A Listing of Learning Disability Groupings

Most learning disabilities relate to language usage and language processing. Research indicates that over 80% of persons with learning disabilities have language processing difficulties. In many cases, learning disabilities result in people not understanding and/or remembering the written or unwritten rules or patterns that govern the things that we do. These may range from the rules of reading, spelling or grammar to the rules of social behaviour and the way we do our jobs. Often such rules are not taught to people in a direct manner. It is assumed that having seen or heard something once, they will know how to apply the rules or systems in another somewhat similar situation, that is, how to generalize from a specific situation or how to apply some general skills in a series of specific situations, Persons with a learning disability can learn these things provided they receive direct instruction, have the opportunity to practice the skills and can apply any needed accommodations or coping strategies.

Visual problems

These problems relate to information received through the eyes. However they are not the usual problems of the eyes, such as shortsightedness which are correctable with glasses:

• Impaired visual perception leads to difficulties in seeing the difference between similar things, such as similarly shaped objects, including letters, such as b and d.

• Poor visual memory results in people not remembering things that they have seen often before. This can include things such as people's faces, words, their own name in written form, and the street corner at which they need to turn to get home.

• Figure-ground discrimination problems are a particularly complex form of a visual perception problem. A person who has this kind of learning disability is unable to identify a specific thing when it is surrounded by similar things. For example, the person does not see the traffic light or the stop sign on a busy street. It can also include many things related to reading or writing. For example, not being able to find the place to write one's name on an application form can be extremely aggravating for someone trying to apply for a job.

• Reversal of letters, words and numbers is the most commonly recognized sign of a learning disability. People who experience reversals tell us that it is extremely frustrating, because it doesn't happen always. Sometimes 41 will appear as 14 and sometimes not. They have no consistent way of knowing which is correct. As a result they can only deal with written material, and especially numbers, extremely slowly and carefully, constantly checking themselves for accuracy.

• Visual tracking problems affect a person's ability to follow the lines on a page. People who have this disability explain that the words move around or slip off the edge of the page.

Auditory problems

Auditory problems relates to information received through the ears. While the person who has auditory learning disabilities may appear hearing impaired, the difficulties do not relate to the volume of the sounds which the individual is attempting to hear. In other words, shouting at the person with auditory learning disabilities will not help. If anything, it may make the problems worse, due to the distortion of shouting.

• Impaired auditory perception means that the person will not hear everything said or hears it incorrectly. For example, they may have difficulty with syllables that are not accented- seven and seventy may sound the same. Similarly, they cannot distinguish between words that sound somewhat alike- for example, how and who.

• Poor auditory memory results in a person having difficulty remembering what has been said. Short term and/or long term memory may be affected, they may remember things said in the past, but not recall their own words from just a moment ago. Or they may have no long term memory for things they have heard.

• Poor auditory sequencing skills interfere with a person's ability to follow instructions. This is an extreme form of poor auditory memory. It can cause significant difficulties on the job or in social situations.

• Poor listening skills mean that the person has difficulty selecting the sounds to listen to. He may hear a confusing jumble of unsorted sounds, rather like having the television, radio and vacuum cleaner all running at the same time.

Children acquire listening skills at a very early age, and the skills of selective listening, (knowing what to focus on and what to tune out) are reinforced as they mature. A person with poor listening skills may appear uncaring or uninterested, rather than just confused.

Speech problems

These problems are considered a learning disability, when the difficulty lies with the words used, the sentence structure, the style. Difficulties with pronouncing specific words are not usually included. Yet, people who have this kind of learning disability may consistently mispronounce common words, saying "bisghetti" for spaghetti or "hopsital" for hospital.

They may also mix up their sentences, such as saying "start and restop" instead of "stop and restart". Many will consciously choose simple words when they are speaking although they understand and can write correctly more suitable and complex words. The reasons for these difficulties may relate to any of the auditory difficulties described above.

