What Are Learning Disabilities?

A learning disability is a permanent disorder that affects the way individuals with normal or above-normal intelligence receive, store, organize, retrieve, and use information. Dyslexia is one form of learning disability involving difficulty with language and especially with reading.

A learning disability is commonly recognized in children and adults as a deficit in one or more of the following areas:

Difficulty with basic reading skills, reading comprehension, math computation, math reasoning, written expression, spelling, writing, listening comprehension, oral expression, or problem solving.

• Poor organization and time management skills.
• Slow to start and complete tasks.
• Short attention span and difficulty controlling behavior.
• Difficulty following oral or written instructions.
• Inability on a day-to-day basis to remember what has been taught.
• Poor social skills due to inconsistent perceptual abilities.

A learning disability is often inconsistent. It may seem worse at some times than others and may cause problems in only one specific academic area.

Very often, when persons are not placed in appropriate academic programs, they experience academic failure and poor self-esteem. It is not uncommon for students with learning disabilities to drop out of school or to be passed through the system, never mastering the skills necessary for academic success and post-secondary training for employment.