Learning disabilities represent a group of disorders that cause students to exhibit unexpected difficulty or low performance in one or more academic areas and ineffective or inefficient information processing. Frequently used terms that categorize patterns of learning disabilities include dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia.
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects reading and related language-based processing skills. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability. Common characteristics include
- Difficulty with phonemic awareness (the ability to notice, think about, and work with individual sounds in words).
- Phonological processing (detecting and discriminating differences in phonemes or speech sounds).
- Difficulties with word decoding, fluency, rate of reading, rhyming, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and written expression.
Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability that affects a person’s ability to understand numbers and learn math facts. Common characteristics include
- Difficulty with counting, learning number facts, and doing math calculations.
- Difficulty with measurement, telling time, counting money, and estimating number quantities.
- Trouble with mental math and problem-solving strategies.
Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability affecting a person’s handwriting and fine motor skills. Features of learning disabilities in writing are often seen in students diagnosed with dyslexia and dyscalculia and vary from person to person and at different ages and stages of development. Common characteristics include
- Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position.
- Tiring quickly while writing and avoiding writing or drawing tasks.
- Trouble forming letter shapes as well as inconsistent spacing between letters or words.
- Difficulty writing or drawing on a line or within margins.
- Trouble organizing thoughts on paper.
- Trouble keeping track of thoughts already written down.
- Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar.
- A large gap between written ideas and understanding demonstrated through speech (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014).
Associated Deficits and Disorders
The following deficits and disorders are not designated as specific categories of learning disabilities but are commonly associated with learning disabilities. For example, some students with learning disabilities may also experience deficits in information processing. Information processing deficits may impact a student’s ability to engage socially and academically.
Auditory processing deficit or auditory processing disorder are the terms used to describe a deficit in the ability to understand and use auditory information. Common characteristics include
- Auditory discrimination (the ability to notice, compare, and distinguish the distinct and separate sounds in words).
- Auditory figure–ground discrimination (the ability to pick out important sounds from a noisy background).
- Auditory memory (short-term and long-term abilities to recall information presented orally).
- Auditory sequencing (the ability to understand and recall the order of sounds and words).
- Spelling, reading, and written expression.
Visual processing deficit or visual processing disorder are the terms used to describe deficits in the ability to understand and use visual information. Common characteristics include
- Visual discrimination (the ability to notice and compare the features of different items and to distinguish one item from another).
- Visual figure–ground discrimination (the ability to distinguish a shape or printed character from its background).
- Visual sequencing (the ability to see and distinguish the order of symbols, words, or images).
- Visual motor processing (using visual feedback to coordinate body movement).
- Visual memory (the ability to engage in short-term and long-term recall of visual information).
- Visual closure (the ability to know what an object is when only parts of it are visible).
- Spatial relationships (the ability to understand how objects are positioned in space).
Non-verbal learning disabilities is the term used to describe the characteristics of students who have unique learning and behavioral deficits that may have similarities with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia but that differ in significant ways. For example, these students often excel in areas such as verbal expression, vocabulary, reading, comprehension, auditory memory, and attention to detail. However, they may struggle with math computation and problem solving, visual and spatial tasks, motor coordination, and reading body language and social cues.
Executive functioning deficits is the term used to describe deficits in the ability to plan, organize, strategize, remember details, and manage time and space efficiently. These are common characteristics in individuals with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and are often seen in those with learning disabilities.
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain-based disorder that results in significant inattention, hyperactivity, distractibility, or a combination of these characteristics. As many as one-third of those with learning disabilities are estimated to have ADHD as well. However, unlike learning disabilities, characteristics of ADHD are attributed to neurochemical imbalances that can be treated effectively with a combination of behavioral therapy and medication (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014). We will learn more about ADHD in Chapter 11.
The IDEA and Illinois definitions of specific learning disability also include a disorder called developmental dysphasia. Developmental dysphasia is a language disorder with genetic risk factors. Common characteristics of the disorder include difficulty speaking and understanding spoken words (Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, 2022).
Cortiella, C., & Horowitz, S.H. (2014). The state of learning disabilities: Facts, trends and emerging issues. National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center. (2022, September 1). Developmental dysphasia familial. https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/1823/developmental-dysphasia-familial
