What are the sources of information and support?
Susan
At the age of 14, still to be Susan tends to be quiet. Since she was a child, he was so withdrawn that people sometimes forget it's was there. She seemed helpless in a world of its own. When he speaks, it is often called with the wrong object name. He had mainly to play only a few friends and with dolls or her little sister. In school, Susan hated reading and math, and that none of the letters, numbers or "+" and "-" sign makes no sense. He felt very bad about. It has been said - and he was convinced - that delayed.
Wallace
Wallace lived 46 years and is still trying to understand what people say. As a child, heard many words of the same. His father patiently things over and over again. But every time her mother was drunk, she got angry and spanking for not. Wallace speech was also funny. He had trouble getting words to say at school his teacher sometimes could not understand. When colleagues called him "mannequin", fists just seemed to take over.
Dennis
Dennis is 23 and seems to have too much power again. But there has always been a hyperactive child, sometimes jumping for hours on the couch until she collapses from exhaustion. In elementary school, he was still. Disturbed lessons. But it was a friendly, well-meaning child when adults do not get angry. His academic problems showed up in the third grade when his teacher realized that Dennis could only recognize a few words and written as a freshman. Recommended that Dennis repeat third year in order to "catch up" at the time it give. After another year, his behavior was still out of control, and reading and writing has not improved.
What is a learning disability?
Unlike other disabilities such as paralysis or blindness, learning disability (LD) is a hidden disability. A learning disability does not disfigure or leave visible signs that invite others to understand or support. Once a woman came to Wallace, "You seem so intelligent - you are disabled from!"
LD is a disorder that interpret the ability of people to what they see and hear or to link to information from different parts of the brain is concerned. These limitations can occur in many different ways - as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and reading impaired learning or write or do math.
Learning difficulties may be the conditions for life, in some cases, affect many parts of a person's life: school or work, daily life, family life, and sometimes even friendships and activities. In some people, many overlapping learning disabilities may be apparent. Other people may have a single problem, isolated learning has little impact in other areas of their lives.
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What types of learning disabilities?
"Learning difficulties" is not a diagnosis in the same sense as "chickenpox" or "mumps". Chickenpox and mumps imply a single known cause of a predictable set of symptoms. Rather, LD is a broad term that covers a number of possible causes, symptoms, treatments and outcomes. Partly because of learning difficulties can arise in many ways, it is difficult to diagnose or causes. And we do not want to know, heal a pill or remedy.
Not all learning problems are necessarily learning disabilities. Many children are simply slower in developing certain skills. Because children show natural differences in their rate of development, sometimes what seems to be a learning disability may simply be a delay in maturation. To be diagnosed as a learning disability, you must meet certain criteria.
Criteria and characteristics for the diagnosis of learning disabilities are mentioned in a reference DSM (short for the Mental Disorders Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). DSM diagnosis is often used when the coverage of health insurance for the proposed diagnosis and treatment.
- Learning difficulties can be divided into three categories:
- Disorders of language development
- Academic skills disorders
- "Other" is a catch-all that certain coordination disorders and learning disabilities includes not covered by other provisions
Each of these groups includes a number of very specific conditions.
Developmental disorders of speech and language
Speech and language are often the first indicators of a learning disability. People of language development and language disorders have difficulty producing speech sounds to communicate with spoken language, or understand what others say. Depending on the problem, the specific diagnosis:
- Common developmental disorder
- Disorder of expressive language development
- Developmental disorder of receptive language
Common Developmental Disorder - Children with this disorder may have problems controlling their rate of speech. Or late, peer learning, can to make speech sounds. For example, Wallace 6 years still the "wabbit" instead of "rabbit" and "thwim" to "float". Common developmental disorders are common. Appear in at least 10 percent of children under 8 years. Fortunately, articulation disorders can often be overcome or successfully treated with speech therapy.
Expressive Language Development Disorder - Some children with speech disorders have problems that are expressed in speech. His condition is called, ie a disturbance of the development of expressive language. Susan, who is often called with the wrong object, a disorder of expressive language name. Of course, the expressive language disorder can take other forms. At 4 years, which speaks only of two-word phrases and 6, who can not answer simple questions, even an expressive language disability.
Related receptive language - Some people have trouble understanding certain aspects of the language. It is as if her brain set to a different frequency, and the reception is poor. It is the child who is not his name, a preschooler, which reacts hands you a bell when you ask a balloon, or a worker who can not always follow simple instructions. His hearing is fine, but can not hear sense of certain sounds, words or phrases they do not make. You can even seem distracted. These people have a receptive language disorder. Since the use and understanding of language are closely linked, many people with receptive language disorders also have a deficiency in expressive language.
Of course, in the nursery, some misuse of sounds, words and grammar is a normal part of learning to speak. Only if these problems persist that it is not a cause for concern.
Academic skills disorders
Students with academic skills disorders are often years behind their classmates in developing reading, writing and arithmetic. The diagnosis of this category are:
- Development of reading disorder
- Write a perturbation expansion
- Development of mathematics disorder
The development of reading difficulties - This type of disorder, also called dyslexia, is widespread. In fact, reading difficulties at 2-8 per cent of children in primary school.
