Learning Disabilities

Learning disability (LD), global LD, learning difficulty, and intellectual disability are all labels currently used to describe children and adults who have difficulties in their learning of new skills and understanding of information combined with difficulties in their adaptive functioning. These difficulties are considered developmental as they start or are identified at birth or in childhood, and are pervasive, impacting on all aspects of the child’s development continuing through the life span.

People with LDs have difficulties in their development of speech, language, and communication. Some syndromes of LD such as Down syndrome (DS) have specific developmental profiles of communication development. Identifying these profiles is helpful in understanding the nature and trajectory of communication development in these syndromes and how to support these individuals to be ...