What is a learning disability?

Learning disabilities are neurological disorders that interfere with a person's ability to store, process, or produce information, and create a "gap" between one's ability and performance. Individuals with learning disabilities are generally of average or above average intelligence.

Learning disabilities can affect one's ability to read, write, speak, or compute math, and can impede social skills. Learning disabilities can affect one or more areas of development. Individuals with learning disabilities can have marked difficulties on certain types of tasks while excelling at others.

Sometimes overlooked as "hidden handicaps", learning disabilities are often not easily recognized, accepted or considered serious once detected. Learning disabilities affect children and adults. The impact of the disability ranges from relatively mild to severe. Learning disabilities often run in families.

Learning disabilities are NOT the same as the following handicaps: mental retardation, autism, deafness, blindness, behavioral disorders. Nor are learning disabilities the result of economic disadvantage, environmental factors or cultural differences. Attention deficits and hyperactivity sometimes co-occur with learning disabilities, but not always.

Learning disabilities are not cured and do not go away, but individuals can learn to compensate for and even overcome areas of weakness.

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Learning Disabilities Resource Kit

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How many individuals have a learning disability?

According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 1 in 6 children (17.5%) will encounter a problem learning to read during the first three years in school. These estimates are consistent with data from ongoing studies at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Currently more than 2.8 million school-aged children receive special education services as students with learning disabilities. The represents approximately 5% of all school-aged children in public schools. These students comprise 51% of the entire identified special education population. This percentage does not take into consideration the tens of thousands of students who attend private and religious schools, many of which currently offer little or nothing by way of support. Nor does it include the scores of students who, while exhibiting serious difficulties with learning, may not meet the criteria established by school districts to receive special education services.

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What are some of the signs that might indicate a learning disability?

There is no single indicator of learning disabilities. Unless a child manifests several warning signs consistently, and unless the problems persist over time, there probably is no need for concern. Our Checklist of Common Warning Signs and Information on Early Warning Signs offer guidance for parents and professionals. It should not be used in isolation, but may lead to seeking further assessment.

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What are the most common causes of learning disabilities?

Experts do not know precisely what causes learning disabilities. Learning disabilities are presumed to be disorders of the central nervous system and a variety of factors may contribute to their occurrence. Learning disabilities may be due to:

• Heredity. Learning disabilities tend to run in families. It is not unusual to discover that people with learning disabilities come from families in which other family members have reported similar difficulties.
   
• Problems during pregnancy and childbirth. Learning disabilities may be caused by illness or injury during or before birth. Learning disabilities may also be caused by the use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, RH incompatibility with the mother (if untreated), premature or prolonged labor or lack of oxygen or low weight at birth.
   

• Incidents after birth. Head injuries, nutritional deprivation, poisonous substances, (e.g., lead), and child abuse can contribute to learning disabilities

Often there does not appear to be a specific cause for learning disabilities. Parents need not feel guilty or wonder how learning disabilities could have been prevented.

What can happen when help is not provided?

School failure and illiteracy perpetuate a vicious downward cycle of frustration and despair. 35 percent of students with learning disabilities do not finish high school, contributing greatly to the nation's appalling school drop-out statistics. This percentage only includes those students already identified as learning disabled. (National Longitudinal Transition Study, Wagner 1992).

The majority of students with learning disabilities (62%) were not fully employed one year after graduating from high school. (Wagner 1992).

60 percent of adults with severe literacy problems were found to have undetected or untreated learning disabilities. (National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center, 1994)

Learning disabilities and substance abuse are the most frequently cited impairments that inhibit an AFDC (Welfare) client's ability to gain and retain employment and fiscal independence. (Functional Impairments of AFDC Clients, Office of the Inspector General, 1992).

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Last modified: July 11, 2010