughts down on paper in a logical sequence or relating events  sequentially and logically.)

This is a partial list, it is very generic and covers multiple ages and grade levels, so use your best judgement.  Basically, though, if what you are seeing is outside the realm of typical for your child's age, give more weight to what you are seeing.   Children just learning to read, for example, will have different indicators than older students who have been reading (or struggling to read) for years.

The good news is that this does not need to be a diagnosis that follows your child throughout his academic career.  Stay tuned for more information in the days to come! 

Part 4 will cover the root of most learning struggles; yes, there is a reason!