Learning disabilities are found in 7.6% of children in the US.
Does your child struggle repeatedly in certain areas of learning? Are your child’s skills highly uneven? Are there some types of learning that seem much more difficult than others – maybe reading and spelling, or math, or written expression, memory, or speed of thinking?
Your child may have a learning disability. Learning disabilities (LD) are neurological disorders that make it especially hard to acquire specific academic skills. More than 2.4 million students in the US have been diagnosed with a learning disability. It is not easy to recognize a learning disability. There is no single indicator or sign.
Types of learning disabilities include reading disability (dyslexia), mathematics disability (dyscalculia) and writing disability (dysgraphia).
Early recognition of learning disabilities is important. There is much that can be done to help your child learn better and with less frustration. Many kids with LD feel that they are “stupid” even if they never say it aloud. Usually they feel much better knowing that the difficulty is quite specific and understanding that they can improve with hard work and practice.
Learning disabilities teamwork
At the NeuroDevelopment Center, we will work together as a team – you, your child’s teachers, your child, and our neuropsychologists – to understand your child’s learning difficulties. Your voice will be heard – completely and carefully. Teachers and other school professionals will also help us to understand. We will also want to understand it from your child’s point of view as well. Finally, we supplement this picture of the child with information gained from neuropsychological tests proven to illuminate different building blocks of learning, and with our neuropsychologist’s highly trained and practiced observation. Then we put this information together to reveal the unique pattern of strengths and weaknesses and to craft a set of recommendations to help your child succeed.
Learning disabilities assessment
Learning disabilities treatment
Parenting a child with a learning disability
It’s not easy to raise a learning disabled child. School is so important and school performance is so carefully monitored that the whole learning process can feel like torture to a child with learning disabilities. Some kids grow frustrated, discouraged, even depressed after struggling so hard to perform in school. Others can get very anxious about school, intensely resistant to all things academic – especially homework. So parents often wind up in the role of homework “cop”. Their relationship with their child can suffer. Even though you understand your child’s struggles, there may be times when you find yourself frustrated, angry, then guilty. Often parents disagree on how to handle the challenges associated with raising a child with learning disabilities. Many parents feel isolated and alone. Our family therapy can help. Learn more.
Disabilities only? No way. Many amazingly accomplished people have learning disabilities:
- Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Louis Pasteur are believed to have had learning disabilities
- Walt Disney also probably had learning disabilities
- George Washington, Woodrow Wilson, and Nelson Rockefeller were dyslexic
