Q.
What are the various types of learning disabilities?
A.
Learning disabilities can show up in several ways—as specific
difficulties with spoken and written language, co-ordination,
self-control or attention.
They
are divided into 3 broad categories:
(1).
DEVELOPMENTAL SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS
These
people have difficulty producing speech sounds,
(Developmental
Articulation Disorders) whereby they may have trouble controlling
their rate of speech or may lag behind in learning to make speech
sounds for e.g. "Sweep" may be pronounced as "Thweep".
These articulation disorders are common and is seen in at least
10 percent of children younger than 8 years. Most of the children
however outgrow their problems or are successfully treated with
speech therapy.
Some
children may have problems expressing themselves in speech (
Developmental
Expressive Language Disorders). They may call objects by wrong
names or are unable to answer simple questions.
Some
people may have trouble understanding certain aspects of speech
(
Developmental Receptive Language Disorders). They may
not respond to their names or are unable to follow simple directions.
Their hearing is normal but they just can’t make sense of
certain sounds, words or sentences that they hear and may even
appear inattentive. These people may also have trouble in expressing
themselves.
(2).
ACADEMIC SKILLS DISORDERS
These
children have difficulty in reading, writing or arithmetic. These
are the most common learning disabilities seen. It consists of
-
Dyslexia (Developmental Reading Disorder):
- A person with dyslexia has trouble in any of the tasks involving
reading. A significant number of people with dyslexia are unable
to distinguish or separate the sounds in a spoken word for e.g.
they may be unable to identify the word "Cat" if you
spell out the individual letters "c-a-t." They may
also reverse letters, words and numbers. They may confuse the
order of letters in words or may not recognize words previously
learned. They may also spell a word in several different ways
without recognizing the correct version. They may not hear fine
differences in words i.e. write "tin" for "ten"
and may even confuse between right and left.
An
older child with dyslexia may have trouble remembering what
has recently been read, have difficulty concentrating while
reading or writing and may also have poor spelling.
-
Developmental Writing Disorder:
- Writing involves several areas of the brain (areas involved
with vocabulary, grammar, hand movement and memory). Hence,
a developmental writing disorder may develop in a person who
has problems in any of these areas.
- Dyscalculia
(Developmental Arithmetic Disorder):
- It is a mathematical disorder in which a person has a difficult
time solving arithmetic problems and in grasping math concepts.
Last
created on 20-01-2001
Last
updated on 18-11-2006
