Learning disorders are neurological problems that prevent your child's brain from understanding and processing information. Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, states that learning disorders can affect your child's ability to focus attention, speak and be successful in primary subject areas such as reading, writing and math. Intelligence, language and social abilities are components of your child's normal learning and development, and one or more of these areas will be a problem if your child has a learning disorder. Each stage of your child's development, from the prenatal stage all the way through childhood, has developmental behaviors associated with it.
Learning Disorder
There are several steps to your child's learning process. First, your child will receive and attempt to process new information. Next, your child will need to store that information for future use. Finally, your child learns how to respond. Children with learning disabilities are not able to use these neurological skills.
Types of Learning Disorders
The Childrens Medical Office of North Andover, P.C., states that most learning disorders do not have names. That is because there are many types of individual learning disabilities that your child could develop. Some that are familiar include ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder; dyslexia, a reading disability; and dysgraphia, a learning disorder recently discovered that makes it hard for your child to write with paper and pencil. Two other learning disorders are dysarthria, a speech problem, and dyscalculia, unable to do math. The designations Non-Verbal LD, NVLD or NLD, involves a child who is very good with verbal communication and has poor thinking or social skills.
Developmental Variation
Your child may have developmental delay if the markers associated with normal development are not met at the designated times. Motor skills, language use, social skills and thought processes are all part of child development. Every child has individual abilities to develop, and this results in a wide variation in assessing development progress. There can be a delay in a single area or multiple areas. A learning disorder is more serious than your child being a little behind. A parent will often observe a variation in normal development and a doctor will make a careful evaluation to determine if there is a delay or simply slower than normal developmental progress.
Causes of Developmental Variation
The University of Michigan Health System states there are risk factors associated with learning disorders, although exact reasons why your child may have one is not yet known. Genetic reasons such as Down syndrome can be an explanation of developmental delay. Premature birth and infections of the nervous system are two other causes. Your child's development may be set back due to loss of hearing from an illness. This type of developmental delay can be reversed.
Warning Signs
The Child Development Institute lists some warning signs to determine if your child may have a developmental delay or learning disorder. One area to assess is your child's language in terms of talking and listening. Problems with writing or math can be a sign of a learning disorder. If your child is struggling with memory or comprehension it could be a signal something is wrong. Learning disabilities are often first noticed when your child reaches school and begins to have problems in the classroom.
