nature and treatment of learning disabilities in children
There are several different kinds of learning disabilities. The term represents a whole class of difficulties that a child can have with the comprehension and retention of information.
The ability to process information is what gets compromised when a child has a learning disability. Children with learning disabilities have trouble with one or more of the ways that human beings process the knowledge of the world around them.
Different kinds of learning disabilities
Some learning disabled children may have trouble taking in information that is delivered verbally (auditory information) or they may have issues with reading (visual information). This can lead to them not being able to recognize the shapes and positions of letters of the alphabet or of numerals.
The inability to comprehend is another fairly common learning disability. Some children may not be able to assemble information into a meaningful mental picture. A child with a poor vocabulary may not be able to understand a set of instructions or a lesson delivered with words that are not a part of their vocabulary.
Another example of a learning disability would be problems with short term memory. Short term memory is important when it comes to basic tasks like spelling and simple arithmetic. A child with short term memory issues may have trouble remembering how to spell certain words. They may need to have lessons repeated to them more often than other children not affected by their particular learning disability.
A fourth kind of learning disability comes in the form of the inability to communicate meaningfully. These are people who have issues mentally organizing information and being able to deliver it in a manner where it would make sense to the hearer. This problem hinder their ability to communicate functionally.
How learning disabilities are diagnosed
The methods range from testing, including intelligence and aptitude tests, as well as monitoring the child to see how he or she interacts socially. In many cases academic performance may also be a part of the criteria used to assess the child. These things all give experts the complete picture they need to decide how to categorize the learning disability.
Treatment
Once the assessment of a child has been made, then a course of action for treating their disability is charted. This may include lesson plans specially designed to cater to a specific child, or placement in an educational program that has been designed for children with similar disabilities. Among the tools used to teach the learning disabled are such methods as smaller classroom size, specially trained teachers, and environments with reduced stimuli that may improve the child's ability to focus on their work.
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