A LETTER TO PARENTS, TEACHERS, CARE GIVERS AND ALL WHO DARE READ…

Dear all,

Have you ever come across someone, maybe a child or an adult, who fears/ avoids anything that may require him/ her to read out loud, calculate something, write out something or engage in any physical activity? May be the first person that has come to your mind is your very own child whom you've been wondering what is wrong with him/ her or if you are a teacher, it might be that child in your class who is always scoring poorly in languages or Mathematics or they might as well get a panic attack when told to read out loud something in class. Maybe it might be that friend of yours or a child you know who never likes anything that entails physical activity and because of this, they have been labeled as antisocial and nowadays, nobody bothers with them. Well, today I’d love us to take a walk through knowledge lane and get to learn more about Learning Disorders and hopefully we can reach out to those whom we know or suspect might be suffering from them.

Learningdisabilities (LD) are neurological disorders that can make it difficult to acquire certain academic and social skills. They interfere with a person’s ability to store, process or produce information. Unlike what is commonly believed by those who've interacted with individuals with learning disorders, they are not the result of poor intelligence or laziness.

Some of the most common types of learning disabilities include:

Dyslexia

This is a reading-based learning disability, which results in individuals, especially children, having difficulty with word recognition and decoding print. They may have difficulty identifying and comprehending words from a book or with spelling. Because decoding printed words from a book becomes so much of a struggle, they often miss the meaning of what they have read.

Signs and symptoms of Dyslexia

Young/ school age children may exhibit trouble:

• Recognizing letters, matching letters to sounds and blending sounds into speech
• Pronouncing words, for example saying “mawn lower” instead of “lawn mower”
• Learning and correctly using new vocabulary words
• Learning the alphabet, numbers, and days of the week or similar common word sequences
• Rhyming
• Mastering the rules of spelling
• Remembering facts and numbers
• Handwriting or with gripping a pencil
• Learning and understanding new skills; instead, relying heavily on memorization
• Reading and spelling, such as reversing letters (d, b) or moving letters around (left, felt)
• Following a sequence of directions
• Trouble with word problems in math

Teenagers and adults on the other hand may have trouble:

• Reading at the expected level
• Understanding non-literal language, such as idioms, jokes, or proverbs
• Reading aloud
• Organizing and managing time
• Trouble summarizing a story
• Learning a foreign language
• Memorizing

Helping individuals with Dyslexia

In case you are a parent, teacher, caregiver or friend of someone who suffers from dyslexia, you can use the following strategies to help the individual progress:

• Expose your child to early oral reading, writing, drawing, and practice to encourage development of print knowledge, basic letter formation, recognition skills and linguistic awareness (the relationship between sound and meaning).
• Have your child practice reading different kinds of texts. This includes books, magazines, ads and comics.Include multi-sensory, structured language instruction. Practice using sight, sound and touch when introducing new ideas.
• Seek modifications in the classroom. This might include extra time to complete assignments, help with note taking, oral testing and other means of assessment.
• Use books on tape and assistive technology. Examples are screen readers and voice recognition computer software.
• Get help with the emotional issues that arise from struggling to overcome academic difficulties.
• Reading and writing are key skills for daily living. However, it is important to also emphasize other aspects of learning and expression. Like all people, those with dyslexia enjoy activities that tap into their strengths and interests. For example, people with dyslexia may be attracted to fields that do not emphasize language skills. Examples are design, art, architecture, engineering and surgery.

Dysgraphia

This is a writing disability, which means one may not have the complex set of motor and information processing skills to be able to write his or her own thoughts down on a piece of paper. Individuals with Dysgraphia struggle with writing complete and grammatically correct sentences, and often have poor handwriting.

Signs and Symptoms

Young/ school- age children may exhibit;

• Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position
• Avoiding writing or drawing tasks
• Trouble forming letter shapes
• Inconsistent spacing between letters or words
• Poor understanding of uppercase and lowercase letters
• Inability to write or draw in a line or within margins
• Tiring quickly while writing
• Illegible handwriting
• Mixture of cursive and print writing
• Saying words out loud while writing
• Concentrating so hard on writing that comprehension of what's written is missed
• Trouble thinking of words to write
• Omitting or not finishing words in sentences

On the other hand, teenagers/ adults may exhibit;

• Trouble organizing thoughts on paper
• Trouble keeping track of thoughts already written down
• Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar
• Large gap between written ideas and understanding demonstrated through speech

Helping Individuals with Dysgraphia

There are many ways to help a person with Dysgraphia achieve success. Generally strategies fall into three main categories:

1. Accommodations: providing alternatives to written expression
2. Modifications: changing expectations or tasks to minimize or avoid the area of weakness
3. Remediation: providing instruction for improving handwriting and writing skills

Each type of strategy should be considered when planning instruction and support. A person with dysgraphia will benefit from help from both specialists and those who are closest to the person. Finding the most beneficial type of support is a process of trying different ideas and openly exchanging thoughts on what works best.

