The term "learning disability" is used to describe neurological disorders that affect a child's ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, and calculate. These disabilities are often discovered when a parent notices that their child is unusually slow to reach developmental milestones. It is most common, however, that these problems come to light in the classroom. As elementary school life becomes more demanding and complex, the child's disabilities interfere with their ability to learn academic subjects, and may interfere with their emotional and social progressions.
Here are the top 10 signs that your child might have a learning disability:
1) You may notice that your toddler is reaching developmental milestones quite slowly. Some children will progress slower than normal, but if your child is far behind, he may have a learning disability. Look for an unusual lack of coordination, poor balance, and awkwardness when walking or moving. Does your child have difficulty in manipulating small objects, like tying a shoelace, using a pencil, or fastening a button? A child with these delays may also show slow development in speaking words and sentences.
2) Your child may have trouble understanding the concept of time. Is she confused by the use of words like "tomorrow", "today" and "yesterday"? She may also have a poor memory for routine things, failing to understand everyday procedures. You may notice that she has difficulty understand cause and effect. Basic concepts such as size, shape and color may confuse her, as well. She may not be able to grasp the ideas of effect, sequencing, and counting.
3) Young children have a lot of energy, but some have an excessive amount of this energy, known as hyperactivity. Does your child rarely able to sit still? Does he have a tendency to act impulsively? A child with these challenges can find it hard to focus.
4) A child with a learning disability often masters several areas, while failing in another. For example, a child that shows exceptional talent in reading and writing may fail her math courses.
5) Sometimes, it may seem that a child chooses not to listen. In reality, she may have an attention deficit that does not allow her to concentrate on the task at hand. Does your child lose his train of thought easily, and does she have a hard time focusing on a topic, changing the subject frequently? She may lose or misplace her things quite often. This can become troublesome in school when she loses books, homework and school supplies. She may have difficulty organizing and cleaning up after herself.
6) A child that has difficulty distinguishing right from left may have difficulty identifying words. He may have a tendency to reverse letters, words, or numbers. An example of this is a child that confuses the number 48 with 84, the letter "b" with the letter "d", or the word "on" with the word "no".
7) Do you notice that your child shows wide disparity between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. He may follow directions well, but when it comes to reading them, he becomes confused.
8) Does your child hide her grades from you? The mastery of reading, spelling, writing, and/or math skills, may prove to be extremely difficult for a child with a learning disability, and she may be ashamed of this.
9) If you child has frequent temper tantrums, and is hard to manage, he may also have difficulty interacting with other children. He may choose to play alone because of this.
10) A child that is perceived as disobedient may actually have difficulty understanding and following instructions. This child may begin to use mischievousness to mask her difficulties. She chooses to present herself as disobedient because she prefers to be known by adults and by her peers as "bad", rather than "stupid". Being so young and uninformed, she may assume that her difficulties mean that she is unintelligent.
The above signs of learning disabilities in children should not be used as a tool to diagnose a child. This should be done by a skilled professional. Learning disabilities are not curable, but they are, in many ways, treatable. A child can learn ways to adapt, ways to work around their disabilities, while heightening his or her strengths. The brain of a young child is remarkably flexible. He or she has a strong ability to discover new ways of learning, even more so than a person that has ended adolescence. For this reason, it is very important to identify learning disabilities in young children.