Learning Disabilities
An individual is said to have a learning disability if he or she has difficulty using or understanding written or spoken language (including academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics) in a way that is inconsistent with overall intelligence quotient (IQ). Individuals with low IQ in all areas (for example, in cases of mental retardation) are excluded from the diagnosis. Environmental factors such as deprivation are also excluded (because learning disabilities are defined as congenital rather than acquired problems), as are physical disabilities that might cause secondary learning problems (for example, hearing and vision deficits, epilepsy, or attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]). Although learning disabilities can be concurrent with other physical disabilities (i.e., blind or deaf children can also be learning disabled), it is generally established that the physical disability is not inherently the cause of the learning disability. ADHD has a high concurrence with learning disabilities, but clinicians usually try to establish that attention deficits (not typically considered under the scope of learning disabilities) are not the direct cause of the learning problems. A child who exhibits difficulties with language may be diagnosed with a learning disability (for example, with specific language impairment, or SLI), even before entering school, but typically a diagnosis emerges in the context of an academic setting, for example when a child has unexpected difficulties with reading (called specific reading impairment, or dyslexia).
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