The LIGHT Center, T-90, College of the Redwoods (476-4290) - January 29, 2000

Okay, take out your pencil. This is a quiz. Mark from the list below those that are considered to be a learning disability:

• Short-term memory deficit
• Hearing impairment
• Attention deficit
• Inability to do math
• Visual impairment
• Reading backwards
• Poor reading comprehension

So, how many did you mark?

Short-term memory problems can be a common symptom of many conditions. They can occur following a head injury. They can also occur as part of dementia, aphasia, attention deficit and as a side effect of medication to name only a few. A memory deficit in and of itself is not considered a learning disability. True, most people with LD do have short-term memory problems, but this is only one of the symptoms present.

The only way someone with a hearing loss would be considered learning disabled is if they were tested and diagnosed with the learning disability PRIOR TO suffering the hearing impairment. For the most part, hearing impairment is related to ear function, while LD is related to brain function and information/cognitive processing.

While it is very common for people with LD to show attentional problems, the attentional deficit alone is not considered to be a learning disability. Again, it is only one of the possible symptoms of a learning disability.

This is me. There are numerous reasons for not being able to do math, including anxiety, poor teaching or poor memory. While there is a subtype of learning disability that is limited to math problems, there are other symptoms that have to be present. Poor performance in math alone does not denote a learning disability.

Nope. Like a hearing loss, the LD would have to have been diagnosed PRIOR TO the onset of the visual impairment in order to be considered a true learning disability.

I have yet to meet anyone who truly reads backwards, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Individuals with visual perceptual problems can have difficulty with visual ordering of letters and spatial orientation, but facility in actual backwards reading is rare. Visual perceptual deficits alone do not constitute a learning disability.

Reading comprehension can be depressed due to memory, concentration, vocabulary, or conceptual problems. While often a symptom of LD, it is not a learning disability in it’s own standing.

So, as you may have guessed, the number of items in the quiz that you marked should have been zero. So often the term learning disability is used to refer to any factor that impedes a student’s ability to achieve to their potential. This becomes very confusing after a while.

While all the items listed in the quiz with the exception of hearing and visual impairment are often found to be present as a symptom of a learning disability, it may be only one of the defining criteria. Definitions of LD vary across states and across school jurisdictions. Often the inclusiveness of the definition is determined by funding. However, there are some constant findings that must be present for a learning disability to be diagnosed.

Below are listed some of these.

• Average or above intelligence
• Difficulties academically despite adequate learning opportunities.
• Large differences between one’s strengths and weakness academically. For example, may do well in math, but poorly in written language.
• Large differences in how one processes information. For example, might do well with visually presented material, but poorly with auditory information.
• Discrepancy between ones ability and performance. For example, may do poorly in written language despite normal overall intelligence.
• Completed achievement and ability testing by someone qualified to administer such tests.

Comments? mailto:trish-blair@redwoods.edu

-Helen Hayes (at 73)