How to Know if You Have a Learning Disorder

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Learning disorders are neurological problems that affect the way the brain processes information, making it difficult or impossible to learn certain skills, such as reading, writing and calculating. Although they are diagnosed in childhood and many people start therapy at school age, in many other cases, unfortunately, they go unnoticed and are never identified. This article will help you understand if you or your child have a specific learning disorder (SLD) and will provide you with more information on the testing and diagnostic process.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Recognizing the Symptoms of a Specific Learning Disorder

Step 1. Keep in mind that there are various types of specific learning disabilities

Each of these disabilities affects people differently and can produce different types of symptoms. Generally speaking, it impairs the way in which the brain processes information or stimuli of an auditory, visual and lexical nature.

• ASDs are neurological disorders that affect the way the brain receives, processes, stores and reacts to information - basically all of its cognitive functions.
• ASDs are not treatable, but they last a lifetime. However, with proper help it is possible to manage them.

Step 2. Learn about the most common ASDs

One in five people are diagnosed with ASD. Unfortunately, since each of these disorders impairs the cognitive functions of the brain, the symptoms tend to overlap, making diagnosis very difficult even for a trained professional. For example, the difficulty in writing may depend on the difficulty of interpreting the symbols (dyslexia) or on poor organizational skills of the space (dysgraphia). The most common SLDs are:

1. Dyslexia, a disorder related to the ability to read that affects the interpretation of sounds, letters and words. It can have negative effects on vocabulary acquisition, but also on the quality and speed of reading. Symptoms of dyslexia include delay in learning words, difficulty writing and rhyming.
2. Dyscalculia, which impairs the ability to process numbers and can manifest itself through memory problems, but which also involves difficulties in identifying logical or numerical sequences. Symptoms of dyscalculia include difficulties in calculating and memorizing arithmetic concepts.

3. Dysgraphia, a specific learning disorder that affects writing and can result from psychomotor inefficiency or a mental problem in understanding and processing certain types of information. People with dysgraphia generally have poor writing skills, write illegibly and / or irregularly and have difficulty in written communication.

   

   Step 3. Learn about the general symptoms of a specific learning disorder

   Although each ASD affects the brain differently, there are general symptoms that can help tell if an individual has hearing, visual or lexical difficulties. These symptoms include:

   • Difficulty in spelling.
   • Behaviors that tend to avoid reading and writing.
   • Difficulty summarizing something.
   • Difficulty answering open-ended questions.
   • Memory problems.
   • Difficulty of abstraction.
   • Difficulty expressing ideas.
   • Difficulty pronouncing words correctly.
   • Easy to get distracted.
   • Poor sense of direction or problems distinguishing between left and right.
   • Difficulty following directions or completing a task.

   

   Step 4. Observe the patterns and habits of daily life

   If necessary, take detailed notes and look for the most obvious symptoms that may indicate ASD: difficulties in social interactions, problems with memory, reading and / or writing.

   • If you or your child perform daily activities differently each time, this behavior may indicate ASD.
   • Repeat this observation over an extended period of time.

   

   Step 5. Consider other causes

   It is not sure if these symptoms are related to an ASD, as they may result from other health problems. In many cases it happens that subjects show symptoms of ASD when in reality they are perfectly healthy. Rather, they live in social, financial, personal or general conditions that hinder learning or concentration.

   • These "learning problems" are not considered disorders.
   • It is very difficult to distinguish between a specific learning disorder and a learning problem.

   

   Step 6. Take a test

   If you don't believe the symptoms are caused by the external or social environment, then the next step is to take a test. There are many on the Internet: they allow you to evaluate if you need to undergo further checks.

   On this page there is an English language test that you can take at home

   

   Step 7. Realize that an SLD does not involve low intelligence or inability

   Conversely, people with ASD usually have above average intelligence. He thinks Charles Schwab and Whoopi Goldberg have been diagnosed with a specific learning disorder, and many suspect Albert Einstein also suffered from it.

   • Celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Danny Glover and Jay Leno have all suffered from dyslexia and are actively involved in raising awareness of these disorders.
   • Historians and researchers suspect that George Patton, Walt Disney, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Napoleon Bonaparte may also have suffered from a learning disorder.

   Part 2 of 3: Receive a Professional Diagnosis (for Adults)

   

   Step 1. Consult your doctor

   If you have any symptoms or suspect that you have ASD, first try talking to your doctor. He will present you with various options and, specifically, will look for additional symptoms. If necessary, he will refer you to a specialist for further investigation.

