How to tell if your child has a learning disability, and what to do next

Signs that your child has a learning disability can be so subtle you may not even know that he or she fights well in the new school year. ...

Signs that your child has a learning disability can be so subtle you may not even know that he or she fights well in the new school year.

After participating and activity limitation Survey 2006, the most recent figures show that slightly more than three percent - or 121,080 - of children aged 5 to 14 have a learning disability.

Among people aged 15 years, Statistics Canada reported more than two percent - or 622,300 - had problems with his training in 2012 Design.

Dr. Clair Neige Motzoi psychologist and Director of the Association of Learning Disabilities of Canada Claudette Larocque want to ensure that parents are better equipped to understand the learning problems - how to detect them, what to do and how to cope.

Read on for some of their best tips and advice.

What is a learning disability?

A learning disability is a kind of problem in a particular area, such as reading, writing and arithmetic to learn, which can range from mild to severe.

It is a neurological disorder that the brain's ability to process the life, and to save retrieve information that affects and appears in children with both average and above-average intelligence.

There are three known causes of learning by the National Institute for Development Policy of learning recognized problems. Often they are genetically, but problems during pregnancy (eg fetal alcohol syndrome) and disorders after birth (such as head trauma, or exposure to toxic substances) can also lead to development of a learning disability.

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"This does not mean that you can be successful," says Motzoi who works at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. "That is, it will take more time to learn everything, learn."

Learning problems of other disabilities are different, which are invisible and children with them can be perceived as laziness or lack of motivation, Motzoi said. You can also find it difficult to make friends and experiences of bullying.

This can cause great frustration.

"You know them as their colleagues are not the same," says Larocque "Many children in grades one through three start thinking of themselves as" stupid ".. - What's a word for stomach pain used Van, trouble sleeping have and are full of fear, especially at this time of year, when the school is to begin. "

Learning disabilities are not to be confused with intellectual disabilities, the children are having difficulty with the skills and social practices.

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The first way to recognize signs of learning disorders, Larocque said, is your child to observe basic skills when a child is still young.

"They have problems in their development?" He asks. "They were fine with going have trouble playing quietly? It was the noise easily had a problem with them for them to learn the language, to enter an eye on keeping kindergarten when they have had such difficulties."

And often, children with learning difficulties well in most areas, with the exception of one or two subjects.

Tips for Parents: Learning Disabilities

You also need to pay attention to your child's behavior.

Some children, says Larocque not know how to express and vent their frustrations by emotional outbursts.

may occur Diagnosis at any time of life, but there are two age groups where usually identified with Motzoi.

The first is in primary school between the first and the fourth year; the other is in high school.

"In elementary school, which begins to notice that some of the basic skills in reading or mathematics difficult for them," she said. "We see a further highlight in high school occurs when demand increases. Some of the difficulties that were there, perhaps, the child were compensated in any way to this day. As demand increases, the difficulties become more apparent."

What should I do

The fact that the characters are, not necessarily that it is a learning disability. There may be other causes - such as depression, for example - for academic performance and behavior of your child, Motzoi said.

Even before determining what is the underlying problem, parents should communicate your concerns with your child's teacher. Let them know the situation, Larocque said, and develop a plan to move forward with the learning of the child.

In order to obtain a definitive diagnosis of a psychoeducational assessment must be programmed. This means that the child will take a standardized test that is in their intellectual, social and emotional.

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Reviews can be programmed from either the school board or a private psychologist.

"What kind of analysis can help you, is a good feeling of the intellectual abilities of the child to get in general, and how they compare with other kids their age," says Motzoi. "At the end of the review, we will have a better idea of where learning difficulties come. It may also help to understand what the learning disability such as dyslexia underlies. If you know you can tailor interventions a little better."

Be sure to reassure your child, also, Larocque said, and let them know that they support.

Strategies against hosting

For parents of children with learning problems, it is important to understand the difference between the schools strategies implemented to help a child, and the units they will do.

The first is almost always applied before a complete analysis (see above) is closed.

One of the used by the schools strategies is a resource Wizard to have in the classroom to work with students in difficulty. Sometimes bring schools OTs, if a child has problems with fine motor skills such as writing. The teachers also offer more one-on-one to help with a problem who agree to fight and able to change their tasks.

If these strategies do not help a child, then the school will provide a psycho-educational assessment, says Larocque. Once satisfied that the child has a learning disability when objects are created.

The difference between a strategy and accommodation, Larocque said, is the last link between the parent and the school board legally binding; it means that the school is required by law to provide services that take the child.

The housing may include more time for work and the testing and the provision of assistive technologies. These technologies can be anything from a program that translates voice to text audio books, talking computers and optical character recognition software that allows the user to print documents on a computer to scan and to read by speech synthesis.

"We do not want children's learning, learning difficulties to stop" Motzoi said. "Thus, these units are really important to have in place."

Tips for Parents

Therefore Motzoi and Larocque, it is important that parents pay attention to the signs and symptoms and to stay calm if they suspect their child that a learning disability.

"With learning disabilities experience themselves Many parents of children afraid, but it is important to them that fear to be expected," says Larocque. "Your son is collected and immediately become fearful, and the beginning of the school year will be a stress test."

The key to say it is to obtain the support of the child, as soon as possible. The sooner the matter is, the better the result.

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