Learning disability (LD) is different from the other disabilities such as deafness or blindness. A learning disability does not show any visible sign so others would understand and give support. It is a hidden handicap. It is a lifelong disorder that affects people’s ability, skills, capacity to understand what they see and hear, and connect the incoming and outgoing information between senses and different parts of the brain.

Disabilities can show up in many ways such as difficulties with coordination, attention, and difficulties with spoken and written language. These disabilities affects people’s life in many ways such as school work, friendship, school activities, family life etc.

Facts about Learning Disability:  

• A child with learning disabilities has average to above average intelligence.
• Children can not outgrow disabilities. Learning disabilities are lifelong.
• Children can build up strategies to compensate the disability.
• Parenting is not a reason for learning disabilities.
• It is not easy for parents to spot a learning disability.
• Learning disabilities are hidden without any visible sign.

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2. LEARNING DISABILITIES MAY LEAD TO EMOTIONAL DISTRESS 

Teachers and parents label children by their behavior without knowing what reasons are at the root of the problem. Behavioral problems can be caused by learning disabilities and emotional problems.

According to researches learning difficulties can cause emotional distress. Children with learning disabilities may have higher levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and low self-esteem than children with no disabilities.

Learning disabilities may negatively affect a child's social growth. Children with LD who do not have many friends will feel lonely, sad and misunderstood. These children will get into fights easily because they will feel disapproved.

Emotional problems may mask learning disabilities. Because adults may pay attention on the child’s personality and behavior, they may not notice the child’s learning disabilities. When disabilities are not observed and children can’t get help and support, they will come up with any excuse to avoid doing homework, etc.

Emotional distress, worries, concerns may increase learning disabilities. When children are worried about their schoolwork, their anxieties about their works and their marks can decrease the ability to pay attention to what they are learning. Not paying attention to things that they have to learn can lead children not to comprehend and learn, and at the end they will give up. These children might be viewed by their teachers as lazy and working on them as a waste of time.

According to researches children do better in school when they feel good about themselves. Parents and teachers have to help children with LD to feel good about themselves.

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3. WHAT ARE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES? 

People with learning disabilities are not dumb or mentally retarded. People with learning disability does not mean that they cannot learn. Mostly they are intelligent and even some are very smart people. They are different because their learning ways are different.

Every person with LD has difficulty in a different area. Some have one difficulty some have more than one. They have to be taught in the ways they can learn and right for them. Here are the things people with LD might have difficulty with:

Difficulty with reading:

Those who have difficulty with reading skip words and lines on a page. They mix up some letters such as b and d, p and q. They don’t understand quite well what they have read and can not answer questions related to the reading passage. They don’t like reading.

Difficulty with spelling and writing

Those who have difficulty with writing and spelling cannot remember how to spell some words even after they learn it. For example their and there. They have poor handwriting. Although they have good ideas they have difficulty to write them down.

Difficulty with math

Those who have difficulty with math may put the numbers in wrong place or skip a step to do in long math problems. They cannot know if they should add, subtract, multiply, or divide in word problems. They sometimes write the numbers in reverse. They cannot remember all of the math facts.

Difficulty with memory

Those who have difficulty to remember may forget easily when the word is taken away or erased. They forget easily what their parents tell them to do. They forget easily numbers and addresses.

Difficulty with paying attention

Those who have attention difficulty cannot focus on their assignments. They are distracted by noises or motion around them. They cannot listen to a teacher at the board easily. Somebody has to remind them to pay attention always.

Difficulty with getting and staying organized

Those who have difficulty with getting organized cannot find their books, pencils, erasers, keys, homework easily. They always misplace things and forget where they put them. Their room, desk, school locker are most of the time messy. When it is time to clean up they don’t know where to start.

Difficulty with directions, time, and space

For these children it is not easy to learn the time. They get confused with left and right, west or east. They have difficulty putting months of the year in order. They also have problem to copy things from distance, like copying down a paragraph from the blackboard.

Very Active

These children who cannot stay still, get into trouble with moving al the time back and front in their seats or talking too much, acting silly, or interrupting.

Very quiet

These children are very quiet because they don’t want anybody to understand their difficulties. They usually sit aside instead of playing a game with other children.

Difficulty with physical education

Those who have trouble remembering rules in a team. They make mistakes and mix up the rules. They can’t be in a dance group because they can’t remember the order of movements etc. These children cannot learn how to ride a bike. They feel clumsy often. They bump into things and knock things off.

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4. STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Having a learning disability can be discouraging most of the time. These children need their parents support and patience more than the other kids need. Here are some important things you can do.

Understand and accept your child’s learning differences:

Be aware of your child’s learning disability and learn how it affects your child at home and at school. Ask questions and get more information to understand your child’s learning difficulties.

Help your child to understand and accept his/her learning disabilities:

Parents have to help children to understand and accept about their learning difficulties and how they can cope with it. Children may not understand what kind of difficulties they have and how these learning difficulties will affect him/her at school and at home.

Find your child’s talents and abilities:

Give opportunities to your child to do activities that strengthen his/her talents and abilities. Encourage your child’s talent and abilities with praise. When children see their parents and teachers believing in them they feel confident in what they are doing.

Get help for your child’s learning disability:

It is not easy for parents to have patience to work always with their children, especially those who are with LD. Parents may want to find teachers with degrees and experiences in special education because they would know how to deal with learning disabilities.

Encourage children to develop a special interest:

Help children to find interests and build on them such as collecting cards, stamps or riding back horse or painting a picture, taking photographs and horseback riding, etc.

Help children to find ways to work with disability:

Teach your child how to do a project in a easy way. If children know how to break a whole project into steps they would not have difficulty and fear to complete a work. And always be in touch with the teacher and discuss the alternate approaches for your child’s difficulties. For example if the child has a reading difficulty discuss with the teacher if it is possible for him/her to have a partner who can read and your child would listen to.

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5.HOMEWORK TIPS FOR PARENT

Homework becomes harder when your child has LD. Parents do not want children who hates homework. Here are some tips for parents:

1. Always show an interest in your child’s homework. Ask every day what homework he/she has for the day to be done.
2. It is important to be organized. Teach your child how to be organized and encourage he/she keeps an agenda to write his homework assignments everyday.
3. Encourage your child to read everyday. Be a role model by reading everyday such as newspapers, magazines, books etc. And find time to read to your child 15-20 minutes everyday.
4. Help your child develop a schedule to do his/her daily homework assignments.
5. Provide a specific place (with plenty of lighting, no noise and enough work space) for your child to do his/her homework.
6. During the study time reduce the distractions as possible as you can.
7. Praising from parents builds self-esteem. Each time he/she has successfully completed homework praise your child.

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