Learning Disorders

Detecting early signs of learning disabilities and seeking immediate help can be key to your child's progress and overall well being. Some schools play an important role in identifying, very early on, learning disabilities; those are the ones that implement and follow a specific process for early screening of children’s learning disabilities during their first three years of schooling.  

As parents, it is also important to pay attention to your child's early developmental milestones and make sure there are no significant delays in them. Key early developmental milestones are: walking, talking, socializing, reasoning, acquiring learning prerequisites (phonological awareness, attention and memory skills, planning, flexibility, etc.) and meeting educational goals (memorising songs and rhymes, producing shapes/letters/simple words, completing patterns, etc.).  Any delay in these areas can be an obstacle to learning or places your child at risk. These delays and difficulties may occur with other signs such as a slow learning pace, lack of enthusiasm for school tasks, trouble memorizing things and staying focused.

Noticing your child’s difficulties at an early stage and seeking help from an SLT is critical because it allows him/her to receive the needed help as soon as possible. If you suspect a learning disorder or if you have concerns, talk to your child’s teacher and consult with an SLT for a comprehensive evaluation.

Learning disabilities have multiple forms and can affect children differently and with varying degrees of severity. Some disorders have specific signs depending on the skills affected. However, most children with learning disabilities (whatever the disorders they have) share some common signs in having difficulties in :

Learning disabilities are often identified in the early years of schooling (KG3 and Elementary years). They may be sometimes discovered later on when learning becomes more complex.  

Once you have identified your child’s difficulties and challenges,  you will need a comprehensive assessment done by a speech therapist. The SLT will perform a formal assessment of your child’s language, prerequisites and learning skills, such as understanding instructions, manipulating sounds, reading and writing.

Following the assessment, and depending on your child’s condition, the speech therapist might ask you to consult with other specialists such as a neurologist, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, in order to work together to reach a clear diagnosis. 

Learning disabilities are developmental disorders, which means that they are not linked to intelligence or a lower IQ. 

A child with learning disability typically has a normal to high IQ, but may be unable to exhibit the skill level expected from someone of a similar age and with a similar IQ due to the difficulties his/her brain has at receiving, processing, storing, retrieving and communicating the information he/she gets. Because of those difficulties, and not because of a low IQ, they can struggle to accomplish tasks that are necessary to succeed in school or in life. 

Your child’s learning difficulties are not caused by any specific teaching method. A child with a learning disability struggles with reading and writing because he/she’s not being able to process received visual or auditory information the right way.  

However, specific accommodations and teaching approaches can certainly be applied in order to help your child acquire information more easily such as:

 

Following the SLT’s assessment, your child’s therapist will suggest specific accommodations that suit his/her unique and personal needs.

Learning disabilities are relatively common. Statistics done in the U.S. show that between 8% and 10% of children under 18 of age may have some type of learning disability. 

Difficulty with reading and writing skills being the most common learning disabilities.

Since learning disabilities are developmental, they cannot be cured. Therapy is a lifelong process involving your child and his environment. Research has shown that if learning disabilities are detected early, therapy’s outcome can greatly improve your child’s abilities, as it will help him all through his learning process to keep on adapting to the changing requirements and build at each stage the adequate new skills to deal with them. 

Learning disabilities can affect children differently; your child’s difficulties can be mild, moderate or severe. That's why the treatment process can vary among children in terms of length and frequency. On average, a period of 3 to 6 months of therapy is needed before being able to see palpable  improvements  in your child’s learning abilities.

With appropriate academic support and with speech therapy intervention, children with learning disabilities can achieve success in school, in their future career, in relationships, and in the community at their own slower pace. Speech therapy will help bridge the gap between your child and his peers.

Learning disabilities affect a child’s ability to learn at variable degrees. 

Children with a mild learning disability struggle with learning and need a bit longer than usual to acquire new skills. Children with a moderate to severe learning disability may have special educational needs that require a special program that answers their own requirements, may it be at their own school or in a more specialised academic institution.

In general, the academic performance of a child can be greatly affected in specific areas (reading, writing, reasoning, etc.), resulting in frustration and emotional struggles.

However, with the right accommodations and with speech therapy intervention, your child’s abilities will improve and develop to gradually meet his academic requirements.

Dealing with Learning Disabilities, Speech and language therapy involves helping families and caregivers to recognize, understand, and accept a child’s problems and difficulties. 

Following the diagnosis, your child’s speech therapist will tailor an individual treatment plan based on the assessment’s findings, your concerns, your child’s individual strengths and needs, his/her age and his academic requirements. It includes well-defined goals, objectives, school accommodations and parental support.

Speech therapy will help your child build on his/her strengths and acquire strategies to compensate for his/her weaknesses by developing his/her cognitive (attention, memory, planning, flexibility, etc.) and language skills.

Your child’s SLT will also work closely with your child’s teacher to help your child in class. This may include suggesting some school accommodations to help him/her in the classroom and during evaluation.

Your child's treatment plan will definitely evolve over time depending on the goals reached and his/her upcoming academic requirements. 

11- Will I attend my child's speech therapy session?

Speech and language therapy is more effective when the child’s family is actively engaged in the treatment process. You are therefore encouraged to work closely with your child’s speech therapist to reinforce the new skills he/she’s learning in therapy. Your child’s speech therapist might ask you to attend some therapy sessions when needed but she will certainly ask you or your child’s home tutor to attend specific coaching sessions or meetings for feedback, guidance and support. 

Attending coaching sessions and observing a therapy session with the speech therapist will provide you with new techniques and strategies to support your child. It can also teach you new ways of responding to difficult or problematic behaviors.

Finding out that your child has a learning disability can be overwhelming. 

The best thing you can do as a parent is simply to support and encourage your child’s abilities by pointing out his strengths and his efforts and by enrolling him in extracurricular activities that will help boost his self confidence.

Reading and writing skills can be encouraged by having books and magazines available at home. Experiences like interactive book reading, conversations about current and past events, games like puzzles, mazes, etc. and family trips to the market, library, and playground provide personal growth opportunities and also stimulate conceptual learning and linguistic development. Engaging in activities and games such as word play, riddles, quest solving and storytelling can enhance your child’s skills by offering opportunities for practicing reading and writing in a fun and interactive way.