Motor problems

Motor problems relate to the body's neuro-muscular or sensorimotor or sensory integrative functioning. The individual who has these difficulties is not in any way physically impaired, but may appear clumsy and uncoordinated.

• Eye-hand coordination difficulties will show up in difficulties with handwriting and activities, such as using certain tools. It is interesting to note that 11% of the general population is left-handed and therefore may have difficulties with using the tools of an essentially right handed world. On the other hand, left-handedness occurs twice as often (approximately 25%) among those who have learning disabilities.

• Small muscle control difficulties may result in awkwardness such as misjudging where to place things.

• Large muscle control difficulties will show up in clumsiness, awkwardness, difficulties with certain physical activities such as dancing and sports.

Organizational problems

These problems relate to an individual's ability to manage time, space, certain functions and generally ordering the necessary tasks of daily living.

• Difficulties with managing time results in not meeting deadlines and having a poor or virtually no sense of elapsed time. Such people may be late or very early for appointments. This may be because they do not know how much time to allocate for tasks.

• Difficulties with organizing tasks results in not understanding the logical sequence of steps required to carry out a specific task. These may be simple things such as getting dressed, or cooking a meal such that the meat, vegetable and potatoes are all cooked at the same time. Or they may be complex tasks such as planning a party or a move or dealing with the demands of the workplace.

• Difficulties with organizing space such as a closet, desk or the kitchen cabinets results in the individual living and functioning in a state of disorder and never being able to find things quickly and efficiently.

• The skills of what are called executive functions are often impaired in people who have organizational learning disabilities. These skills are needed to plan, manage and evaluate things in everyday life as well as in the work place.

Conceptual problems

Conceptual problems relate to people's ability to understand abstract ideas, consequences and many other important functions in their daily lives which are not usually taught directly but are acquired incidentally. Common signs include:

• Difficulty in judging nonverbal language such as facial expressions or body language.

• Difficulty in understanding figures of speech such as idioms, metaphors or similes. For example, a person with this difficulty might take an expression like “It's raining cats and dogs" absolutely literally, and expect to see animals falling from the sky.

• Difficulty in anticipating the future or predicting consequences. The individual may do something without considering its consequences for others. This kind of difficulty leads some people with learning disabilities into trouble with the law. In fact, two out of three offenders manifest some form of a learning disorder, usually a specific learning disability. However, this does not mean that most of the people with learning disabilities are at risk for criminal behaviour.

• Predisposition to rigid thinking or functioning, where a person may be unable to see that flexibility is required to deal with a situation. Or even if recognizing the need, is unable to practice flexibility.

• Poor social skills and social relationships may result from conceptual learning disabilities. Some examples are: lacking the "social graces”, not maintaining eye contact during a conversation, standing too close to another person, using an inappropriate tone of voice or language. Good social skills are very important for success in employment as well as in daily life situations.

It is important that we do not fall into the trap of assuming that everyone who has poor social skills or who is rude has a learning disability. Similarly, we should never excuse inappropriate behaviour saying that this person probably has a learning disability.

Nonverbal learning disabilities

Nonverbal learning disabilities have only been recognized in the last few years. People who have these difficulties often have excellent verbal skills, but have problems with visual-spatial and certain conceptual tasks. These tend to result in problems with mathematics. Others have social skill difficulties.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

While Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is not a learning disability in itself, this condition is very common among people with other learning disabilities. In fact, over 75% of those who have attention deficit disorder have accompanying learning disabilities and about 30% of those who have learning disabilities have an accompanying attention deficit disorder.

ADHD is a syndrome which is characterized by serious and persistent difficulties in at least two of the following specific areas:

• Attention span

• Impulse control

• Hyperactive behaviour

Some people who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder use medication to assist them with paying attention. The medication, most commonly Ritalin, does not directly affect the learning disability. However, by improving the person's ability to pay attention, he or she can cope with the learning disability more effectively.