Learning Disability

Learning Disability

•      A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information.

 

•      We take information from our external environment through our senses and hold it in our short-term memory where we either forget the information quickly or we transfer it to our long-term memory by rehearsal it. In this way, our brain is processing information and if any of these, such as receiving information through the senses, transferring information, distributing information, and expressing information are likely to be affected for any reason then We call it a disability. Thus, students with disabilities have a glitch in one of these systems of information processing.

•      A learning disability can cause a person to have trouble learning and using certain skills. The skills most often affected are reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning, and doing math, and LD vary from person to person. One person with LD may not have the same kind of learning problems as another person with LD. One person may have trouble with reading and writing. Another person with LD may have problems understanding math. Still another person may have trouble in each of these areas, as well as with understanding what people are saying.

•      Prevalence of Learning Disabilities

Over a billion people, about 15% of the world's population, have some form of disability, (WHO-World Health Organization).

In India prevalence of disability (percentage of persons with disability in the population) is 2.2 percent. 2.3 percent in rural areas and 2.0 percent in the urban areas.(NSO-National statistical office Survey, 2018).

Causes and facts of learning disabilities: -

1. Genetics can be a cause of Learning Disabilities.
2. Learning Disabilities are not correlated with IQ.
3. Learning Disabilities are not a product of home environment in which children are raised.
4. Two third of students identified with learning with disabilities are male.

 Types of Learning Disabilities: -

• Dyslexia – Difficulty with reading
• Dysgraphia – Difficulty with writing
• Dyscalculia – Difficulty with math
•  Dyspraxia– Difficulty with fine motor skills
• Dysphasia/Aphasia – Difficulty with language
• Auditory Processing Disorder – Difficulty hearing differences between sounds
• Visual Processing Disorder – Difficulty interpreting visual information
• ADHD – Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder