THE LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN
The term learning disabled
children refers to a mixed group of disorders manifested by significant
difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, writing, reasoning
or mathematical abilities. To be considered as one with learning disability, the
child should have normal intelligence or above, have difficulty in at least one
academic area, and have no other diagnosed problem or disorder, such as sensory
handicaps or mental retardation that is causing the difficulty. About five
percent of the total population of all school-age children receives special
education or related services because of a learning disability.
General Characteristics of LD Children
1. They
essentially suffer from serious learning difficulties which is visible in the acquisition
and use of language, numerical or mathematical ability, or social skills.
2. They show
lack of motivation, inattention, inability to generalize, inadequate ability in
problem solving, and inadequate ability in information processing etc.
3. They
often fail to acquire information at the same rate as most people of the same
age. Hence, their achievement is less than would be expected from children of
their grade or age.
4. They show
significant discrepancy between what is expected of them given their general
level of cognitive ability and their actual reading, writing, or mathematical
ability or achievement.
5. They exhibit learning handicaps, and
show observable deficiency in learning and mastering academic tasks.
6. They are underachievers, and as such
there is a discrepancy between their learning ability and educational
achievement.
7. They may exhibit symptoms of
hyperactivity and impulsivity.
8. Most of the Learning Disabled
children experience emotional problems, show signs of anxiety, moodiness and emotional
fluctuations.
9. They may exhibit disorders of neuro-muscular
coordination, motor functioning, percepetual , memory, thinking and attention.
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