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Individuals with learning disabilities (LD) typically possess average or above average intelligence, yet their academic performance is weaker than expected and often not equal to that of their peers. Individuals with LD characteristically have weaknesses in processing and performance on reading, writing, and math tasks. Deficits may exist in memory and metacognition also.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines a learning disability as

a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. [34 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 300, Section 300.7(c)(10)]

A person with a learning disability has average or above average intelligence, yet possesses neurological processing deficits that result in life-long struggles with reading, writing, and math. Even if a learning disability is identified, a child or adult can still learn skills and acquire critical strategies to enable him or her to be successful. The entry reviews characteristics of students with LD, possible causes of learning disabilities, the identification of students with LD, and teaching strategies for working with these students.

Characteristics

The psychologist Samuel Kirk is often cited as having coined the term learning disability or “learning disabilities” in the early 1960s. Prior to that time, predating landmark legislation for all individuals with disabilities, if a child or adult had academic struggles for which no cause was evident, that person may have been labeled mildly mentally retarded, minimally brain dysfunctional, or just lazy. The U.S. federal definition of learning disabilities, as well as a second, often cited definition written by the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, both define what a learning disability is (characteristics), as well as what it is not.

Reading

Individuals who have LD in reading may have difficulties in word recognition, comprehension, and may lose their place while reading or read in a choppy, halting manner. Researchers have argued that weaknesses in phonemic awareness underlie reading disabilities—that is, difficulties recognizing and cognitively processing sound segments in the spoken word, a prerequisite for understanding the relationship between written letters and sounds. A term sometimes used in conjunction with distinguishable deficits in phonemic awareness is dyslexia.

Written Language

Problems in written language may manifest themselves in the areas of handwriting, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary usage, number of words written, and the processing and organization of written ideas. Children with LD in written language, therefore, may have difficulties in any one or more of these areas.

Math

Poor math achievement among individuals with LD commonly has included difficulties differentiating numbers and copying shapes, recalling math facts, writing numbers legibly or in small spaces, processing and understanding math-related vocabulary, and identifying, using, and monitoring the use of algorithms to solve math problems.

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