   • Consultation with the treating doctor will not lead to a diagnosis, but is only the first step to be taken to arrive at a correct diagnosis.
   • A correct diagnostic path includes an initial medical consultation, investigations and finally the diagnosis.

   

   Step 2. Undergo assessment for specific learning disabilities

   To obtain an official diagnosis, the evaluation involves meeting with a tutor and will help you understand if you need to continue the diagnostic path.

   • Adults can undergo a diagnostic evaluation with specific tests other than those used for children.
   • The main tasks carried out by the tutor are: to evaluate basic learning and ascertain the level of severity of the SLD, and to indicate strategies and enabling tools (especially IT) capable of facilitating study and work activities.
   • The assessment consists of various phases: observation, interviews and tests.
   • Specifically, the assessment tests include reading tests, writing tests and writing speed tests, task in suppression (i.e. deciding, for each word, whether it exists or does not exist).

   

   Step 3. Get evaluated by a qualified professional

   It is not necessarily your treating doctor - in fact, GPs do not have the right skills to diagnose ASD - but, instead, a clinical psychologist or neuropsychologist.

   Once the specialist has finished evaluating all the information, you will need to meet with him again to discuss the results

   

   Step 4. Come back for a second consultation

   During this meeting, the specialist will issue their diagnosis and give you a written report on the details of your ASD. Your report will provide other specialists with the necessary information with which they can formulate their own opinion.

   The report can also be used to request special accommodation at school or at work

   

   Step 5. Remove all doubts

   When you go to the second consultation to talk about the results of the assessment, don't forget to ask about anything that is not clear to you.

   • Are there any terms you don't understand?
   • Do you know what you need to do next or what the specialist expects of you?

   Part 3 of 3: Getting a Professional Diagnosis for Your Child

   

   Step 1. Contact your child's teachers

   Put them aside of your worries. A teacher, or a psychologist assigned to follow the child, will begin to gather information on his school performance.

   • Once you have collected a sufficient amount of information, the teacher (or psychologist) will indicate a series of learning strategies or additional teaching activities.
   • The school will likely need your written permission to collect this information.

   

   Step 2. Review the learning strategies and teaching activities planned by the teacher or psychologist

   Make sure that your child's deficiencies are actually taken into account in the supplementary educational program provided by the observant.

   Do the measures in the learning program meet the needs of the child?

   

   Step 3. Follow the directions given to you

   These instructions are designed to help your child study more effectively. In addition, they will allow the designated figure to produce a more accurate diagnosis of the learning disorder the child suffers from. However, as happens in any kind of exercise, these didactic activities only work if they are followed rigorously.

   Usually, if learning programs produce positive results, no additional measures will be needed

   

   Step 4. Follow the official evaluation process

   Ask your child's pediatrician or doctor to do an assessment for specific learning disabilities at the neuropsychiatry service. Please note that if your child shows no room for improvement with respect to the educational activities that have been provided by the teacher or psychologist, you should have the child examined by a specialist.

   • The teacher will be able to provide you with further information, which will be useful for the assessment process.
   • The assessment will include a series of tests and interviews.
   • You may be advised to steer your child towards a particular school path.

   

   Step 5. Get official certification

   Once the evaluation of all the information has been completed, you will meet with the neuropsychiatrist who will provide you with directions for the school path that the child will have to follow. From the reading of the diagnosis, the teachers will develop a personalized school plan, which indicates the individualized and personalized didactic interventions, the educational-didactic strategies for strengthening compensatory help, the dispensatory measures to be adopted and the methods of verification and evaluation.

   • You have the right to take part in this process!
   • If you have identified any particular teaching needs, discuss them during the meeting following the evaluation.

   

   Step 6. Follow the personalized learning plan

   Depending on the SLD and teaching needs, you can take some time to see if the child has any improvement.

   The personalized didactic plan will foresee the times within which to observe the results. It is only a guide, not a precise rule

   

   Step 7. Contact the school director if you feel the program is not working

   You have every right to have your child reevaluated if the personalized learning plan developed specifically for the child is not producing meaningful results.

   • ASDs are very difficult to diagnose, which means that re-evaluation is not uncommon.
   • Since symptoms tend to overlap, even a specialist can misdiagnose.

   Advice

   • Know that attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD) can impair learning skills, but it is not considered an ASD. Although 30-50% of individuals with ADHD are also diagnosed with ASD, they are two different disorders.
   • ADHD is a syndrome that hinders the ability to concentrate enormously.
   • DSAs are characterized by the difficulty of elaborating symbols and ideas.