Ever wondered how cascades of impulses travel through the neurons in the brain, process a piece of information? How our brain interprets commands? Well, let’s first get in to knowing how the human brain functions followed by taking a close look at understanding learning difficulties in children.
Brain function: Making of a information
Human brain integrates i.e. understands a piece of information that the neurons have just received. This mainly comprises of three steps: sequencing, abstraction and organization. Aligning every bit of information in the right order is referred to as sequencing while making it to sound sensible is called abstraction. Organization is referred to the step wherein the brain utilizes its ability to complete the thought process through the comprehended information.
Each of the above mentioned steps is crucial to effective learning- lays groundwork for many educational skills and abilities. If any step of the normal brain activity is altered or disrupted then it may manifest in a learning disability. So what do you mean by a learning disability?
Learning disability expert professionals puts forward the following definition:- A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written. Disorders that may result in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or carry out mathematical calculations.
These disorders include learning disabilities cropping up due to any kind of brain injury, brain dysfunction & dyslexia. But may exclude learning problems arising out of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, mental retardation & emotional disturbances.
A Child with a Learning Disability
Learning disability does not co- relate with your child’s intelligence. It is just that these children perceive, hear and interpret things differently, a thing that deviates from the norm.
Be watchful, if you notice the following in your child:- | - Fails to understand and follow simple instructions.
- Is forgetful or cannot recall something that was told to him a couple of minutes ago.
- Inattentive, experiences great difficulties in making repeated attempts and remaining self motivated.
- Extremely poor grasp over skills such as reading, spelling, writing, basic arithmetic calculations.
- Has weak understanding of the concept of time. For e.g. cannot differentiate between yesterday, today or tomorrow.
- Easily intermingles or confuses between alphabets like ‘b’ with‘d’; ‘a’with ‘o’; 27 with 72.
- Poor motor skills- inability to perform simple chores like tying shoelaces/ holding a pencil/ buttoning his shirt.
- Cannot keep a strict vigil on his belongings. Looses and misplaces his books and stationary materials very easily.
- Unable to decode words accurately which can pose problems in understanding language. He is not able to segregate words in to their distinct sounds and neither can weave individual sounds into words together.
| If these observations are overlooked at this stage, then it may serve as major roadblocks as the child sails through higher grades. The reason being the curriculum gets more complex when information is put through textbooks, lectures and other modes of disseminating information to children.
Types of learning Disabilities
Arithmetic Disability: A child experiences difficulties in carrying out simple math based operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication. This is usually triggered by an underlying language learning disability or a visual disorder or may be out of problems in sequencing and organization of information. He may also not be able to tell the time correctly.
Language, Reading and Writing disability: His poor verbal skills may act as hindrance in explaining things or conversing with the other person. May not be able to retell an event, lacks fluency in speech with a poor reading speed. Also, would not be able to understand meaning of words, phrases and paragraphs. As a result is not successful in building up good vocabulary skills.
Penning down a simple sentence will also sound like an uphill task for children with writing disabilities. They struggle in representing their thoughts and ideas through words and letters. Display a wide spectrum of flaws that revolves around the art of writing. This includes no-neatness, coherence, consistency, accurate spelling and organization in a given written sentence.
Reference:- As per IDEA i.e. (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) |
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