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Learning Disabilities Overview
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Update 2002. ERIC Digest

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He lets out a sigh and slouches in his chair. Arms folded, he glares at the book with a furrowed brow. After a moment, the boy glances at his friend sitting across the aisle, leans forward to the book once more, and runs his index finger along the lines of text. His lips contort in an attempt to silently sound out the words that stare back at him. He stops again, purses his lips, looks to the front of the room, and raises his hand. When the boy's history teacher walks over to the side of his desk, the boy quietly asks, "What does fed-er-al-ism mean?"

This boy is one example of a student with learning disabilities (LD). Individuals with LD typically look like their peers, but differ from them as well as others with LD in many ways. For example, one person with learning disabilities may have strengths in math and reasoning, yet weaknesses in understanding and communicating what he or she hears or reads. Another person with LD may demonstrate very different strengths and weaknesses.

Individuals with LD generally have average or above average intelligence, yet they often do not achieve at the same academic level as their peers. Their weaker academic achievement, particularly in reading, written language, and math, is perhaps the most fundamental characteristic of individuals with LD. Significant deficits often exist in memory, metacognition, and social skills as well. Let's look a bit more closely at each of these areas.

READING

Individuals who have LD in reading have difficulties decoding or recognizing words (e.g., letter/sound omissions, insertions, substitutions, reversals) or comprehending them (e.g., recalling or discerning basic facts, main ideas, sequences, or themes). They also may display other difficulties such as losing their places while reading or reading in a choppy manner. Some researchers argue that a difficulty with phonological awareness or phonological processing-recognizing sound segments in the spoken word-underlies reading disabilities, and this capability is requisite for understanding the relationship between written letters and sounds (Torgesen & Wagner, 1998). Another term sometimes used in conjunction with reading disabilities is dyslexia. Dyslexia may be best understood as a type of reading disability. During early childhood, children with dyslexia have difficulties learning spoken language. Later in their school years, children with dyslexia have trouble decoding and spelling words and, consequently, are likely to experience comprehension problems also.

A reading disability affects every aspect of an individual's life, from the early years of school when children learn to read, to later years when students are expected to read in order to learn specific content, and into the community, home, and workplace where every person needs to acquire and understand written information.

WRITTEN LANGUAGE

For students with LD, problems in written language can occur in handwriting, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary usage, volume of information produced, and organization of written ideas. Moreover, individuals who have difficulties in one area may demonstrate strengths in others. Many students with LD in reading also have difficulty writing, since both areas are language-based (receptive and expressive). Difficulties with writing affect a student's achievement in virtually every content area. For example, students with writing difficulties may understand concepts in science or social studies, but be unable to express their understanding on an essay exam or in a lab report. They may also demonstrate considerable understanding in group or class discussions, but later turn in a homework assignment on the same material that lacks clarity or organization.

Disorders - Learning Disorders