Must be thinking "involved three Rs is surprising that most of us learn Consider read simultaneously - reading," If you are about what is in the writing, and arithmetic ".
- Focus your attention on the printed marks and control eye movements across the page
- Recognize the sounds associated with letters
- Understand words and grammar
- Build ideas and images
- Compare new ideas with what you know
- Ideas in memory
This mental juggling requires a rich network of nerve cells intact, the. Centers of vision, language and memory in the brain
A person can be problems in all tasks that have read in context. However, scientists have found that a significant number of people with dyslexia share an inability to distinguish the sounds in spoken words or to separate. Dennis, for example, can not use the word "bat" identified by sounding out individual letters, bat. Other children with dyslexia have difficulty with rhyming games, such as rhyming "cat" with "bat". But scientists have found that these basic skills to read to learn. Fortunately, rehabilitation specialists have been developed in reading techniques that can help many children with dyslexia acquire these skills.
However, it is the reading of the word recognition. If the brain is not able to form images or relate new ideas to put in the memory, the reader can not understand or remember new concepts. So other types of reading problems are to be displayed in the upper classes, when the development of reading changes the identification of words to understand.
Development in connection with the letter - letter also contains some areas of brain function. The brain networks for vocabulary, grammar, hand movement, and memory must be in good condition. Therefore, writing a disorder developmental disabilities in each of these areas can cause. For example, Dennis, of the order of the sounds could not be distinguished in a word in a position to have problems with spelling. A child with a disability in writing, particularly an expressive language disorder may compose a complete grammatical sentences.
25 divided by 3 is: - mathematics disorder expansion If you doubt that arithmetic is a complex process, the steps to solve this problem, simply think?
Arithmetic involves recognizing numbers and symbols, memorizing facts such as the multiplication table, aligning numbers and understand abstract concepts like place value and fractions. Each of them can be difficult for children with developmental disabilities rake. Problems with numbers or basic concepts are likely to occur before. Disabilities that typically appear in the most advanced levels of reasoning problems.
Many aspects of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and arithmetic overlap and build on the same brain functions. No wonder that people are diagnosed with more than one area of learning difficulties. For example, the ability to understand language based learning. Therefore, a disease that affects the ability to understand the language, it also affect speech and language development, which in turn prevents them learn to read and write. A unique space in the function of the brain can disrupt many types of activities.
"Other" learning difficulties
DSM also lists other categories, such as "motor skills disorders" and "specific developmental disorders not otherwise specified." These diagnoses are not satisfy delays in language acquisition, academic and motor skills, the ability to learn can influence, but the criteria for a specific learning disability. Coordination disorders that can lead to poor handwriting, and certain disorders of the spelling and memory are also included.
Attention disorders
Nearly 4 million school-age children with learning difficulties. Of these, at least 20 percent have some kind of disorder that does not make them able to focus their attention.
Some children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity seems to dream. And if you get their attention, often easily distracted. Susan, for example, tends to mentally drift into his own world. Children may like Susan have a range of learning difficulties. If, like Susan, are quiet and do not cause problems, their problems go unnoticed. You can add more than one year may be carried over without the special help they need.
In a large part of the affected children - especially boys - the attention deficit hyperactivity accompanied by. Dennis is an example of a person with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity disorder - ADHD. They act impulsively, running into traffic or vice versa an office. When I was a young Dennis, who jumped on the sofa to exhaustion, hyperactive children can not sit still. Salen and interrupt responses. In games, they can not wait their turn. The problems of these children are often difficult to lose. Due to the constant motion and explosive energy, hyperactive children often have problems with parents, teachers and peers.
In adolescence, physical hyperactivity usually subsides in anxiety and restlessness. But problems with attention and concentration often continue into adulthood. At work, adults with ADHD often have difficulty organizing tasks or the end of your work. They do not seem to hear or follow the instructions. His work can look messy and sloppy.
The Attention Deficit Disorder with or without hyperactivity, is not considered learning problems themselves. Because attention problems may affect school performance with serious disorders that often accompany academic skills.
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What are the causes of learning difficulties
Of course, one of the first questions parents ask when they learn that their child has a learning disability, "Why What Went Wrong?"
Mental health professionals stress that since no one knows what causes learning difficulties, which does not allow parents back for possible reasons. There are too many ways to identify the cause of the disability with certainty. It is much more important than the family looking for ways to help move out of the fight to get.
However, scientists need to examine the causes, in an effort to identify prevent learning problems.
Once the scientists thought that all learning problems are due to a single neurological problem. But with the support of NIMH study found that the causes are diverse and complex. New evidence suggests that most learning difficulties are not a specific area of the brain, but it is difficult to collect information from different brain regions.
Today is an accepted theory that learning problems by making subtle changes in brain structures and functions. Some scientists believe that in many cases the disorder begins before birth.
Error fetal brain development
During pregnancy, the fetal brain develops from a few cells, all in a complex organ of billions of specialized cells that make each made associated nerves called neurons. During this amazing evolution, things can go wrong that way, can change in any form or neurons together.
