Parents Guide to Helping a Child With Learning Disabilities

A learning disability (LD) is a group of disorders that negatively impact the ability to learn. Learning disabilities make it more challenging to learn how to read, write, do math, listen, and speak.  

Those with learning disabilities very often show a large discrepancy between their intelligence and their school performance. In fact, a learning disability is only diagnosed in those with at least an IQ of 85!

Intelligence is rarely an issue in those with a learning disability.

Learning disabilities are lifelong conditions that can be very successfully managed, but never go away. Once you have a learning disorder, you have it for life.

Learning disabilities are successfully managed with proper identification and academic intervention.  

In fact, there are many people you’re familiar with that have learning disabilities, and many famous historical figures are believed to have had learning disabilities as well.

These include:

●    Tom Cruise

●    Steven Spielberg

●     Cher

●    Richard Branson

●    Benjamin Franklin

●    Thomas Jefferson

●    Albert Einstein

●    George Patton

That’s a pretty successful group of people! You can see that there’s plenty of hope for any child to have a successful life, whether they suffer from a learning disability or not.

Learning disabilities are more common than you might think.

●    Nearly 1 out of 5 people in the US has a learning disability.

●    Nearly 3 million children between the ages of 6 and 21 have some form of learning disability and receive special education services.

No one is certain what causes learning disabilities. However, there is no doubt that genetics and the brain play a big role. A child is up to 10 times more likely to have a learning disability if a parent or sibling has a learning disability. Several genes that play a role in learning disabilities have been identified.

Studies have shown that the structure and activity of the brains of those with learning disabilities are often different from those of people without learning disabilities.

There are laws in the United States that include provisions for those with learning challenges. It’s important to understand your child’s rights if you’re going to be the best possible advocate for them.