Compiled by: Alen Kuriakose
Children are born to learn and speak the language in their early years and later in their school life they tend to read, write and do arithmetic according to their intellectual capacity. But some children in spite of their high intellectual capacity are incapable of acquiring age-appropriate learning. These children may have specific learning disabilities. (Shah, 2009)
According to Rights of Persons With Disability Act of 2016 “specific learning disabilities” means a heterogeneous group of conditions wherein there is a deficit in processing language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself as a difficulty to comprehend, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations and includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, and developmental aphasia. (Ministry of Law & Justice,2016)
In the International Classification of Diseases-11, it is said as a Developmental learning disorder that is characterized by significant and persistent difficulties in learning academic skills, which may include reading, writing or arithmetic. (World Health Organization, 2018).
The Diagnostic & Statistic Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM IV-TR) diagnosis Learning Disability “when the individual’s achievement on individually administered standardized tests is substantially below that expected for age, schooling, and level of intelligence. This approach recognizes three defined categories: reading disorders, mathematics disorders and disorders of written expression. (APA, 2000)
According to DSM –V diagnosis Specific learning disorders with the following symptoms:
Persistent difficulties in learning and using academic skills with difficulties in reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic reasoning skills. It includes slow and effortful reading, a poor written expression that lacks clarity and inaccurate mathematical reasoning
Academic skills must be below those expected average range of scores in culturally and linguistically appropriate tests
Learning difficulties begin during school-age years but may not become fully manifest until the demands for those affected academic skills exceed the individuals limited capacity
The learning difficulties must not be better explained by neurological, developmental or motor disorders. (APA, 2013)
Types of Learning Disabilities
Learning Disabilities is an umbrella term including different types of specific learning disabilities.
Dyslexia is a language-based disability having problems with understanding words, sentences or paragraphs. It is also referred to as language-based learning disability (Learning Disability Association of America. 2013) It is a persistent reading difficulty that cannot be explained by sensory deficits, cognitive difficulties, lack of motivation or reading instruction. (Lyon, G. R., Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. 2003).
Dysgraphia is a disorder characterized by difficulties in the acquisition of writing skills with writing performance below that expected based on school age. (Dohla, Diana, heim & Stefan,2015). The term dysgraphia has used to refer the impaired spelling and also labeled as deficits affecting the motor planning required for handwriting in literature. (McCloskey, M., & Rapp, B. 2017)
Dyscalculia is an arithmetic learning disability that impairs an individual’s ability to represent and process numerical magnitude in a typical way. The symptoms include difficulty with numbers, fact and calculation and reasoning. (Frye Medically, 2019)
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