How To Tell If Your Child Has A Learning Disability

An individual is not considered to have a learning disability unless their deficits interfere with the acquisition of basic academic skills. Although a child’s difficulties may manifest earlier, true learning disabilities cannot be formally assessed until the demands of school are in place. In fact for a learning disability to be diagnosed, Federal law holds that a “severe discrepancy” must exist between a child’s intellectual ability and his or her academic achievement. The amount of discrepancy has been left undetermined. The common mode of practice in most schools is to suggest that a child be evaluated for a learning disability only if he or she is more than a year behind in their grade level for math, reading, or writing. This “wait and see” approach developed due to the costly nature inherent in the evaluation process. Schools first line of defense is to offer additional help in the main stream classroom. If the student’s performance still does not improve, hours of observation, interviews, and one-on-one assessment is required to then confirm a diagnosis of learning disabled.

You can also have your child’s learning problems assessed privately. Hence, there is no need to wait until your child enters a school of any kind. As a tax payer, you are entitled to have your child evaluated once they enroll in school regardless of whether it’s a private or public institution. Time matters with learning disabilities and just because the demands of school bring the nature of these deficits to light does not mean that waiting until a child is in school is the best thing for the child. There are a number of warning signs you can keep an eye out for that suggest your child may be struggling with learning. If you notice these, we recommend that you do not wait for your child to enter school. The more time passes in which a learning disability goes undiagnosed, the longer a child struggles unassisted with their individual deficits. As a result, they fall prey to feeling that learning is painful at best and impossible at worst. Many lose any enthusiasm they once had for education, their self-esteem plummets, learned helplessness sets in and motivation to work on their deficits becomes a challenge all its own.

The next pages will detail some of the earliest observable warning signs so that you are able to intervene at the first possible opportunity. This will give your child his or her best chance to overcome their obstacles to learning and build a strong successful future in spite of the unique challenges they’ve been asked to face.

Contact The Learning Center to Determine if Your Child Has Learning Disabilities