Does your child struggle in school? Is he or she afraid of reading out loud, writing an essay, or working out a math problem? While every kid has trouble with homework from time to time, if a certain area of learning keeps going wrong, it might show a learning disorder. Learning disorders, or learning disabilities, are a general term for a large number of learning problems.
A learning disability is not a problem with IQ or motivation. Kids with learning disabilities aren't lazy or slow. In fact, most are just as smart as everyone else. Their brains are just wired differently. Simply put, children and adults with learning disabilities see, hear, and understand things differently. This difference influences how they receive and process information. This can lead to trouble in learning new information and skills, and putting them to use.
It can be hard to face the possibility that your child has a learning disorder. No parents want to see their children suffer. You may wonder what it could mean for your child's future, or worry about how your kid will make it through at school. But the important thing to remember is that most kids with learning disabilities are just as smart as everyone else. They just need to be taught in ways that suit their special learning styles.
It's not always easy to tell whether a child has learning disabilities, for learning disabilities look very different from one child to another. One child may struggle with reading and spelling, while another loves books but can't understand math. Still another child may have difficulty understanding what others are saying or communicating out loud. However, some warning signs are more common than others at different ages. If you realize what they are, you'll be able to catch a learning disorder early and quickly start to help your child.
