Learning disabilities in children and youth

Contemporary educators describe individuals who are of average or above average mental ability, but for some unknown reason experience difficulties in learning to read and spell and/or do math, as having a Learning Disability. This condition is described as "unexpected" because the learning difficulty cannot be explained by factors such as hearing or visual impairments, environmental conditions that are not conductive for learning to read, or lack of motivation. Some specialists describe this condition simply as Reading Disability or Dyslexia. The fact that some children who have normal or even higher intelligence have difficulty in learning to read has been recognized for more than one hundred years. The pioneers in this area were two British physicians, Pringle Morgan and James Hinshelwood who, towards the end of the 19th century, published descriptive accounts of children who turned out to have unexpected reading and spelling difficulties. Soon after these reports, many papers were published on both sides of the Atlantic about children who experienced unexpected reading problems. These early physicians thought such a reading difficulty was due to under-developed reading areas in the brain. In the 1930s, Samuel Orton, a physician based in Iowa, gave a different kind of interpretation by proposing that such a reading difficulty was due to an incomplete development of cerebral hemispheric dominance of the brain.

In 1960, Samuel Kirk, in an educational meeting in Chicago, introduced the term "Learning Disability" to describe this form of unexpected reading difficulty. This form of learning deficiency gained official recognition as a form of disability when the disabilities act PO 192 was passed in 1970. There have been several attempts to define Learning Disability, but not to the satisfaction of all. The primary source of disagreement is that these definitions are based on exclusionary criteria. That is, to be diagnosed as having Learning Disability, the individual should not be mentally retarded, should not have emotional problems, should not have sensory deficits, should not have experienced environmental deprivations, but does have significant problems in reading and/or math.

For our purposes, we can describe reading disability as a condition when a child can listen and comprehend passages read to him but cannot read and understand the same material to the same extent because of deficient decoding skills. Reading problems constitute more than 80% of the cases of Learning Disabilities. A small minority of students are said to have mathematical disability.

Children and adolescents perform poorly in school for various reasons. Some have emotional or family problems; for others, the source of trouble is the community, the school, or peers; and some are simply below average intellectually. But 10 to 20 percent have a neurologically-based disorder of the type called a learning disability. According to the definition used by the federal government, these children are of at least average intelligence (many are far above average), and their academic problems are not caused by an emotional disturbance, by social or cultural conditions, or by a primary visual, hearing, or motor disability. Instead, the reason for their learning problems seems to be that their brains are "wired" in a way slightly different from the average person's. About 20 percent of children with learning disabilities also have a related problem, attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Its symptoms include hyperactivity, distractibility, and impulsiveness. ADD or ADHD must be evaluated and treated separately from the learning disability.

Learning disabilities are lifelong conditions that may require special understanding and help throughout grade school, high school, and beyond. They are also life disabilities that have important effects outside of the classroom, interfering not only with academic work but also with children's games, daily activities, and even friendships. Therefore, help for these children means more than classroom special education.