In today's educational system, we have reached a stage where we can differentiate between a child's temper tantrum and a learning disability. However, it is still imperative to know more about learning disabilities so as to facilitate their inclusion in mainstream education.

3. Today, many children are
diagnosed with learning
disabilities at school when it is
discovered that they are having
difficulty in some part of their
education.

4. It is essential to know about
Learning Disabilities as
sometimes, what is brushed aside
as a childhood tantrum or simply
as a child being “slow”, may be
due to a learning disability.

5. Focusing on the unfocused & invisible
Learning disability (LD) is a
processing disability.
It has nothing to do with
sensory impairment (Children
with LD have no hearing or
visual difficulty)
It has nothing to do with less
IQ. CWLD are NOT mentally
retarded.
It has nothing to do with culture
and environment in early
childhood.
Yet children have
difficulties in:

7. Various Types of Learning Disabilities
• Dyslexia
• Dyscalculia
• Dysgraphia
• Developmental Dyspraxia

8. Dyslexia
Dyslexia, or developmental reading disorder, is
characterized by difficulty with learning to
read fluently and with accurate
comprehension despite normal or above-
average intelligence.
Dyslexia is the most common learning
difficulty and most recognized reading
disorder.

9. Types of Dyslexia
1. Visual Dyslexia: It is marked by:
• Reversal of whole word / syllable / letters (e.g.
now / won, was / saw, b / d).
• Substitution (e.g. house / home)
• Addition of sounds (e.g. ischool / school)
• Omission of letters, syllables, words or word
endings (e.g. sed / said). It arises due to a child’s
short memory span and difficulty in interpreting
and recalling visual images.

10. Types of Dyslexia
2. Auditory Dyslexia: It is characterized by the
child
• having difficulty in processing and understanding
what has been said to him.
• not being able to distinguish subtle differences in
sound (e.g. bit/bet, pig/peg).
• having difficulty in filtering out the extraneous
sound. It is quite likely that a child with auditory
dyslexia becomes very tense or hyper-active in a
noisy room.

11. Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is difficulty in learning or
comprehending arithmetic, such as
• difficulty in understanding numbers
• learning how to manipulate numbers
• and learning facts in Mathematics

12. Dysgraphia
This is a disorder which expresses itself primarily
through writing or typing, although in some cases
it may also affect hand–eye coordination,
direction or sequence-oriented processes such as
tying knots or carrying out a repetitive task.

13. Developmental Dyspraxia
This is a neurological condition characterized
by a marked difficulty in carrying out routine
tasks involving balance, fine-motor control
and kinesthetic coordination.
Difficulty in the use of speech sounds,
problems with short-term memory
and organization are typical
of persons with dyspraxia.

14. Stereotypes
Since Learning Disabilities have only
recently been classified as a type of
disability, there are several
misconceptions about them which
several of us believe.
In the following slides, we shall try and
break some of these myths.

15. MYTH
Learning
Disabilities
can be cured.
REALITY
Learning disabilities
cannot be cured.
However, with
proper intervention
and support, persons
living with learning
disabilities can
succeed in school,
work and life.

16. Corrective
eyewear is an
effective
treatment for
Learning
Disabilities.
REALITY
Learning disabilities
are a disorder of the
brain wherein there
is problem with
language processing.
It is not a disorder of
the eye.
MYTH

17. Watching too
much television
causes Learning
Disabilities
REALITY
While there are
harmful effects of
watching too much
television, Learning
Disabilities are not
among them.
MYTH

18. Vaccinations
cause Learning
Disabilities.
REALITY
While the exact
causes of Learning
Disabilities are still
unknown, there is no
evidence that
vaccinations have
caused Learning
Disabilities.
MYTH

19. Learning
Disabilities are
a measurement
for a person’s
intelligence.
REALITY
There is no
correlation between
Learning Disabilities
and IQ. In fact, there
are many men and
women who have
Learning Disabilities
who have achieved
greatness in their
fields .
MYTH

20. Some Greats who had Learning Disabilities
Albert
Einstein
George
Washington
Agatha
Christie
Leonard
Da Vinci

21. Services needed / available for children with
Learning Disabilities and their families are:
• assessment,
• certification,
• family counseling,
• teacher training,
• short term courses,
• remedial coaching,
• exemption/ concessions,
• teaching learning material etc.

22. .All Remedial Services today are however available
only for English medium / speaking population.
So, there is a gap in services deserved by rural,
lower socio economic and non English speaking
population.
The hopeful fact is that The Right to Education Act
seeks to enroll and sustain all children between
6 to 14 in nearby mainstream (regular)schools.

23. What we need is...
• Inclusive Education: This means School
Education which is in tune with diverse needs
of ALL children including Children with
Disabilities, ALL under one roof for diverse
needs.
• Greater awareness about LDs: If more people,
especially teachers, are made aware of
Learning Disabilities, proper steps can be
taken to make education more inclusive.

24. For Inclusive Education to be
possible, teachers need to be aware
of Learning Disabilities (LD) and how
to best teach students who have LD.

26. When teaching students who have
Dyslexia:
• Adding new words, word definitions and
practicing to use those words appropriately
should be built into reading programs.
• Encourage your child to write stories about
events using new words he/she has learnt.
• Regular testing, monthly or quarterly, using
informal measures will determine progress in
reading and spelling.

27. Use “The Cloze Technique”
when teaching students who have
Dyslexia:
The child uses the context of the sentence to
understand the unknown words. This strategy
can also be used as a test of comprehension of
the text being read.
It is basically a fill in the blank activity. This
technique should be encouraged by teachers.

28. When teaching students who have
Dyscalculia
• It is important to introduce concepts
systematically and logically.
• The topics and presentation should begin
from simple concepts and progress to difficult
things.
• The lessons must be such that they draw upon
the student’s concepts and experiences and
then gradually help him towards abstract
mathematical thinking.

29. Some more tips for students with
Dyscalculia
• Each topic should be taught with the help of
familiar objects and situations. The pictures
and stories you use must kindle the young
student’s imagination, interest and reading
level.
• Provide him with opportunities to practice so
that he not only gains important skills but also
masters an understanding of concepts and
becomes confident.

30. For students with Dysgraphia.
Encourage the child to practice:
• forming both capital and small cursive letters,
• then, forming both the capital and small
cursive letters in words,
• using the capital and small cursive letters in a
phrase,
• then, using cursive writing in a variety of
creative writing situations.

31. When teaching students who have
Dyspraxia:
• Seat the child away from the doors and windows
and let him have a clear view of the blackboard.
• Do not ask him to copy from the blackboard.
Provide him with printed matter instead.
• Write the day’s timetable on a strip of chart
paper using different columns and place/stick it
on his desk. (For young children, you can make a
visual agenda)

32. To teach students with Dyspraxia:
• Each topic should be taught with the help of
familiar objects and situations. The pictures
and stories you use must kindle the young
student’s imagination, interest and reading
level.
• Provide him with opportunities to practice so
that he not only gains important skills but also
masters an understanding of concepts and
becomes confident.

33. Remember...

34. We would like to thank
• Dr. Asmita Huddar, Principal of Hashu Advani
College of Special Education for providing us
with the necessary information and expertise
to complete this presentation.
• Our other sources were:
1. National Centre for Learning Disabilities (http://ncld.org/types-learning-
disabilities/what-is-ld/top-10-ld-myths-misconceptions )
2. Wikipedia (https://www.wikipedia.org/)