Learning disabilities are neurologically-based conditions that interfere with the acquisition, storage, organization, and use of skills and knowledge. They are identified by deficits in academic functioning and in processing memory, auditory, visual, and linguistic information.
The diagnosis of a learning disability in an adult requires documentation of at least average intellectual functioning along with a deficit in one or more of the following areas:
- auditory processing
- visual processing
- information processing speed
- abstract and general reasoning
- memory (long-term, short-term, visual, auditory)
- spoken and written language skills
- reading skills
- mathematical skills
- visual spatial skills
- motor skills
- executive functioning (planning)
For more information, resources, and links, visit the Learning Disabilities Association site.
Some considerations:
A learning disability is not a disorder that a student "grows out of." It is a permanent disorder affecting how students with normal or above-average intelligence process incoming information, outgoing information, or both. Learning disabilities are often inconsistent. They may be manifested in only one specific academic area, such as math or foreign language. There might be problems in grade school, none in high school, and again in college. Learning disabilities are not the same as mental retardation or emotional disorders. Common accommodations for students with learning disabilities are alternative print formats, taped lectures, notetakers, alternative ways of completing assignments, early syllabus, exam modifications, priority registration, and study skills and strategies training.