Here are examples of how to teach individuals with dysgraphia to overcome some of their difficulties with written expression.

Early Writers

• Be patient and positive, encourage practice and praise effort. Becoming a good writer takes time and practice.
• Use paper with raised lines for a sensory guide to staying within the lines.
• Try different pens and pencils to find one that’s most comfortable.
• Practice writing letters and numbers in the air with big arm movements to improve motor memory of these important shapes. Also practice letters and numbers with smaller hand or finger motions.
• Encourage proper grip, posture and paper positioning for writing. It’s important to reinforce this early as it’s difficult for students to unlearn bad habits later on.
• Use multi-sensory techniques for learning letters, shapes and numbers. For example, speaking through motor sequences, such as “b” is “big stick down, circle away from my body.”
• Introduce a word processor on a computer early; however do not eliminate handwriting for the child. While typing can make it easier to write by alleviating the frustration of forming letters, handwriting is a vital part of a person's ability to function in the world.

Young Students

• Encourage practice through low-stress opportunities for writing. This might include writing letters or in a diary, making household lists, or keeping track of sports teams.
• Allow use of print or cursive—whichever is more comfortable.
• Use large graph paper for math calculation to keep columns and rows organized.
• Allow extra time for writing assignments.
• Begin writing assignments creatively with drawing, or speaking ideas into a tape recorder.
• Alternate focus of writing assignments—put the emphasis on some for neatness and spelling, others for grammar or organization of ideas.
• Explicitly teach different types of writing—expository and personal essays, short stories, poems, etc.
• Do not judge timed assignments on neatness and spelling.
• Have students proofread work after a delay—it’s easier to see mistakes after a break.
• Help students create a checklist for editing work—spelling, neatness, grammar, syntax, clear progression of ideas, etc.
• Encourage use of a spell checker—speaking spell checkers are available for handwritten work.
• Reduce amount of copying; instead, focus on writing original answers and ideas.
• Have student complete tasks in small steps instead of all at once.
• Find alternative means of assessing knowledge, such as oral reports or visual projects.

Teenagers and Adults

Many of these tips can be used by all age groups. It is never too early or too late to reinforce the skills needed to be a good writer.

• Provide tape recorders to supplement note taking and to prepare for writing assignments.
• Create a step-by-step plan that breaks writing assignments into small tasks (see below).
• When organizing writing projects, create a list of keywords that will be useful.
• Provide clear, constructive feedback on the quality of work, explaining both the strengths and weaknesses of the project, commenting on the structure as well as the information that is included.
• Use assistive technology such as voice-activated software if the mechanical aspects of writing remain a major hurdle.

Dyscalculia

This is a math-based learning disability, which results in your child having trouble recognizing numbers and symbols and understanding basic math concepts. For older students, they often have issues related to reasoning.

Signs and Symptoms

Young or school- age children may exhibit:

• Difficulty learning to count
• Trouble recognizing printed numbers
• Difficulty tying together the idea of a number (4) and how it exists in the world (4 horses, 4 cars, 4 children)
• Poor memory for numbers
• Trouble organizing things in a logical way - putting round objects in one place and square ones in another
• Trouble learning math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
• Difficulty developing math problem-solving skills
• Poor long term memory for math functions
• Unfamiliarity with math vocabulary
• Difficulty measuring things
• Avoiding games that require strategy

Teenagers and adults may exhibit:

• Difficulty estimating costs like groceries bills
• Difficulty learning math concepts beyond the basic math facts
• Poor ability to budget or balance a checkbook
• Trouble with concepts of time, such as sticking to a schedule or approximating time
• Trouble with mental math
• Difficulty finding different approaches to one problem

Helping individuals with Dyscalculia

Helping a student identify his/her strengths and weaknesses is the first step to getting help. Following identification, parents, teachers, and other educators can work together to establish strategies that will help the student learn math more effectively. Help outside the classroom lets a student and tutor focus specifically on the difficulties that student is having, taking pressure off moving to new topics too quickly. Repeated reinforcement and specific practice of straightforward ideas can make understanding easier. Other strategies for inside and outside the classroom include:

• Use graph paper for students who have difficulty organizing ideas on paper.
• Work on finding different ways to approach math facts; i.e., instead of just memorizing the multiplication tables, explain that 8 x 2 = 16, so if 16 is doubled, 8 x 4 must = 32.
• Practice estimating as a way to begin solving math problems.
• Introduce new skills beginning with concrete examples and later moving to more abstract applications.
• For language difficulties, explain ideas and problems clearly and encourage students to ask questions as they work.
• Provide a place to work with few distractions and have pencils, erasers and other tools on hand as needed.
• Help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Understanding how a person learns best is a big step in achieving academic success and confidence.

