pediatrics
Overview of Learning Disorders
Introduction
Learning disorders are conditions that cause a discrepancy between potential and actual levels of academic performance as predicted by the person’s intellectual abilities. Learning disorders involve impairments or difficulties in concentration or attention, language development, or visual and aural information processing. Diagnosis includes cognitive, educational, speech and language, medical, and psychologic evaluations. Treatment consists primarily of educational management and sometimes medical, behavioral, and psychologic therapy. Learning disorders are considered a type of neurodevelopmental disorder. Neurodevelopmental disorders are neurologically based conditions that appear early in childhood, typically before school entry. These disorders impair development of personal, social, academic, and/or occupational functioning and typically involve difficulties with the acquisition, retention, or application of specific skills or sets of information. The disorders may involve dysfunction in attention, memory, perception, language, problem-solving, or social interaction. Other common neurodevelopmental disorders include Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD, ADHD) , Specific learning disorders affect the ability to Understand or use spoken language Understand or use written language Understand and use numbers and reason using mathematical concepts Coordinate movements Focus attention on a task Thus, these disorders involve problems in reading, mathematics, spelling, written expression or handwriting, and understanding or using verbal and nonverbal language (see table ). Most learning disorders are complex or mixed, with deficits in more than one system. . Among students receiving special education services, 33% (or about 5% of all students) had specific learning disabilities ( General references ). Boys with learning disorders outnumber girls 5:1. Although formal diagnoses may help some children get assistance, characterizing different capabilities as disorders risks medicalizing them as somehow pathological. The important thing is to identify people who need different or additional help learning and provide access to the assistance they need. Learning disorders may be congenital or acquired. No single cause has been defined, but neurologic deficits are presumed to be involved whether or not other neurologic manifestations (ie, apart from the learning disorder) are present. Genetic influences are often implicated. Other possible causes include Maternal illness or Drug Safety in Pregnancy None Complications during pregnancy or delivery (eg, spotting, toxemia, prolonged labor, precipitous delivery) Neonatal problems (eg, Preterm Infants , low birth weight, Potential postnatal factors include exposure to environmental toxins (eg, Lead Poisoning ), central nervous system infections, cancers and their treatments, trauma, Disorder Disorder Manifestation Manifestation Dyslexia (impairment in reading) Problems with reading Phonologic dyslexia Problems with sound analysis and memory Surface dyslexia Problems with visual recognition of forms and structures of words Dysgraphia (impairment in written expression) Problems with spelling, written expression, or handwriting Dyscalculia (impairment in mathematics) Problems with mathematics and difficulties with problem-solving Ageometria (ageometresia) Problems due to disturbances in mathematical reasoning Anarithmia Disturbances in basic concept formation and inability to acquire computational skills Anomic aphasia (dysnomia) Difficulty recalling words and information from memory on demand 