Common Learning Disabilities: Dyslexia and Others

September 07, 2008

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Common Learning Disabilities: Dyslexia and Others

by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.
reviewed by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.

The most common learning disability (LD) is for reading and writing. This problem is sometimes called "dyslexia," and sometimes "specific learning disability for reading." Basically, these terms mean the same thing. I'll use dyslexia because it's shorter.

Dyslexia means nothing more than a child who struggles with reading, out of proportion to his general intelligence. If getting new glasses solves the problem, then it's not dyslexia. If treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or an emotional disorder solves the problem, then it's not dyslexia either.

Some children with dyslexia reverse letters when they write or complain of eyestrain while attempting to read. But these problems are the result of their dyslexia, not its cause. Many children without dyslexia also have these problems.

Other learning disabilities
Every ability needed to succeed academically has a corresponding disability. This is a partial list of academic abilities and what happens when they are lacking:

Reading. Children need to be able to connect written symbols (letters and groups of letters) with the sounds they represent. Then they need to connect those sounds together and link them to words they know. Problems handling word sounds underlie most cases of dyslexia.

Writing. Children have to be able to form all of the letters automatically--that is, without actually thinking about their shapes. If they have to stop and think about each letter, their writing will be slow and choppy and they will not be able to keep up with writing assignments.

Math. The ability to handle basic math process--addition and subtraction--is related to an underlying ability to visualize things in space and gauge their quantity. Children with problems in this area may have what's called "dyscalculia," a specific learning disability for math.

Memory. Skills involved in memory include taking information in, holding onto it, and finding it again in response to an unspoken command, such as "Who did invent the light bulb?" Problems with any of these memory processes--intake, storage, or retrieval--can cause a learning disability.

There are many other specific skills that can become problem areas, such as understanding or expressing spoken language, keeping things in order (sequencing), rapid recall, planning for movements, and so on. Often a child has difficulties with more than one particular skills (as well as strengths in other areas!).

None of us is equally good at all things. When the gap is very wide between things you are very good at (making friends, music, drawing, for example) and the things you're not so good at (sorting out word sounds, remembering names of things), you might have a learning disability.


RELATED INFORMATION

			Getting a Learning-Problems Assessment for Your Child
			Official Definitions of a Learning Disability and the Assessment Process
			School Problems

Created September 26, 2000
Reviewed August 26, 2004

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