Dyspraxia

This is a disorder that affects motor skill development. People with dyspraxia have trouble planning and completing fine motor tasks. This can vary from simple motor tasks such as waving goodbye to more complex tasks like brushing teeth. It is not a learning disability (LD) but often coexists with other LDs and conditions that impact learning.

Signs and Symptoms

Young or school- age children may exhibit the following:

• Difficulty learning to walk, jump, hop, skip and throw or catch a ball
• Difficulty pronouncing words and being understood
• Difficulty establishing left- or right- handedness
• Bumping into things
• Moving the eyes—instead, moving the whole head
• Being sensitive to touch such as being irritated by clothing on skin, hair brushing, nail-cutting, or teeth-brushing
• Poor pencil grip and letter formation and slow handwriting
• Doing activities that require fine motor skills, like holding a pencil, buttoning, cutting with scissors
• Playing sports, riding a bike and other activities requiring coordination
• Sensing direction
• Speaking at a normal rate or in way that can be easily understood
• Making social connections due to speech challenges
• Phobias and obsessive behavior

Teenagers and adults on the other hand may exhibit the following:

• Difficulty in speech control—volume, pitch, articulation
• Difficulty writing and typing
• Over- or under- sensitivity to light, touch, space, taste, or smells
• Trouble with personal grooming and other self-help activities
• Trouble cooking or doing other household chores
• Difficulty driving
• Avoiding Clumsiness 

All people with dyspraxia need help practicing simple tasks. They can benefit from step-by-step progress into more complex activities. Start with easy physical activities that develop coordination. This can increase confidence. Encourage friendships to broaden experience and understanding of social relationships.

Central Auditory Process Disorder- CAPD (auditory-based)

This is an auditory disability, which means a child has difficulty processing information he or she hears and interpreting speech. A child with CAPD does not necessarily suffer from hearing loss, instead he or she has a hearing problem where the brain does not interpret information heard.

Common signs include:

• Distracted by background noises
• Has difficulty following directions
• Misspells or mispronounces similar sounding words
• Has trouble following conversations

Visual Processing Disorder (visual-based)

Visual Processing Disorder occurs when a child cannot receive, process, sequence, recall or express information in an accurate and timely way. This does not mean the child has poor eyesight, but that his or her brain has trouble processing visual information. Common signs include:

• Often mistake letters and numbers that look similar in shape; misreads words
• Remembering the spelling of familiar words incorrectly
• Cannot copy words accurately;  spacing letters or words poorly; writing outside lines, margins
• Loses place while reading; cannot find numbers or details on a page easily

Aphasia, Dysphasia or Global Aphasia (language-based)

Children who suffer from language-based disorders such as aphasia, dysphasia or global aphasia have a hard time expressing themselves using words as well as understanding spoken or written language.

Common signs include:

• Difficulty expressing thoughts verbally
• Poor reading comprehension
• Frustrated when speaking
• Has trouble labeling objects

If you think your child may have a learning disability, it’s best to find support right away. A learning disability cannot be “cured,” but with the right resources and support you can make sure your child can overcome learning disability barriers, gain confidence and achieve success.Paying attention to normal developmental milestones for toddlers and younger children is key for early detection of learning disabilities. Any differences from the normal developmental pattern may be an early signal of a learning disability that would be easier to correct at an earlier age.

In case you feel like there is a need to consult a professional on the same, please reach out to any of the following for assistance:

• Pediatricians
• Clinical psychologists
• School psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Educational psychologists
• Developmental psychologists
• Occupational therapist (tests sensory disorders that can lead to learning problems)
• Speech and language therapist

Please note that sometimes several professionals coordinate services as a team to obtain an accurate diagnosis. They may ask for input from your child's teachers. Recommendations can then be made for special education services or speech-language therapy.

We wish all our readers well and please make sure to share out what you have learnt with as many people as possible. This might just be the long awaited break through for someone in desperate need!