Learning Disability
A child may have difficulty in learning due to a variety of reasons, including motor impairment, nutritional factors, intellectual disability, emotional-behavioral issues, lack of proper schooling, disturbed home environment, lack of guidance from teachers and parents to name a few. The term Learning Disability or LD refers specifically to the significantly below average performance of a school child in the areas of language processing and expression and/or mathematical ability inspite of adequate educational opportunities and intellectual ability. LD is presumed to be inherent and intrinsic, i.e. due to central nervous system dysfunction but environmental factors can compound the disability.
Children with LD face difficulties not only with academics but also in basic processing of information such as perceptual problems, figure ground discrimination, memory, [visual and auditory], phonological processing deficits and visuomotor problems. They also face a host of psychological problems including low self esteem, behavioral issues, emotional disturbances, self regulatory behavior, social interaction, poor motivation and metacognitive deficits.
Once a child is facing difficulty in studies, we need to investigate the extent and severity of learning deficits by a psycho-educational assessment done by an educational psychologist. Then we can plan educational strategies for him/her to overcome gaps in learning so that he can grow up and achieve his full potential as an adult.-