Dealing with Learning Disabilites

Each year the number of children diagnosed with learning disabilities skyrockets from the previous year. In fact, many of these cases are being diagnosed simply because the "experts" are able to profit of these diagnoses. Although there are many experts that are genuinely concerned about the child's welfare, there are those who are falsely diagnosing many children.

Learning disabilities actually extend beyond an inability to learn certain subject areas or actions; many actually extend to other conditions whether they are mental illness, behavioral problems or other disorders that are attached to learning disabilities.

To understand learning disabilities fully, you must do some research of your own. Do not simply take an "experts" word on the fact that you or your child may have a learning disability. Research must be conducted so you know exactly what you are dealing with.

A Brief History on Development

As a child grows they are learning many new concepts and behaviors. In some instances, confusion will develop and actually hinders the child from learning certain behaviors. Most children are able to work through this confusion, but others are not and they find it difficult to learn certain skills.

This tends to occur more frequently in boys, as there are often certain areas that their fathers expect them to pick up quickly. Most fathers do not even realize the learning demand they place on their children and do not know what is occurring under the surface in the child's brain.

When a child goes to school they are bombarded with several different subject areas. They have reading, writing, math, science, social studies and other subjects that they are expected to learn. Many children will have set their own learning goals to meet and become confused by this influx of additional information. Many children may struggle with learning these topics because they are trying to meet the expectations of others, namely their parents and quite often their fathers in particular.

Many children will lean more towards science and become confused with the other information presented to them. Many children will also move towards math because they are able to see the relationship between the two subjects and that most scientific studies are based on mathematical statistics.

Later on down the road, the child will begin looking for a role model. For many children it is one of their parents. For others, it is a TV character. However, when the child is told that TV characters are not real or fictional, they begin to seek out a real life role model based on the characteristics that their TV role model encompasses. This begins to cause even more confusion in the child's mind because he is unable to locate such a person. But the child will still look towards their parents for this role model.

Let's say dad has a job that entails a lot of physical activity and he works 50 hours a week. Each night when he comes home he is utterly exhausted. The child will begin to notice each and every detail in the way dad acts when he comes home from work. The child then tries to compare him to his TV character to determine if the TV character is really fictional. Then the child begins searching for what he wants to be in life. All of these various thoughts and comparisons combined with school activities and information becomes a whirlwind of confusion for the child.

The child will often forget about his own struggles and will try to please everyone else. On top of all of this there is peer pressure from other children at school. The child is told by them that if he doesn't try to be like everyone else then he is not normal. This is the beginning and the many stages of the development of learning disabilities in a child.

Is It Really Learning Disability?

The term learning disability in itself is somewhat of an understatement and doesn't quite encompass all that a learning disability is. After all, we all struggle in life with some sort of learning disability. You may not be very good in math, but you are excellent in English and art. Or, you might be able to learn anything; it just takes you a little longer than others. These types of learning disabilities are completely normal, natural and occur in all people in one form or another.

Simply because we are not as quick to catch on as others can cause a person to be labeled with a learning disability, even if you are not really disabled in any way. There are many examples of this in life. For instance, people with learning disabilities were often called "dumb" or "retarded." Later, through scientific reviews, scientists were able to show that the handicapped actually had a lot that they could teach us.

Those who were regarded as mentally disabled or retarded were thought to be failures, but we now know that many handicapped children are capable of learning, they just do so at a slower rate and require different teaching techniques.

Science is still working on categorizations for individuals who have learning disabilities. Many are due to mental conditions, while others are physical conditions causing the disability. Mentally handicapped individuals simply have a different way of learning and require different teaching techniques.

If appropriate education and teaching techniques are used, the individual will still learn. These individuals can also benefit society in many ways as well. These children are actually different than the child we described above. These people are actually living in a completely different world from you and me, one that can be likened to that of a completely different reality, one that is far different from your own.

However, throughout history we have seen individuals with learning disabilities be treated in a cruel and even inhumane manner. Because of this, even modern children today believe that it is okay to treat these children in a similar manner.

Throughout history, individuals who are mentally handicapped have been removed from society, placed in institutions, and even beaten or tortured regularly. Granted, this behavior does not occur today, but the negative point of view towards these people still remains and children can often be even crueler to these individuals causing mental anguish for their victim.

There are ways to overcome learning disabilities. One simple tool that can be utilized immediately is to use "self-talk." Self-talk can help a person discover who they are and what they want to achieve. As the individual works through a problem they can tell themselves the steps that they are working through so that they can focus on the task at hand.

Other skills such as observational skills, investigative skills and learning in general at the person's pace can help them to begin working on their learning curve. Learning and collecting evidence is an effective method of learning.

It is also beneficial to learn about the different types of learning methods. Visual, hands-on, auditory and a combination of these are effective methods of learning and you will want to discover the types of learning methods that are easiest for you or the child to learn.

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