| Learning Disabilities affect people in all walks of life | | | | can impact learning heavily because during the |
| each and every day. These disorders can include | | | | process of reading and understanding there are many |
| dyslexia (impairment of ability to recognize and | | | | processes going on. If one of those processes is |
| comprehend written words), dyscalculia (impairment | | | | weak it could throw off the whole learning process |
| of ability to solve mathematics problems), dysgraphia | | | | for an individual. When reading a student must |
| (inability to write), dyspraxia (motor skill coordination | | | | process visual images which consist of letters and |
| problems), and auditory and visual process disorders | | | | words, and at the same time they must recall and |
| (difficulty understanding language or images). A | | | | associate those images with correct sounds. Mental |
| learning disability is most simply defined as a | | | | associations must be formed by those sounds to |
| neurological disorder. | | | | make the words they are associated with, and one |
| The definition used by the U.S government for | | | | has to comprehend what the word means and how |
| purposes of legislation and qualifying students for | | | | it applies to what they are reading. It is easy to see |
| special education funds is the following: | | | | how a weak cognitive skill can throw off the whole |
| "Specific learning disability" means a disorder in one or | | | | learning curve. |
| more of the basic psychological processes involved in | | | | The good news about learning disabilities affected by |
| understanding or in using language, spoken or written, | | | | weak cognitive skills is that they can be changed for |
| which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to | | | | the better by specific testing and training. These |
| listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do | | | | changes can be rapid and dramatic for those that |
| mathematical calculations. The term includes such | | | | struggle with the various learning disabilities. Cognitive |
| conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, | | | | skills testing is available all across the nation. A quality |
| minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental | | | | learning center that runs cognitive skills testing will |
| aphasia. The term does not include children who have | | | | uncover specific cognitive skill weaknesses and will |
| learning problems which are primarily the result of | | | | customize training to strengthen those weaknesses. |
| visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental | | | | Getting you or your child tested for a learning |
| retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of | | | | disability can completely and literally change lives. |
| environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. | | | | According to the National Institutes of Health, one in |
| A learning disability is most widely caused by weak | | | | seven Americans, struggles with some type of |
| underlying cognitive skills. Other factors contributing | | | | learning disability, proving the importance of getting |
| to learning disabilities include basic genetic limits or | | | | you or your family members tested for cognitive |
| poor and inadequate instruction. Weak cognitive skills | | | | skills weaknesses. |