In the early stages of pregnancy, the shapes of the brain stem is. Controls basic life functions like breathing and digestion. Later, a deep ridge separates the brain - the thinking part of the brain - in two halves, the right and left hemisphere. Finally, the regions are involved in processing vision, developed hearing and other senses, as well as areas related to attention, thought and emotion.
As new cells are formed to create up to different brain structures. Nerve cells grow rapidly to form networks with other parts of the brain. These networks are, the. Exchange of information between different brain regions
During pregnancy, the developing brain is vulnerable to shocks. When the interrupt occurs early, the fetus may die, or the child may be born with widespread disabilities and possibly mental retardation. When the interrupt occurs, and later, when the cells are specialized and mobile exist errors cell composition, location, or connections to exit. Some scientists believe that these errors can later learning problems.
Other factors affecting the development of the brain
Through animal experiments, scientists at NIMH and other research institutions are tracking to determine hints about what disturbs brain development. Studying normal brain development, researchers can better understand what can go wrong. Some of these studies examine how genes, substance abuse, pregnancy problems, and toxins may affect the development of the brain.
Genetic factors - the fact that learning disabilities tend to run in families indicates that there may be a genetic link. For example, children who will not be required on some of the skills to read, and to hear individual sounds words are likely to have a parent with a problem. However, learning of the absence of a mother, a slightly different form in children. A parent who has a writing disorder may have a child with an expressive language disorder. For this reason it seems unlikely that specific learning disorders are absorbed. Perhaps what is inherited is a subtle brain dysfunction, which in turn can lead to a learning disability.
There may be another explanation for why LD might seem to run in families. Some learning difficulties may actually stem from the home environment. You can, for example, parents, the expressive language disorders have less to talk about their children or the language that they use may be distorted. In such cases, the child is not a good model for language acquisition and therefore can occur to learning difficulties.
Snuff, alcohol and other drugs - Many drugs taken by the mother lead directly to the fetus. The research shows that consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, or other drugs during pregnancy, the mother can have negative effects on the fetus. Therefore, to avoid possible damage to the developing baby, to make the public health service of the U.S. supports the efforts of the people aware of the possible dangers of smoking, drinking and drugs.
Scientists have found that mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be younger babies. This is a concern because newborns, usually those tend to be at risk for a variety of problems, including learning disabilities, weighing less than 5 pounds, small.
Alcohol can be dangerous for the development of the fetal brain. It appears that the development of alcohol to distort neurons. Excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy with fetal alcohol syndrome, a condition that can lead to low birth weigh associated intellectual impairment, hyperactivity, and certain physical defects. However, any alcohol consumption during pregnancy can lead to problems that affect the development and the child with learning, attention, memory and problem solving. Because scientists have not yet identified "safe" levels, alcohol should be used with caution in women who are pregnant or may become pregnant soon be used.
Drugs such as cocaine - especially in its smokable form known crack - seem to affect the normal development of brain receptors. These parts of the brain cells help to transmit incoming signals from our skin, eyes and ears and regulate our physical response to the environment. Because children with specific learning difficulties hard to understand, have speech sounds or letters, some researchers believe that learning disabilities and ADHD, the defective receptors can be linked. Current research in drug use as a possible cause of injury and receiver.
Problems during pregnancy or childbirth - Other possible causes of learning disabilities include complications during pregnancy. In some cases, the immune system of the mother and ferns reaction when attacking an infection. This kind of error seems only made to settle in the wrong part of the brain cells of the brain. Or during birth, the umbilical cord can be twisted and temporarily cut off oxygen to the fetus. This can also change the function of the brain and LD.
Toxins in the child's environment - The new brain cells and neural networks continue to occur for a year or two after birth. These cells are susceptible to certain disorders,.
Researchers are investigating the environmental toxins that can possibly lead to the development of the brain or brain processes to learning problems through childhood disorder. Cadmium and lead in the environment, is always a subject of advanced neurological research. Cadmium is used in the manufacture of certain steel products can enter the soil and in the foods that we eat. Lead was common in paint and gasoline, and is still in some water pipes. A study by the National Institutes of Health funded the animals showed an association between lead exposure and learning disabilities. Lead In the study, exposed rats experienced changes in their brain waves, reducing their ability to learn. The learning problems lasted for weeks, long after the rat is no longer exposed to lead.
In addition, there is evidence that more learning problems in children with cancer who were treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy at an early age to develop. This seems especially in children with brain tumors received radiation to the head.
Disabilities are doing on differences in the brains of learning?
By comparing people with and without learning disabilities, scientists have observed some differences in the structure and function of the brain. For example, new research suggests it may be variations in the structure of the brain, the temporal plane of a face of the language stand on both sides of the brain. In people with dyslexia, the two structures were the same size. For persons who are not dyslexic, but the left temple level was significantly higher. Some scientists believe that reading problems related these differences.
With further research, scientists hope to learn how exactly contribute to the differences in the structures and processes of the brain, learning problems and how to treat or prevent these differences.
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